The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1859-11-22
4 DIsRESPECTAE PAPER.

Young man, never Use sianr," was a
remark made TO Us in our youth by Uncle
Squarctocs. upon the occalson Of our hav
ing entitled him, i'll an outbreak Of genia
affection, u .grdnd Otd buDey at is a
sure sign in him who uses 1t of going tn
The dncS"
The late Alderman Penguin talked q
good deal Of slang" returned L. with qulet
triumph, for my uncle had been Won't t.
swear by the alderman, | knew.
Yes" replied Mr.. Squaretocs, with
warmth and when he died. We saw what
came OF it, While every body thought he
had at least his plum, his great estate for
all his bulitng and barring, was in reality
heavily dipped. lie was known on the
Stock Exchange as being little better than
u lame duck IL would have been actual y
preferable if he had been achtte lcashed at
once than that his palancesheets should
have been co0Let in the manner they We're
No. 10. young man ; take my word for it,
that there is nothing 50 indicative of A
SCREW LOOSE somewhere in "a man as the
use of slang and if you wish to see tie cal
or Of my ntoney, you will avoid it,"
In the face OF such threat, | was not
foolish enough to point out to the old gen
tleman the five examples of commercial
slang, the two of legal, or the three of mis-
cellaneous, in which he had himself indulg d
during his brief rebuke, The Jolly old bird
has been ,grassed az this long time-and
| am happy to say that he cut up for good
deal of money-but always think of my
Uncle Squaretoes when hear anybody tax
ing the English language under his prctcc
ton, and denouncing innovations. Happy
! is the man who does not live in glass
house-nay, in quite cOnservatory-II
this aspect. and who can venture to cast a
stone.
The Galican gibberish which pervadcs
drawing.room conversation, or at all events
drawing room novels, is not only not En-
glsh but not French Ii has been wei
observed, that if well-Orcd Frenchmai
we're informed that there was anything upor
the tapis, he would assurcdly 90 down upo,
his knees to look for 1t that if he wer,
told of the Gedu mO'aie, "he would imag
inc it meant the beautiful world that GoC
made, not the half dozen streets and square
between Hyde Park Corner and the Chel
sea Bunhouse :" or, that if he were aske'
to the dansate, he would not know wha
It meant And with regard to drawing
room slang, if it comes to choice of evil.
we confess we much prefer the laudator
vulgarisms of stunning or screaming t
their equivalent, in fashionable and temir
ine parlance, of cheeadrnInG, or " charm
ing" in eight syllables
What is keeping harmOny, middie di
tance, GriaL PerSpec'ire, deltcdte ham
, ling, nerr0us chiar0ScstrO. but the Sian
of the Studios What is the endeayor
nnbecomugly elongate the most sacre
, names, and the artificial whine in whic
we sometimes hear an entire sermon rec
t ted, but tie slang of the Pulpit lndee
if We were to opce up this sutject-whiC
is the slang OF Commercial Enterprise
and rcntiiate it thoroughly-whch is Il
slang of Newspaper Politics we shou
not know where TO stop. Since We ha'
shown that slang of some sort is common
all ranks, il can scarcely be said that Il
subject is unworthy of investigation. -
: London Antiquary "@ has at all events co
Z. sdered it of sufficient interest TO justify hi
in giving US Dictionary of the two In
versities, in the Houses Of Parliment, in Il
. dens Of st. Giles, and in the pala es of
!, James According to his own account,
. procured his information concerning Il
r more unapproachable classes, while be W
collecting materials from old ballads, pc
ny-histories, and other printed street narr
= tives, for forthcoming History of Che:
Literature he frequently had occasion
make the acquaintance Of divers chantle
and patterers in Seven Dlals and the b.
ough and with some Of these men an :
!, rangement was made that they should c.
: lee, the cant and slang words used by t
wandering tribes in London and the cou
y try. To prevent deception and mis'al
: the words and phrases thus ga hered We
checked of by other chanters aud tram
81 Hicttssd-y # HoieT1 slang Cav. rnd I'll pr W.
By Joni sutguary. H3Ji-n. antiquarian b,ok.e
Pccaduly.