The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-08
ORIGIN az SLANG pmnAsvs.


ORIGIN oF SLANG PHRASES.
From me London Examiner.
The Paris correspondent Of the Times opens a
new vein Of inquiry -
PIP midday 70 supte AID from sunset pu 'ir into
~ uth thS e'r we're htunp"d with nAmc, tn3utet BY
unus srds ot vo'ces-that wss LAuber.' But n
4 wa, t,t dying roul tue street Of si how Il made
~ va 70 nshh whe hs iti0cess Natn ile re3ies,
o,rug day ed dirug ngNt and neaid even g. t1s
"p,leo e gsner9,l,y OF tao Emperor To- hs
can til Tho o.rcum,tance Is said TO have I'd
to discover unstber . amb IT means Snyilng in pa-tcu
lar; If g, what does M AM an who nra sat Il aHnat
MAJ soon be foiIc a. tho Preisciuro oiP5Ioe
The solution will never be found at the Pre-
lecture Of Police nor anywhere else. The origin
OF slang Is inscrutable. The source Of the Nile
may he found, hut tho source OF the flcotiq OF
! putboys can never be traced. Like the wind, no
one knows whence they came, or whittier they
list to CO. They aro here to-day. and gone to-
morrow. We believe they arc like ropsy. without
/ pareutagc. Who ever laid claim 70 a slang
| phrase Yeti is certain that there must have
/ been some first utlerance and moro than that
/ some one to catch 1t up and pass it on 10 that
wonderful circulation and iteration which slang
/ phrase enjoys The reign of these phrases Is as
much a mystery as their origin.
Five years seems TO be about the average For
/ about that time, There you 60 with your eye
out" or, There he goes With his eye out" as the
case might be, was the jeering comment Of
all the Iagamutin tribes. Is II in the wit of man
| to imagine who could irst have put these words
together, putting out eyes a. disCretiOn2 Was il
irst said by Ulysses when POlyphemus rushed
raging from his cave with his eye out and no
spare eye lcftp Homer does not record auy
such speech as delivered by Oviis, or any of bis
followers. Some one made for POlyphomus the
complaint -
"You eat my mutton and drink my wine
And then you poke ny eye out."
A complaint of i'll return tor hospitality coming
with bad grace from host who had only
iattened his guests for his table; but We cannot
"There you go with your eye out"
shallow commentator might hazard the con-
lecture that the phrase applied to persons who
went about in blundering way, as II they had
not es in their heads But the use of the singular
number keeps the slang carefully clear of the
sense there would be In such use of the words
You go with your eye out not your eyes. You
have your eye in your hand, or your pocket, or
your watch. fob
After long course OF popularity the eye.out
went out altogether, and was succeeded by 'How
nicely he thinks he's doing it," which was ap-
Piled by the pOtboys, ragamullns, scamps, and
Taffs TO all with any air Of pretension who came
to grief through any awkwardness. There was a
degree of sense In this slang which shortened its
reign; besides, 1t was too long for a winged word.
Before IL could be shouted out the person 10 be
handy for the cdndiiie. 1t was not like q dab
taken out of the gutter for a fling. Moreover, IL
was traceable to source which the diviner things
of slang never are; Grimaldi had spOkcu it, It
wanted the mems diUinioT of the unknown
The next Ieign--and u long reign IL was-was
the interrogation, "DOes your mother know
you're out 7" AS Lord Dundreary" would ask
can any fellow conceive who asked those simple
words for the first time with the intention of i'm
pertinencel : And the geuius who could mako
ofense of them has never claimed the credit Of
an impertinence of such immense success and
popularity. Have these things, then, an origin :
May they not be spontaneous, like some combus.
tiOus, or the stones which no one knows whence
Certainly, IL is easier to believe they have no
authors, than that they have authors who do not
claim the honor of their productions. Good
guesses at least, have been made as TO the author
ship Of "Junins," bat who can pretend even TO
conjecture as to the origin Of There you go with
you're eye out" or "Does your mother know
you're out !"
At last the mother was worn out, and in came
"All Serene" applied to all possible crcum-
stances. This piece Of slang seems without any
recommendation hut its brevity. 1t wants obiec-
tNeness, and one does not see how 1t insults,
which should be an end Of all slang phrases of
this current stamp. We noted indeed, that D )t-
boys uttered it more as for their own Internal
sOlace and satisfaction than for taking the shine
out OF any one. Aud ii is to the potboys we must
look for The understanding ofsthese things. In
deed as Venus rose from the sea, so, We suspect
from the frOth of pewter pots rose slang sayings.
II lnlh hOlullOu DC uOuUUu, WuHt OLubf eau Do
offered? Here is coinage where is the mint
Can all the detective force of the country dis
cover the source of any current piece of slang,
past or PRESENT. viii the French police fad out
Lambert VIII they square the circle ? viii tney
invent perpetual motion Your plain no meaning
puzzles more than thought and tnat is the puzzle
oi Lambert.
We had once our Lambert, and his name was
Shocks. SnoOks was an airy no hing wanting a
local habitaion, but not name. The French
family OF the LImbeTts we take to be coil ateral
branch of the SnoOkses. Lambert is au impcr-
sonatiOn OF SnoOks. Sull the main mystery re-
mains unexplained and ineXpicable. We can
conceive what was meant by Lambert, AS to some
extent We Can conceive what was meant by going
with your eye out, or the inquiry about your
mothers acquaintance with your whereabouts,
bu: the mystery Of mysteries is the origin of the
mot, and who first said Lambert abstractedly aud
facetously and stranger still, who accepted it as
joke, and got II passed on rs joke These are
tie questions. Well may tho French police be
employed in hunting out the vast jO ular con-
spIracS which on the Emperor's jour de fete made
the name of Lambert eclp'e his own. A thou
sand years heuce it may be historical problem,
which WAS the substance, which the shadow
Lambert or Louis Napoleon