Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1889-10-09
ORIGIN OF SOME SLANG.

This may be called IN one sense the age
Of slang. But after all what Is called
slang 10 frequently the giving OF q new
meaning 10 old words or the invention Of
new words from old roots. The slang OF
to-day becomes the elegant language OF
tomorrow. 1t is interesting to note
how many OF the commonest words and
even phrases which were once regarded
as slangy and inelegsnt became part OF
the polite language of the times. Words,
like lives, have q biography. Mary
words, indeed, have histories which are
histories OF important persoDagee and
events In the affairs Of the world. This
makes the history Of q word often as in-
teresting and as valuable as that Of H.
dividusls.
dun" Is Q word now whose meaning
Is known to every one who understands
the Eng .ish language. Too many wish
they did not know II. Yet at the begin
ming Of this century II was unknown as
verb. About that time q constable in
England named John Dun became cele.
brated as 9 FIRST class collector OF bad ac-
counts. When others would fail to col
lect bad debt Dun would be sure to get
Il out Of the debtor. So well known did
this become that people from the sur
rounding country sent him their ac-
counts when they could not collect them.
1t soon passed into currant phrase that
when person owed money and did not
pay when asked, he would have to be
"DunBed." Hence II soon became com
mon In such cases to cay, "lou will
have TO Dun 20 aDd-so II you wish TO col
lect your money"
"BooM" IS A NEW ONE.
Until the nomination OF Franklin
Pierce for the presidency the word TOUT
elder" was unknown. The committee on
credentials came in to make its report
and could not get iu,o the hall because OF
the crowd OF people who were not menu
beIs OF the convention. The chairman of
the convention asked II the committee
was ready to report, and the chairman OF
the committee answered: Eyes, Mr..
Chairman, but the committee Is unable
to get inside on accounted the crowd and
pressure OF the outsiders." The news.
paper reporters took up tie word and
used 1t.
Boom" in It's new eense OF meaning
9 popular clamor for q man, or for any
Ques Ion or movement, Ia Q recent word
being first used as such IN 1880 Grant
was being run for third term. This
brought bitter opposition. One paper
said the movement was like boom
across swollen stream, taking In a !
that was worth having. A 81. Louis
paper took it up, and said the third term
movement was properly called n boom,
as 1t rakei In everything on the top OF
the muddy stream OF politics, mostly
trash and scum This gave new mean
Ing to the word.
"Chestnuts," in reference to repeating
stories which are old, ie new and not
much can be- said in its favor except
that, heing q word That 10 not incl CANT
either In sound or origin and expressing
so much IN two sy.lablee, 1t has probat ly
come to stay with u.s. Its origin is not
positively knoa and only two probable
sources are given. One is that some
shrewd wit, seeing an analogy between
the propensity OF joke to become stale
and fat quickly and the chestnut to be-
come wormy In few days, applied the
word chestnut to joke when repeated
too often and palmed of as new on q
company which ind heard 1t 30 frequent
ly as to become bored.
This may be its origin, but many arc
inclined TO attribute 1t to the other al
legged source, to wit: That a theatrical
party, travel Ing on train aud trying Il
beguile the weary hours by reading and
telling stories, bought q lot OF chestnuti
at station 10 help psss the time. A
member OF the company proposed tina,
they tell stories and that whoever told a
story that had been Id recently should
be pelted with chestnutss A little bel
In the party was to be rung whenever 8
stale joke was perpetrated as q sigma
that all were TO fling a chestnut at thu
offender.