The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-04-17
AN INVERTED LANGUAGE.


One Of the most peculiar types Of humanity
says "a London correspondent of the st. Loui
Post, that are to be met in this metropolis is the
"coster," or costermonger. At the present tim.
the costermongeTs number nearly fifty Thousand
in London. Their dress is peculiar, generally
tight horsey looking pants and shirt tight-itting
jacket with an indeScribable skull cap as a capil
larry covering from beneath which their closely
cropped hair peeps forth, having all the appear
snce Of the 'jlil CROP" A "coster" invariably
smokes and drinks, using for the former highly
disColored, short-Very short-clay pipe, while
his bibulous appetite leads him to indulge usual.
ly in deep draughts Of porter, after which he be.
takes himself to GIN
What is q costermonger2 Well, costermonger
may be defined as peripatetc vender of yegeta-
bes and fruits. The "coster s" outfit consists usu
ally of donkey, or as they in their slang
term the animal, "moke," nondescript kind OF
vehicle, half way between hand truck aud q
spring wagon. Early in the morning the "coster'
starts off to one Of the vegetable and fruit mar.
kets of the metropolis and displays his keenness
in bargaining for the various vegetables of the
season which he can dispose Of
The 'eOsters" are an exclusive set Like other
low tribes they boast of language or secret ton
que In which they hide their earnings, move.
ments and other private affairs. The cOster speech
offers no new fact or approach to a fact for the
philologist. 1t 10 not very remarkable for origin.
ality or construction, neither is 1t spced with low
humor as other slang; but the costermongers
boast that it is only known to themselves that 1t
Is far beyond the Irish, and puzzles the Jews.
The main principle of this language is spelling
the words backward, or rather prOnouDcing them
rudely backward. Sometimes, for the sake Of
harmony an extra syllable is preAxed or annexed
and occasionally the word is given quite differ
ent turn in rendering 1t backward from what the
uniniHated person would have expected. One
costermonger told your correspondent that he Of
ten gave the end Of word q new turn just as II
he had chOrused out with a fol de roll Beside,
the ooster has his own idea of the proper way OF
spelling words, and is not to be convinced but by
an overwhelming show of learning, and fre-
quently not then, for he's very head strong fel.
low. By the time coster has spelled an ordinary
word of two or three syllables In the proper way,
aud then spelled 1t backward, 1t has become a
tangled knot that no etymologist could unrsvel'
The word generalize, for instance, is considered
to be shilling spelled backward. Sometimes
slang and cant words are introduced, and even
these, when imagined 10 be toleIably we'll known
are pronounced backward. Other words, such as
gen, shilling and fatch. halt-penny, help to
confuse the outsider. After timo this back Ian.
guage or back slang as 1. is called by the coster.
mongers themselves, seems to be regarded by the
rising generation of street sellers as distinct Ian
guage.
The women use It sparingly, but the girls are
generally well acquainted with It, The addition
of an IS" always forms the plural, so that is an
other source of complication; for instance, wo
man In the back slang is namow and namus, but
namows is women mot nemow. The coster, then, In
undergoing the backslang and turning the word
namus once more into English, would have su-
man, "a novel and extraordinary rendering Of
woman. Where q word Is refractory In submit
ting to the back rendering as In the case ofpOund
letters are made to change position for the sake
Of harmony. Then we have dunop, pound, In
stead Of dnuop, which nobody could pleasantly
pronounce.
This singular back slang has been In use nearly
fifty years 1t Is soon acquired, and Ia principally
used BY the costermongers for communicating SO
crets OF their sres tradlngs the cost and profit Of
their goods aud for keeping their natural enc.
miles, the police, in the dark. "Cool the esclop"
Oook at the pollca), is often said among them
when one Of the conStabulaTy makes his appear.
Ance.