The Red Cloud chief., 1879-02-06
An INVERTED LANGUAGE.
..ssmrk.slaag." the >sresesSWe
N~rnses1ar efshr 0~ssaSo Sss.


..oeNrk.AlaoW.- tho &c
N~rasrs1ar eGshr 0s~sdWo s~s.
seruaoaEesv.
One Il the peculiar typos II human.
It's that are to be met with in this me
tropolis Is the ''coster." or oostermon-
gers. numbering nearly hfty thousand
la London. Their dress IL peculiar.
generally tight, hors.y looking pants,
and short, tight fitting jacket, with an
indesci liable Kind ii skull-cAp n .
capillary covering. from beneath which
their closely-cropped hair peers forth.
having all the appearance of the jail.
crop" A ''co.tcr" Invariably smokes
and drinks, using for the former luxury
n highly .discolored. short-very short
clay pipe. while bis bibulous Appe-
lite leads him 10 indulge usually In
deep draughts Of porter, after which he
bctAkes himself To gin.
What IL q costermongcrf Well. q
cortcrmongcr may be- defined ~ = peri.
patetic vendcr of vegetables and fruits.
The '~'coe,cr's" outfit consists usually
Of . donkey. or ~ they In their slang.
term the animal. . ''mokc." and . non
dcscript kind of vehicle, half way be
tween q hand truck and q spring
wagon. Early In the morning the
''coster" starts OF 10 one OF the vcge-
table and fruit markets ri the metropo-
lis and displays his kcenncss In bar
ginning for the various Vegetables ~
the season which he can dispose ~.
The costers are an exclusive set. Like
other low tribes they boast n language
or secret tongue In which they hide
Nl..s .Aasan.A ara H.
private affairs. This coster speech
offers no ncw fact OF approach Ia n fact
for the philologist. II l. not, very re-
marksble for originality or construc-
ton. neither l. IL spioed with low humor
n other slang; hui the costermongcrs
boast that IL Is only known to them
selves; that I, Il far beyond the Irish
and puzzles the Jews.
The main principle 81 this language
is spelling the words backward. or
rather pronouncing them rudely back
ward. Sometimes. for the sake 81 har-
mony. IN extra syllsblc IL prctxed or
annexed. aud now aud hen the word n
given quite n different turn In render
ing IL backward from what the unitia-
tod person would have expected. One
costermonger told your correspondent
that he often gave the end % = word \
new turn. just as IL he had chorused on,
with u FOL DE rol. Beside. the coster
has his own idea Of the proper way VI
spelling words, and h not tn be con
WINGED but by an ovcrw belming show
Of learning. and frequently not then.
for he's . very headstrong fellow. BY
the time . costcr has spelled an ordina-
~ word Of two or three syllablcs In a
proper way. and then spelled IL back.
ward, IL has become one no etymolo-
gisi could unravel. The word 'gener.
alixe.' for Instance. Is considered TO be
shi ling spelled backward. Sometimes
slang and cant words are introduced.
and even these. when imagined 10 be
tolerably well known. are pronounced
backward. Other words. such as gen.
q shilling, and 'fiatch.' n half.penny.
help 10 confuse the outsider. After a
time this back language or back slang.
themselves, seem to be regarded by
the rising generation 81 street sellers
as a distinct language.
The women use II sparingly. but the
girls are well acquainted with H. The
addition of an -" always forms IN.
plural, 80 that this IL another source IL
complication; for instance, woman In
the back-slang h mawmow and namus.
but nAmow 10 women. not nemow
The coster. then. in undoing the back
slang and turning the word nAmus once
more into English. would have suman.
. novel and extraordinary rendering
of IN Where . word IL rcfrse-
tory in submitting TO the back render
ing. as in the case 81 pound. letters are
made 10 change position for the sake Of
harmony. Thus we have dunop. q
pound. instead of dnoup, which nobody
could pleasantly pronounce
This singular ~bAckslAng has been In
use nearly fifty years. II 10 soon &C
quired. and 10 principally used by the
co~tsr-mongcrs for communicating the
secrets ~ their street trAdings. the cost
and profit u their goods and for keep.
ing their natural enemies. the police,
In the dark.