The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1879-02-25
An Inverted Language.

One Of the peculiar types Of humanity,
ays London correspondent Of the ~.
Louis Post, that are 10 be met in this
metropolis is the "coster," or coster-
monger. At the present time the coster-
mongers number nearly fifty thousand
in London. Their dress is peculiar,
generally tight, horsey-lOoking pants,
and shirt, tight-ftting jacket, with an
indescribable skull cap rs a capillary
covering from beneath which their
closely cropped hair peeps forth, having
all the appearance Of the Gail crop" A
"coster' invariably smokes and drinks,
using for the former a highly discolored,
short-very short-clay pipe, while his
bibulous appetite leads him 10 indulge
usually in deep draughts Of porter, after
which he betakes himself 10 gin,
What is costermonger2 Well, q
costermonger may be defined as perl
patetic vendor Of vegetables and fruits.
The "coster's" outfit consists usually OF
donkey, or rs they in their slang term
the animal. "moke," and a nondescript
kind of vehicle, half way between n
hand truck and spring wagon. Early
In the morning the "coster" starts of 10
one Of the vegetable and fruit markets
of the metropolis and displays his keen
ness IN bargaining Tor the various Vege-
tables Of the season which hc can dis
pose Of.
The "costers" are an exclusive set.
Like other low tribes they boast of a Ian
guage or secret tongue in which they
hide their earnings, movements and
other private affairs. This Coster speech
offers no new fact or approach to fact
for the philologist. 1t is notyery remark
IL tufN - ION
neither is il spiced with low humor as
other slang; but the costermongers boast
that il is only known To themselves !;
that il is FAR beyond the Irish, and puz-
zles the Jews.
The main principle Of this language is
smelling the words backward, or rather
pronouncing them rudely backward.
Sometimes. for the sake Of harmony, an
extra SYLLABLE is prefxed or annexed,
and occasionally the word is given quite
A different turn in rendering il backward
from what the uninitiated person would
have expected. One costermonger told
your correspondent that he often gave
the end Of n word new turn, just as If
lac had chorused out with a fol de rol.
Beside. the coster has his own idea Of
the proper way Of cpelling words, and is
not 10 be convinced but by an over
whelming show of learning, and fre
Quently not then, for he's very head
strong fellow. BY the time coster ha.
spelled an ordinary word of two or three
syllables in the proper way, and theI
spelled il backward, it has become 1
tangled knot that no etymologist coult
unravel. The word generalize, for in
stance, is considered TO be shilling
spelled backward. Sometimes slang anC
cant words are introduced, and ever
these, when imagined to be tolerably
we'll known, are pronounced backward
Other words, such rs gen, n shilling, and
flatch, n half-penny, help 10 confuse the
outsider After time this back language
or back slang, as tits called by the coster
mongers themselves, seems 10 be re-
garded by the rising generation Of street
sellers as distinct language.
The women use il sparingly, but the
girls are generally well acquainted with
II. The addition Of an IS" always forms
the plural, so that this is another source
Of complication for instance, woman
i'm the back-slang is namow and namus,
but namows is women, not neinow.
The coster, then, i'm undergoing the back
slang and turning the word namus once
more into English, would have suman, n
novel and extraordinary rendering Of
woman. Where q word Is refractory in
submitting TO the back rendering, as in
the case Of pound, letters are made 10
change position for the sake Of harmony.
Thus we have dunop pound, instead
Of dnuop, which nobody could pleasantly
pronounce.
This singular back slang has been in
use nearly fifty years. IL is soon acquired,
and is principally used by the coster-
mongers for communicating the secrets
Of their street tradings, the cost and
profit Of their goods and for keeping
their natural enemies, the police, in the
dark. Cool the esclop" look at the
police) is often said among them when
one Of the constabulary makes his
appearance.