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

"S.N~ .-NA"-AA-NNb e-'N-N al
ones have been carefully excluded-have
thus been added 10 the thirty-eight thous-
aud words IL the English language In
the Dictionary, the cant and slang terms
are classed together, from the exceed ns
dihcul,y Of arranging them separately but
they are in reality quite distinct and sepa.
rate terms. Cant, apart from religious
hypocrisy. refers to the old secret language,
by allegory or distinct terms, of gipsies,
thieves, tramps, and beggars. Slang rep
resents that eyanescent vulgar language,
ever changing with fashion and taste, which
has principally come into vogue during the
last seventy or eighty years spoken by per-
sons in every grade of life, rich and poor,
honest and dishonest" Cant, in the lapse
of time, often becomes slang the words
pr'g and core, for instance, which are now
mere street vul garisms, having been once
cant and secret terms
"lt would appear, says Mayhem, " that
not on ! are all races divisible into wan
derers and settlers, but that each civilized
or settled tribe has generally some wander
ing h0:de intcrmlngled with, and IN a meas
ure preying upon it. la South Africa, the
naked and miserable Ilottentots are pestered
by the still more abject SOnquas, and it
may be some satisfaction for Us to know
that our old enemies at the Cape, the CAT
tres, are troubled with a tribe Of Iascals.
called Fingoes the former term, We are
informed 10y travellers signif, ing beggars,
aud the latter, wanderers and outcasts -
These wandering tribes are all remarkable
for their Use of a cant language with which
to conceal their designs and plunderngs
" The secret jargon, OF rude speech, of the
vagabonds who hang upon the Hottentots is
termed Cuzecat. In Finland, the fellows
who steal seal-skins, pick the pockets Of
bear skin overcOats, and talk cant, are termed
Lappes. La France, the secret language
If highwsymen, house.treakers, and pick
pockets, Is named Argot The brigands
and more romantic rascals Of Spain term
their private tongue Germania, or Robbers
Language. Rothwalsch, or Red Italian, is
Synonymous with cant and thieves talk in
Germany while the crowds Of lazy beg
gars that infest the streets of Naples aud
Rome. aud the brigands near Pompeii, have
a secret tongue, which they call Gergo
Upon this subject, a wrirerin Notes ana
Que tes well remarks The investigation
ot the origin and principles of cant and slang
language opens curious field of inquiry
replete with considerable interest to the
philologist and philosopher. 1t affords Il
remarkable instance Of llngual coItriyance
which, without the introduction of much
arbitrary matter, has developed system o!
communicating ideas, having all the advan
tages OF Il foreign language Cant, in the
sense of pulpit hypocrisy, is derived in the
old Spectdtor, from one Andrew Cant, {;
Presbyterian minister in some iliterate par
of Scotland, who had obtained by Use the
Eower of preaching IN such dialect that he
was not understood b. any bat his own con
gregation. and not by all of them but cant
in the sense We are speaking Of it. is de-
rived from cha,st. beggar's whine; chan
ter, a street walker and tramp, being tn,
very term still used among vagahonds
There seems to be little doubt tha. the secrc
language itself originated with the gipsies
who came over into the country early in th,
reign OF Henry VIII. la illustration Of tn,
connection Of cant with the Cingari tongue
We have offered to us a list Of gypsy and (ot
ten) lliudoo words. with their English adop
tions Among these, the more familia
cant (now slang) expressions are: Bosj
which the London Antiquary-and not W,
says is Persian for rubbish ;" M"il
which is gipsy ." to spoil or bungle ;" anc
Ihat's tie cheese, which he atfirms to b.
Hindoo expression. We, ourselves, be
lieve that the Antiquary might have lookec
much nearer home for this last derivation
The correct thing, and the thing. to ex
press % the fashion," have been long in Us
among the vul gar and it may be NOR
easily imagined that this may have beer
Frenchifed by some fellow proud of hi
. foreign requirements, into the chose AM
50 into the cheese, than that the word eve
came from the sunny plains of Central Asia
/ We are the more inclined to dlstrust on
author in this matter, inasmuch as some {
his subsequent derivations are manifest
tarfetched, not to say absurd.
In defining BoJJy, the well.known Sian
for a policeman, he says: Bobby is an oil
English word for striking aud hitting
quality not unknown to policeman" Will
the simple fact is, that Bo5by is .amilia
application of Sir Robert Peel's baptism,
name to the policeman, who Is usually desi.
mated 4 prefer, in more obvious complimel
to the memory of him who passed the Ne
Police Act al my eye and Betty Ma
tiaeis well known to be an adaptation
|, the Popish prayer, OH min, beate Ma
tine but We are not So sure that Uan
bus-which Richardson denies place
III lis Dictionary, although lie used it
; express the meaning of other woris-i-
corruption Of Hamburg, " from which TOW
70 many false bulletins came dlrin. Il
, war in the last century" We also rccei
with csution the statement that small bo
in the United States are permitted By the
, guardians to Gal Dam things, aud so a
prevented from actual profanity, or th
such moral waste pipe for juvenile ?;
sion as By fhe-reryitU'ng Jumping u
SOS is ever laid on by a juiicious parent.
However-to return to the Cingaris
our London Antiquary feels coufde
. that there is a q ipsy element in our +
. glish laoguage hitherto unrecoguised