The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-20
SLANG.
A Few Specimen Bricks of the American
Article.

We allow ourselves to say of a ricl
man that he has got "stamps :" of tn
drunken man that he is "tight," O
"boozy :" of anything that pieases u
or is satisfactory that it is " stunning:
"awful" is considered a better wore
than very, and we are awful cold, o.
hot, or sick, or jolly, as the case may
be; it is finer to ssy ''you bet' than tC
answer a question BY q simple yes
everything that anncys us is " internal,
or "beastly :" bank-bills are "green
backs" I heard lady in good society
say, recently, thlt her dressmakel
had disappointed her, and that in con
sequences she was "regulsrly up tree;'
we threaten, not to humiliate or to NOR
tify a man, but" to take the starch out
of him :" we rack our brain to invent
slang words for various drinks,
and bring ont such names as forty
rod" 90 tangle-foCt," " 4" "rot.gut," "blue
ruin" and +" "Jersey lightning" words
that would more than puzzle foreigner;
man is not cheated, but " done brown,
or bamboozled :" railroad conductors
do not steal lin fact we are getting a
little sensitive about using the word),
but "knock down - bank cashiers do
not swindle and steal, but commit
irregularities > we hear of house be-
ing burgled, and that two foot-pads
event through" belated traveller; a
fair dealer is spoken of as "square
man." a most wonderful htsuS nature :
a substantial dinner is spoken of as Il
"square meal :" we hear invitations
given, not to take drink, but to "hoist
in some poison ;" anything antiquated
or exhausted is "played out ;" an in.
significant excuse is said to be "too
thin," or we are told that it "will not
wash :" we buy stocks on "margin, !"
or sell them 7" short" or "bull" the
market: or "take a flyer" or "scoop
in a long line of stocks :" we do not
stake a sum of money, but "bet our
pile :" after convivial party we next
morning find ourselves "precious
seedy;" our railroad trains "teles-
cope" or Pullman" breaks wheel
a party of rowdies "clean cut" drink
ing saloon; big tnan threatens TO
" wipe out" little one We do not out
wit or circumveht another, but
" "euchre" him ; we take the shine out
of rival, and 4" FIX his flint" for him
a carpenter "runs up" cheap hOuse.in
q week au Investigating committee in
congress whitewashes" the character
of some defaulter, and so on and so
forth in all the departments of business
and trade and social intercourse we per
NIT ourselves to use words and phrases
which are of no authority, often vulgar
and always needless.
It may be objected to the purist that
the spoken language is of no copse-
quence so long as we write correctly and
with elegance. But alas that evil COM
municatiyns corrupt good manners is no
more true than that slangy conversation
leads TO slip -shod, slangy writing and
it often happens that some detestable
word of no authority, and having no
right in the language, slips from con-
versation into print and usurps p lace
for itself. Here, again, the modern
newspaper has much to answer for IN
the deterioration of langhage. Slang
usurps the place of wit, and cant phrase
is often made the poor substitute for the
witty repartee. It is untrue to say that
slang is only used by the low aid illit-
crate. On the other hand, its use per-
vades all the strata of society, from the
clere yman to the street beggar, each, OF
course, using a slang of different order,
but both too often indulging in the use
of words which no dictionary explains.
And lust here is something to be said.
We hear every day, in all social circles,
a multitude of words a. d phrases that
have, SO to speak, no real existence, and
which must sorely puzzle foreigner, as
he turns in vain from one dictionary to
another. He has no authority but usage
and usage is perpetually changing
as to what is lawful English and what is
not; what he can use in polite circles,
and what he must shun, and to this lack
of authority half his troubles in learning
to speak English are due. And the Eng
lishman himself, it has been well said,
has never done learning his own Ian
guape. He Is overwhelmed by the null
titude of new words, and he has no uD-
disputed authority to guide him in the
use of old ones. "They manage these
things better in France" The dictiOn- |
ary of the French academy-supplanted |
now, perhaps, by Littre's-has been held |
to be model of elegance and propriety |
in speaking and writing the French Ian
guage. Every pretender to literary emr
inence models his language upon the
academy's dictionary. and TIE language, |
too, has become the language of diplo- |
macy over all Europe and in Russia. A
Russian gentleman's children learn to
speak French as an indispensable part
Of their education, and the acquisition
Of such knowledge as will enable them
10 carry on an ordinary conversation is
regarded as a matter of course. A trav-
eler, if he can speak French, will be
at home at st. Petersburg,
Constantinople or Berlin in the upper
ranks of society. The French tongue
mas gained that high position, not so
much by its own inherent merit as by
reason of its having a standard and a
court of st appeal. AS language it is
1ot SO full or so diguifed as German or
English, bat it is good coin-so to speak
it is fixed in its value and passes
everywhere. Accent excepted, a for
eigner may speak as good French as
native, for the simple reason that he
and the Frenchmen have a common and
authority to which they can
.ofar