The Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1870-1875, 1870-12-08
TRE HISTORY OF SLANG.
ThIrty-tW0 Synonyms for Drunken
ness and seventeen for Money
The slang OF Criticism-DegenerAs
ai0n Of the ERglish Language
rrnm me Lonaon Conrt Clrcnlar.l

The growth of slang means the de.
cav of language: the admission OF
nomenclature which disregards pro-
priety and likes upon objects irrational
and inconsistent names, is a5 once q
nuisance and q vice, and persistence
in it means the inevitable debasipg Of
the mother tongue, course which
the scholars of all ages have endeav-
cred 20 check, while their efforts were
slrenuously directed to- refinement,
elevate and improve. There has been
. growing tendency 10 Incorporate in
to our already too barbarous and IN
cOneruous language flood OF cant
terms, American coloquialisms, gal.
lieisms, sham ciassicisms. professional
iGioms, ltramontanisms, and genial
deluge of llliterate slang. All this
shows want. not excess of fertility,
and degeneration rather than extern
sion. England being an adaptive
nation, learns and finds home for
naW tangled expressions of all sorts,
shielding herself when attacked on
The point with the exease that they
| are not Of her own manufacture; but
the passer of bad coin is every whit
az guilty as the eoiner, and England S
ready endorsement Of the vulgar vo-
eabrability to invent slang for herself.
/ Slang is of very modern date. There
was much LONELINESS and no little
! coarseness in some Of the sayings Oh
/ the famous writers. and perhaps more
! facetiousness and significance amongst
onr great humorists than will be found
INV a-davs: but we see little or no
SLANG Fven in the famous highway
mans. opera. Gay, who should have
known his subject, gives US nothing 10
the conversations of his lowest charac-
tiers which requires a glossary: while
Dean Swift, had such a commodity as
slang existed, would never have
omitted to garnish his works with it
for the good Of pOsterity. Diction-
aries of slang have been published
since his day, and the latest publica-
ton. founded on Crosses famous book,
has attained to goodly dimensions
for slang is on the increase, and no
stand has been made against it, be
cause everybody from the highest to
the lowest, culitvates and speaks Il.
WHAT is SLANG?
Words which are not to be found In
any standard dictionaries. and which
are unauthorized By grammatical or lit
erary precedent, are slang, and such
words are used throughout the length
and breath Of the land by all degrees
of men Unfortunately. The use Of
vulgar equivalents distinguishes all
] Englishmen, and it would worry our
readers, and certainly not enlighter
them, were we to treat them to q cor
rected list up to date, of the synonyms
for some of the generic words in com.
monest use. For money alone there
ara seventeen equiValenia, without
counting the slang terms applied Il
the various species of coins, or the
different expressions used TO signify
the being rich OF poor. As might b
expected 10 England, the synonyms
! for drunkenness are plentiful, amount
ing to no less than thirty-two; anC
for one article Of drink, fruitful il
producing these names, namely, gin,
we have ten different equivalents
Man is liable to be called cove,
chap, Gull, an article, a eodger,
buffer, a party" and, according 4
his grade, he has some fifty subdi
| some eighty or more. This that W,
q
ocean, mere casualties, enumerated
from memory, and without the leas
attempt at any exhaustive list; posi-
bly,, with better knowledge. we nigh
augment the list by at least doubl
the amount. Slang, however, is no
concluded here; low language is no
alone IN its ''argot;" fashion has it
Ynlgarity, and q good deal Of it too
as unmeaning gibberish as aDythin
that we have given heretofore. tt
great gest Of the fashionable Sian
being that it is mada up OF miscon
strued French idioms, which In thei
English garb are sheer nonsense
Witness wedding ION the tdpis,
which is twaddle; the beau n10nd
which is rubbish; q the deRcGnt
which is rigamarole; a chGpeTol
which is foolishness; to say nOthin
+ or the meaningless frivolitiea Of sue
words as fdlEr pas. 8lessGlliance, 2.
cheTche, and a thousand other word
falsely applied.
THE SLANG OF CRITICISM.
As to fashionable pronunciation.
which IN themselves mean slang,
we take No c0gnizance of them; the
are tieeting material, and change thei
aspect every day. Criticism has ii
special slang, which is vastly often
sive, as being born Of emptiness AM
arrogance. A few technical term
constitute the stock in trade of ever
art critic in England, and fellowship
Is the key stone of praise or blame
Thus through sll stations of so
eiety runs the lode Of slang
1t o-p ~a.Iawu To- a ruor,or
conceive the difficulty which pre-
sents itself to a foreigner when b.
encounters q master of slang; Wha
tribUlation, what uncertainty beset:
/ the unhappy stranger. If the objec
Of his inquiry is q political move,
ne is enlightened to this effect. oh
il was put up thing altogether. Mer
rypebbles is an out-aDd out sWindle
and wanted to barney Dull, who ism
such G fiat as he looks; so, dodginl
the premier's CANNON, he slowed the
question; and, though he looked green
did the fellow brown on his owl
dodge -all of which must be vastl,
Instructive TO the foreign politician
What hope has a resident Frenchmal
: to accomplish the difficulty of our Ian
, guags? While he is mastering on,
idiom, another and another has ap
peared to his utter discontinue, an
he finds himself fighting against
strongly running tide of slang, vhicl
keeps him in q condition of the mos
hopeless perplsxity. Is there a rea
son for this? Should this be? Idle
ness. sooner than use q recognizes
vocabulary, invents one which i
spurious; idleness, double distilled
initiates this; and so, according to tn
space left By weakness, does the vic
gain ground. Ignorance uses slang
because ignorance copies idIeness
which is the parent of synonym.
TIVE Vincennes San of Tuesda
Gays: