Smyrna times., 1866-11-21
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SLANG.

sealed moment ago."
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SLANG.
In Lockes Essay on the Human Under
standing, the author devotes two chapters to |
the abuse of words The first and most palpa- |
BILE abuse of words, he says, is when they are |
used without clear and distinct ideas; the sec
Ond, when we are so incOnStant and unsteady |
in the application of Them that we sometimes |
use them to convey one idea, sometimes anoth- |
er. These definitions may be- said to embrace !
the chief characteristics Of that free-and easy |
phraSeOlOgy viii h perva les Ourmod IN Eng ish |
to a greater extent perhaps than any other Ian
guage that has ever found utterance. and which |
we describe hv a word whose derivation is un-
certain and whose translation is impossible
For slang, as understood to mean the con-
venti0nal expressions of u class or occupation |
we may find proper equivalent in French or
German; but the grOtesque, and often incon-
sistent, idioms by which the rising generation
are accustomed to convey their ideas to each
Other-nOt only in school and at cOllege-not
only in the hunting field and billiard room, but
in the conversation of daily life and of polite
society, represent an English popularity which
can only be described by an English name. 1t
is in vain that mammas caution their daugh
| ters against these imprOprieties of speech. 1t
is in vain that old gentlemen of the Georgian
era lament the corruption of their native tongue
The use of slang is daily becoming more gene
raj. The significance of a dialect formerly
adopted by sporting men alone, is now recog-
nized in the transaction of ordinary business. =
Epithets which would have been utterly unin-
telligible to our grandfathers are now introduc-
ed in the gravest collOquy, and may be even
found in our dictionaries A few of the old
school still protest against the innovation. ''By
fast man presume you mean a loose one"
said the late Sir Robert lnglis, in good -humOr-
ed irony to some one who was describing rake.
We believe it was the poet Rogers who declar
ed that to speak of good fellow" was to ut
ter an anomaly, because the terms were incOn-
patible In his younger days the word fel-
low" was chiefly used to express contempt
Such objections seem pedantlc indeed In 1866
The cause of the notifications which our ia
miliar vocabulary has undergone during the
! last twenty years is not difficult to understand
Without for an instant comparing the style OF
modern English authors with that of their pre-
decessOrs, which would be simply begging the
question, it must be evident to every one that
far more English has been read and written
within that period than in any previous period
of similar extent Our language is by no means
futile one, and there is a growing impatience
of words and phrases which, with the enormous
increase of our light literature, have become so
hackneyed that their very appearance IS sug-
gestive of platitude 1t is no wonder then
that novelists, at all events, are tempted to
avail themselves of curt and significant synon-
yms which, while they are thoroughly under
stood by the million, have a certain freshness
in print that not unfrequently passes for Origi-
nality. When we remember, too, that great
proportion OF modern slang is derived from or
associated with the amusementS of young men,
that the tendency of modern education is to
encourage, and of the press to pOpularize, such
amusementS-we see at once how it is that
slang makes greater progress now than 1T did
in the last century, when newspapers were few,
when little misses did not flock as they do now
to a university bOat.race or a crack match at
Lord 5, and when it was thought unladyEke to
adopt any nomenclature but that which DR..
johnson had provided for 'genteep' life.
Fielding, who, if we may believe in such
portraits as those of Squire Western and Par
son Trulliber, did not hesitate to paint life as
he.sawt, puts into the lips of the lovely Sophia
5 and the amaible Amelia sentiments expressed
. in language which would be found nowhere
nowadays but in the pages of complete
! letter-writer." Even Mr.. Tom Jones himself
: whose general conduct is certainly not charac
q terized by the Strictest propriety, talks like
bOOk-and very serious bOok-to his intimate
c friends This may have seemed right and con
J, was in itself a novelty; when heroes and he
r roines were expected to utter their remarks IL
neatly-rounded sentences, and before EngGsl
d readers were cloyed with sham sentiments ant
o cheap morality. But when the tradition wa
kept up by writer's of our own time, its effec
IS was manifestly hollow and unreal, and a revul
% sion Of feeling was the consequence The Ian
guage OF common place sentiments was i"st re
= garded with suspicion, and then voted hum
Ia bYrrx - . ffoir unfa -dox
e Young England came to be ashamed of thOs
d proprieties about which our grandfathers an
D grandmothers had everlastingly prated Their
Is had been time when department was taugh
ID by accredited professors, and when the back
4, board was q recognized institution. The al
is laughed at now the instrument kicked ava
n, into oblivion. Greater freedom Of manners,
k more sensible fashion of dress. and horror
to everything which savors of unreality, are sigr
en- OF the same times which have brought about
as familiarity of speech unknown to the last gen,
st ration.
as In a word, the origin Of slang may, in gre;
en measure, be traced to growing dislike Of COZ
g. ventionalities, and that phase of insincerlt
rp which takes the form of polite utterance. Whe
at we hear one man say Of another that he is
very worthy person, we may put our own col
mt struction on the remark but if he calls him
"briek, we feel sure that the eulOgy is si
Is cere. In the days of Sir George BeaumOn
ed an amateur would have described the exquisi
chrornatic harmonies of picture. In the la
he guage of modern studio it would be {" a stu
ming bit of color Among the various obje
no, tions which have been urged against the u
ed of slang is that it often falsfes the real mea
lto inc Of word, and certainly such expressions
ain '"awfully kind" Jolly bad cold," or :"
I'd, end of a mug" would be exceedingly diffie,
ca to translate. How utterly inadequate such
wn idiom as prendre la cLef de- champs is to exprc
our British notion Of cutting one stick B