The Portland daily press., 1881-09-24
The Genesis of Slang.
Some of the Popular Phrases of Bygone
Days.
IN. Y. SUM-

The tendencv OF Americans is and has neen
for many years toward quaint and expressive
s'slang" for the terse expressions OF Thought
A very few years ago it was popnlarly sup
posed that only the lower classes of society in
dulged in this form of expression. But II
seems at present to peryade all grades ana the
Young lady of Murray Hill will talk OF Ups
al Jerome park In the most nonchalant way,
and suggest that you take a tumoie, OF
"piye as q rest" with the most ingrained OF
Gotham's coarser workings.
Tracing those popular slang phrases to their
origin constitutes an interesting study, and Of
ten leads the explorer into the deepest depshs
OF literature. Doubtless thousands of persons
have heard the expression, "What will Mrs.
Grundy say?" Yet not one in thousand -
aware that it is found in the first scene OF Nor
toms fayorite comedy, "Speed the Plow'
ssToo thin" is often heard when the hearer
wishes to express disbelief in the story, and
it may be found in "Peregrine Pickle" which
was published in London in 1851. The ex-
preston is also to be found in Shakespeare's
ssHenry VIII, scene l. Of act v. "All cry
| ana no WOOL, q very common slang express
sion is traced directly to canto l., part l., OF
| Buffers ssHudibras." The original reads:
COR shear swine, all CRY and no WOOL
For the very eften heard expression, what
are YOU giving me?' indicative OF disbellef-no
| less source than the Bible is responsible. Ii
may be found in the 38th chapter Of Genesis.
BY slightly twisting the words in pelns ru-
ereD in that good old Latin author, virgil we
arrive at the saying ito go to the bad; hes
brick'' indicates that the person spoken OF Is
6. good fellow and dates from an expression
of King Angesilaus whoson certain occa-
sion, pointing toshis army, said: "Ihey are tne
walls of Sparta. Every man there Is a brick.
ssThere's millions in it, comes from Marx
| Twains novel, 'sThe Gilded Age, and Bret
Harte is responsible for ways that are dark
and tricks that are vain" Many Of the slang
| phrases in use are local. New York is respon-
| sible for 'sYou bet your boots" Yes, stree,
| horsef1y,'' "Knights of the green CLOTH" and
| thousand like expressions.
TWENTY-FIVE years ago one of the popular
| phrases was 'Skysey, take the but" 1t had
| its origin in an expression by Frank Chanfrau
as Nose in s'Life in New York, q very popu..
| lar play OF the period. "By large majority
is found in VOLTS play Of 1.-The Mighty Do u
lar "Step down and OUT Is attributed to
! Henry Ward Beecher, and "Not for Joe IS
| the refrain of a London Concert Hall song
| which was very popular ten years ago, Dog
| gone it, was DO m in Indiana.
From the immortal Shakespeare great
| amount OF slang is derived. In "Othello'' the
| bard speaks of ''crocodiles tears" he also
speaks of ga party and from the exclamation
| OF Hamlet, 'You can't play on me, comes
"You can't play that on me, !" meaning that the
| person does not accept the truth of the story:
TILES gone on her." is only another way Ct
| putting Poloniuss words regarding Hamlet, s
| love for Ophelia, that he "was gone; Jar
| gone
"Giving him taffy,' is popularity supposed to
| be of recent origin, but it is really 200 years
old, and has been in use in London for fully
| that period.
Among the men of note of the past decade
| who have contributed to the slang of the peri
| cd may be mentioned Andrew johnson, whose
promise, 'Tll be your Noses" i still heard ard
mouths pastor. ssGone where the woodbine
| twineth, 2 was invented by Jim Fiske. "To
hell across LOTS belongs to Brigham Young
| 'sYhere it would do the most good" came
| from Cakes Ames when speaking OF the plac-
ing Of the credit mobilier stock The a..
| mighty dollar may be found in lrying's
wo9ks. and ssTruthfuf James" comes from Bret
Harte. '"rhe regular Ia m tum propah capah,
was evolved from the intellectual true inward
ness Of Archy Gordon, feuilletonist and jour-
| nalist OF this CITY.