The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-04-06
AMERICAN STREET SLANG.
An Interesting. ~ not Instructive, Soh
pflatEon of the Talk Of the Theater, the
Sayydusf Arena and the Bar-RoOm.
A.. -. I,nrrrl irar

means a notion OF the nineteenth Cen-
tury, has obtained of late years
growth in this country that can not
have failed to attract the attention OF
all classes of society. 1t prevails IN the
family circle, in the resorts of business
men, and in the haunts of sporting
classes. Among the young men OF the
day it is mania, and no youth who Is
inclined to taste of the sweets OF fast
life considers himself up to the times
unless he can converse with his con-
freres in a dialect that would have been
as unintelligible to his forefathers as the
Chinese language.
In illustration of this fact the reader
can refer to the talk of the bar-room,
which is the most extensively cultivated
slang of the period. The young man OF
to-day, when he enters saloon with
party of friends, is liable, as his first
demonstration, to salute the bar-keeper
with some such remark as Hello,
Boss" That is usually the first saluta-
ton, but it is often varied, and such
high-sounding names as Senator,
d" Governor, A." General" " Colonel,
Major" Captain Judge"
"Duke, - 4" Deacon" made to take the
place of the word BOSS"
After this preliminary the party ar
range themselves at the bar and are re-
quested by their entertainer to " have
some whisk,n or L" take smile, " shave
one,'' "take a ball." "take hist, "
''take a horn, - ''take a noggin, "get
vaccinated," all of which mean that one
and all shall have drink. The invita-
ton is usually greeted with such eX-
carnations as "dOn't care If L do, "
g cert'' etc, after which the young man
who does the treating requests his as
sembled fellow-citizens to nominate, J"
and '.don't be bashful." They then
"nOminate.
They nominate " bottled electricity"
lemonade with stick in it," Gig
WATER" "budge," "bilge-water,"
q" burr-juice,'' "rat-poison," "fusel-
oil fred eye," ''liquid ointment, "
q" cut nails, - thard-head, " " benzine, "
"nitro-glycerine, 4" " oil, ""tea, "eye-
water,'' "chain-lightning." They
nominate a sufliciency of articles to
stock a secondhand store, and yet they
ali want the same article-alcohol,
more or less diluted. The bar-keeper
comes to the relief of any hesitating
member of the party by asking him if
he will "take it straight or have an
"eye-opener," to which he is generally
expected to answer that he will take
some /" hard-stuff," which means plain
whisky.
After all have nominated, "such re-
marks pass as "spiel, - "put it down, "
''here's looking at you, ""tip, " "here's
a 90" Then they "tip," in the "Phil-
adelphia, J." the "New York" the "Chi-
cago," or some other fanciful style of
the art. The most fancy tip consists in
each man touching the top and bottom
of his neighbours glass with his own.
The party are supposed to be soft on
tear," and should one of them, at this
stage of the game, "get it up his nose, "
he is asked by his beloved associate if
he has ''got EN-" and is requested to
''heave her up, old man." The belief
of the party is that he has "snakeS in
his boots" and by way of getting rid
of them he is told to "set 'em up' or
''whoop 'er up again"
After he has 'whooped her up" and
is saving holes in his pockets in an in
effectual attempt to "tind stamp,
the bar-keeper calls out, "Say, you
snoozer, pony up" This the unfortu-
nate would undoubtedly do in mo-
ment if he had pony, but as he was
never known to possess any other ami
nal than a nightmare, he is told by his
equally 4" busted" companions to ''stand
him up,'' "give him the slip" "put
up your educated fOrefnger at him."
But the bar-keeper will not accept
"wind" for his liquor, and he offers to
bet his " high muck-a-muck' that he
will not. In proof of this, he beautiful
! " remarks, " You bet your bloody life, ,
which so terrifies the young man, who
in the absence of stOmach-pump, ha:
no means of rendering his creditors jus
tice, that he feels impelled to ask hi:
friends if they have any "roeks" OF
a." shinnies'' about them. They say they
had a " century, every day in the weel
at period when keno was to Cincinnati
unknown, but now g hopper may die ifei
goter caser 'bOuter close, s'elp me-"
These classical observations mOvt
the bar-keeper to inquire what they ar
shooting off their mouths about
then?'' They ask him, then, if h
ever heard of Kelly?" and if he haC
not "better take tumble, cully?'
These remarks tend to soothe him con
siderably as he mildly inquiries if the.
are trying to "rOast" him or give hin
:" brace" Then the spokesman o
the party says "you can chuck me il
the gutter fam" while his more bellig
, erent companions ask, "Wha'r yer Civ
in us?" and furthermore express tn
= opinion that "Thazzar fine game,
while they are decidedly opposed to an
more "funny bizness" on the part G
the beer jerker."
The bar-keeper now gets "riled, ," in
quires "wat's der matter NIT YOU?
and then adds "take a walk" "skil
mish," "mosey," "walk off on you
eyebrow" This kind of talk throw
the "boys," into a commotiOn. On
wants to ''sherry," another to "chass
out of this" third thinks the "blood
sucker" ought to drop on hisself;"
} fourth SAYS "Oh, he's q fine bloke,
| and seems anxious to know "what kin
of a racket" that is, while he expresse
his unalterable determination to put u
with no " hurrah bizness." Others O
: the crowd think the bar-keeper is
"funny boy" and that his remarks ar
: "too thin,n 90 too gauzy'' and "won
. wash" but while they are debatin
this point something in the nature i
an earthquake gets up and strike
them, and while they are flynn
! through space into the street, the
! hear the saloon battle-cry {
"HerauS nit him." followed by tn
barkeeper's observation that "that
the kind of a hairpin | be-" and "hO'
e is that for high?''
As the party pick themselves up
J friend meets them and says to one {
1 their number: "Why, Johnny, l hare
ly know you," which is quite probabl
q at this time. The person addressed
; however, answers: "Don't poster me,
0 which impels his friend to say: adj
you get the grand bounced" This onl
e makes matters worse, for at this stage
= ''cop" appears. One of the MANNED il