"Sing Sin. We
Thin gin. We"
Analysis
While the previous stanza had verbs being modified by adjectives—i.e. "late" describing the times when they lurk, and "straight" describing how they shoot pool—this stanza has verbs acting with or upon nouns. This marks a transition from the players describing what they do to describing what they act upon, thus representing the agency they afford themselves in an otherwise fatalistic and cynical description of their lives.
The phrase "Sing sin," besides being strongly assonant (sing and sin are almost homonyms) and rhythmic, also ascribes a creativity to something generally perceived as being destructive, i.e. sinning. To say that the players "sing" sin further characterizes them as a chorus of voices and also suggests that they approach sin with a sense of revelry and lifted spirits. Their so-called sinning is a form of personal expression, like singing, a gesture used when spoken words are simply not enough. Perhaps their subversive actions—skipping school, drinking, and playing pool—are stand-ins for written or spoken statements of protest.
The idea of "thinning gin" further bolsters a sense of a group dynamic among the players. To thin their gin is to sacrifice each of their individual experiences for the good of the group, because thinned gin lasts longer and can be shared with more people, but its effects diminish the more it's diluted. Their knowing consumption of watered-down gin demonstrates that the act of drinking the gin is more about the image of the gin than it is about feeling intoxicated. This performance of vice relates back to the notion of coolness and what it means to be "real cool."
