The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-07-25
SLANG.

dictionary word, I'm sure. Let's see itt
isn't"
The children dropped their mallets and
rushed into the library to settle the ques.
ton.
"What now, Young whirlwinds?" asked
Mr.. May, looking up from his work.
"0h, l beg your pardon, Uncle Jack, 2"
said Kitty; "but we've snch a habit of slang
that we agreed to fine ourselves five cents
every time we used it, to stop the habit;
and said 'chouse' was slang, and Jack
said it wasn't, and isn't it, Uncle Jack?"
well, it certainly was slang" said Tn
Gle Jack, "but | suppose it isn't now.
though Webster, | believe, calls it low
When a word has beef tolerated in a Ian
guage for nearly three hundred years, and
for half of that time, perhaps, has been
seen in the good society of bred words,
| think it deserves a place. There's an
odd bit of history wrapped up in that
word 'choused, as there SO often is in our
English speech"
Tell us about it, Uncle Jack"
well, you all know how alive England
was in the reign of Elizabeth with the
spirit of adventure and discovery. The
finding of America was still a new wonder
to be gossiped about. There were wars
and expeditions on every side; and every
plucky young Englishman wished to sail
away to frd a new Inheritance with his
ship, or conquer an old one W 18th his sw ord.
A great many young fellows, with more
ambition than money. offered their SER
vices 10 foreign powers. One of these SOL
diers of fortune, Sir Robert Shirley, was
employed by the Grand Se%igneura and King
of Persia, and sent on various missions,
the most important being a commercial
embassy to England. By this time King
James was ON the throne, and anxious to
encourage the trade with Turkey and the
East, which Elizabeth's advisers had be-
gun in a small way, about twenty-five
years before. So this shrewd Sir Robert
sent over a Turkish chiaus, or envoy, in
advance of his own coming, to get the
BOo0 J. VI a piieAo "a tiC
Persian and Turkish trade. The enter
prising chiaus exerted himself so Success
fully thai he pocketed some -four thousand
pounds of their money Ia large sum for
that time), and ran away with it, leaving
his master to stand the loss and the laugh
against him, as best he could; for the
tavern Wits were as much delighted to get
hold of a bit of new slang as you are,
children, and they adopted 'chiaused' (now
become 'choused') in the sense of 'deiraud-
ed, just as you boys, Jack, would nov
say 'chlseled.' l suppose. You will find it
in Ben Johnson and in Shirley as slang,
and in Lander, two hundred years after
ward. as good English. So you see, in the
etymology of one little word you get a
glimpse of English life in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries"
That's bully" began Jack.
Five cents fine for you!' shouted Kitty.
"Oh, know that's slang, and I'll pay
up. But a chap can't break off all at
once. noticed yon said ''plucky,' Uncle
Jack, and we thought plucky was slang.
| suppose We can use it "?
Mr.. May smiled. "Good English, my
ooy," he answered, II take to be the
English of the best usage. Thackeray
was a master, and he used pluck and
'plucky' constantly, -as why shouldn't
he? If heart and hearty are good
words, pluck, and 'plucky.' which come
to us by the same road, certainly are.
Pluck WAS butchers slang once, but it
proved too good a word to lose"
1T seems to me-" said Kitty doubt
fully, that you defend slang, Uncle
Jack,-at least, ancient slang. And mann
mi says it is SO vulgar, and a sign of such
mental poverty, that she has made us
ashamed of it,"
'It's like that old veise about treason,
Kitty" observed young Jack.
"'Treason doth never prosper. What's the
reason?
Why, if it prosper none dare call 1t treason"
Uncle Jack won't recognize new
corners, but when all the nobs take EN-
up, he'll shake hands. | call that time
serving, myself. How do you know, Un-
Gle Jack, that there may not be just as
good fellows in our slang list as ehouse'
or 'plucky.'"
81 don't" said Mr.. May. "But the fact
that your slang SO soon goes out of fashion
is the chief argument against it. It's at
least a year since I've heard you say that's
the kind OF a hair pin | am or 'how's that
for high and perhaps twice as long since
you've threatened to get up on your ear,
or to put a head on anybody. Some new
flowers of speech have grown up in place
of tho forgotten ones. | dare say; but the
chance is that they'll prove equally root
less"
"Well, they were a rum lot, that's a
fact" remarked Jack, regretfully. But
l don't think the new ones are quite so
Hat"
THAT'S the mistake you youngsters
make. You are taken in by the novelty.
Now, it seems to me that money, for ex-
ample, is a good sonorous word, sufficient
for its purpose, and with a pretty bit OF
history attached, for it comes from the