catch a charge
v. phr.— «When a girl is on the street and she sees a pimp on the sidewalk, she has to get off the sidewalk, into the street, and not make eye contact with him or talk to him. Otherwise, she is “out of pocket” and has “caught a charge”—that pimp has a claim on her and either her own pimp has to pay a fine or else she is now the property of the new pimp.…One night, Lucilia went to the store, where a guy asked if she wanted him to pay for her. She said sure. Then he said he was a pimp and she’d just gotten a charge. She bolted out of the store and ran back to the house, terrified. The pimp from the store called Romeo and said he had to give her up or pay a $5,000 fine, but Romeo refused.» —“The 13-Year-Old Prostitute” by Jessica Lustig New York (New York City) Apr. 9, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...