The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-01-08
SLANG,

IL may De buaG we are UNCONSCIOUS
that we adopt and incorporate slang
phrases in our daily talk, but that We
have done SO is certainly proved by
writer in american Homes, who gives
a formidable list of slang phrases which
we can hear used almost every day
We allow ourselves to say of a rich
man that he has got stamps ;" of the
drunken man that he is Eight" or
"boozy ;" of anything that pleases us
or is satisfactory, that it is stunning"
lawful" is considered a better word
than very, and we are awful cold, or
hot, or sick, or jolly, as the case may
be it is finer to say "you bet, than to
answer a question by a simple yes ev-
erything that annoys us is "infernal"
OF obesity" bank-bills are "green-
backs" I heard a lady in good socie-
ty say recently that her dressmaker had
disappointed her, and that in conse-
quence she was regularly up a tree"
we threaten, not to humiliate or morti-
fly a man, but "to take the starch out
of him ;" we rack our brains to invent
slang words for various drinks, and
bring out such names as "forty-roG,"
"tangle-foot," rot-gut," blue ruin"
and Jersey lightning" words that
would more than puzzle a foreigner a
man is not cheated, but "done brown"
or "bamboozled :" railroad conductors
do not steal Gn fact we are getting a
little sensitive about using the world,
but knock down." bank cashiers do
not swindle and steal, but commit cir
Irregularities ;" we hear of O house being
"burgled," and that two footpads
event through" q belated traveller q
fair dealer is spoken Of as q "square
man." a most wonderful lusus nature;
a substantial dinner is spoken of as a
"square meal;' we hear invitations
given, not to take q drink, but to
"hoist in some poison" anything an
tiquated or exhausted is played ont )"
an insufficient excuse is said to be "too
thin, " or we are told that it evil not
wash ;" we buy stocks on a "marsin,"
or sell them "short," Or "bull" the
market, or "take a fiver," or "scoop
in a long line of stocks ;" we do not
stake a sum of money, but "bet our
pile ;" after a convlvial party we next
morning find ourselves "precious
spedy;" our railroad trains "tele-
scope" or a pullman" breaks q
wheel a party of rowdies L" clean out"
a drinking saloon +; a big man threatens
to "wipe out" q little one !; we do not
outwit or ~circumvent another, but ecu
chre" him we "take the shine out
Of " a rival, and "tix his flint for him -
a carpenter "runs up" a cheap house
in a week !; an investigating committee
in Congress "whitewashes" the char
acter of some defaulter, and so on and
SO forth in all the departments CT bust
ness and trade and social intercourse, we
permit ourselves to use words and
phrases which are of no authority, often
vulgar, and always needless.
THE COST OF OUR RECENT VAR.
Mr.. David A. Wells has furnished
the Golden Club of England with an
essay upon the expenses, income and
taxes of the United States. We cop
the following statement of the cost of
the rebellion
The whole cost of the war in the
Northern and Southern States from
1861 to 1866 is estimated as follows
Lives, 1000, 900; property, by destruc-
ton, waste, etc, So, 900, 600, 900. The
gross expenditure of the United States
from June, 1861. to July, 1866, s., 1872
257, GOO. OF this the actual war ex-
penses were about 1884,, 237, OO0.
The expenses of States, counties,
cities and towns in the Northern States,
not represented by funded debts, have
been estimated at $500, 0OO, 900. The
increase of State debts on the war ac-
count was ,s123, 900. 900. The increase
of city, town and county debts is esti-
mated at 5000, 900, 600. Total war ex
penses of the loyal States and the IA
tional government, Sc, 165, 237, 900.
The estimated direct expenditure of
the Confederate States on account of
the war were 50, 900, 600, 900.
Aggregate estimated expenses of the
war to the country, North and South