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

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he " did not reco!lect to have met with the
word cheat in our ancient writers =
Cheat. TO defraud, then, is no other than
all old caut term, somewhat altered in It's
meaning and as such, il should be des-
cribed IN the next chronological Dction-
airy"
Peek was in cant language meat, and
We now say, when We are hungry, that we
are peckish. The vagabonds, it seems, lay
every tongue under contribution TO furnish
forth their strange vocabulary " Argot Is
the London thieves" word for their secret
language; il is, Of course, from the French,
but that matters not, 60 long as it is iucom.
prehensible to the police and the mob
Domino. a teacher, Is from the Latin aud
Don, a person Of Importance, has been liiched
from the Spanish. Donna and Feeles. a
woman and children, is an odd mixture Of
Spanish and French whilst Dudis, the
vulgar term for clothes, has been piltered
from the Gaelic. feele, daughter, from
the French and Frow. a girl or wife, from
the German, are common tramp> terms );
gent and Vial, country town, also from
the French. Clip, Il college servant, very
appropriately comes from the Greek Cups,
IA wclf;) Horrid dhorn, fool, from the Erse
AID Cloak, man, from the Scotch
CraCk, IN the sense OF excelient-a crack
corps WAS not a wi garsm III Henry WIS
time, nor was to cr0ck Hp in the sense of
praise, which has now become 80 popular
all Americanism. DOdge. a cunning trick,
is from the Anglo Saxon and anciert no.
bles, (says the London Antiquary and not
we,) used to get each others da,ider up
before appealing to their swords Gait-
rantiag was an exceedingly polite express
sion and clergyman, preaching at PAUL. 5
Cross, thought nothing of bidding noisy
hearer to "hOid hiS gab" IL would have
lowered the great Lord Bacon. in the opin-
Ion of Uncle Squaretoes, had he known
that his Lordship writes of the lower part
of a gentleman face a. his giiis Finally,
the phrase I'll make him butkic unde-, -
which word is used by shakespeare in Hea-
~ ", part Ii, Act i, Scene i.l but Of
which the commentators supply 10 other
example, is common III the mouth Of every
London costermonger To this day.
Slang, properly speaking, is the Ian
guage of street humor, and o! fast life,
whether high or low; and it was at its
height-under the name Of flash h-when
the Prince Regent was in his rakish minor
ity Webster and O.ilvle are the only
photographers vino mention il, johnson
admitted it indeed, but only as :" the
pretcrite of sling" 1t is not derived from
"thc staass or teiters worn by criminals,
aud So called from requiring sling OF
string to keep them from the ground, but
from a gipsy word 81 lgnlfying gibberish
The familiar wants and failings of life are
as might be expected, well reprc sented by
il there being no less than thirty-fouI
terms To express the degrees of intoxica
ton, from the first stage of JoSkincsS (,
that scene Of all i'll the sad drama of Drink
wherein the sufferer can't see n hOic az q
( Ladder : while the coin Of the realm i,
insulated by no less than one hundred and
twenty distinct nicknames from the humble
b,o,rn or copper, to the aristocratIc jim
seq, or bank note; nay, If We include the
atrical slang, by one hundred and twenty
one; for. should no money be forthcoming
i'll the form of salary, the Company i. fac
tiousIy Informed Of it by the phrase, the
ghost don't walk"
/ 1t will be newssto. many persons that, ii
addition to a secret Language. the wander
ing tribes of England have a system of hi
eroglyphics Of their own; private mark:
and symbolic signs by which to record then
successes and failures and thereby to Civ,
advice to succeeding beggers The whol,
country seems to be dotted over with thes,
beggar fnger-posts and gude.s.oncs Mr.
Rawlinson, in his Report 10 the Genera
Board of Health, from Hayapt, declares
There is a sort of blackguarls' litcra
ture, and the initiated understand cacl
other by the slang (canD terms, by pan'om
imic signs and by hieroglyphics. The ia
grants maxi n,Gy be seen IN HacaHt
on cOrners of streets. or dOOrpostS, ar,
an hOuSe steps. Simp,e as these chaik
lines appear, nteY1ntorm the Succeedin.
CagrantS Of all they reluirc 70 knotc
anil q far 1ctitc scratches may so5
''bc tnp0rtundtc," or pass on
Again, In Notes and QDeCIcs, under th
head of Mendcant Freemasonry, there i
this very singular statement, which, howe
yer, refers to provincial towns only. Lon
don being looked upon as home" anG
, besides, As too acute a city 10 be duped b
such means
: Persons" remarks the writer, "iudi:
f erect enough to open their purses to the T,
: lief the bergar tribe, would do well to tax
readily learned lesson as TO the folly
D that misguided bencvolence which ei
D courages aud rerpetuates yacaboudsn
4 Every door or passage i pregnant with Il
a -tructI0n as t. the error committed by IL
c patron Of beggar-, as he besger mari
E show that system of freemasonry is "a
: lowed by which beggar knows wheth,
T II will be worth his while to cali into pa
e sage or knock at door. Let any one e,
t anime the entrances to the passages in al
: town. and there be will ind chalk-mark
j. unlntelIigible 10 him, but significant enous
to begcars If thousand towns are e
= amiued, the same marks will be found
It every passage entrance. Tie passare-mal
i is cipher with twisted tail in son
- cases the tale projects into the passage
II !