Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-04-11
SLANG AND ITS ORIGIN.
THERE ARE NEVER ANY ROWS OVER
AUTHORSHIP CLAIMS.

fhrases and Gags" That Live for Briei
Period In Popularity-No One Acknowl
edges Having Evolved the Most Striking
and Funny Sayings
Ibid it ever strike you" said Capt
Fitzmaurice, an old retired navigator
with quizZical turn of mind, show odd
it is that the origin of all the gags and
slang phrases that run riot fora spell from
Cape Cod to the Golden Gate never be.
come known 1t is odd, now, isn't it?"
The reporter acknowledged that it was.
Because, don't you see, continued the
captain, 1.-The people of this generation
have not, among their other failings and
shortcomings. the failing of excessive
modesty. Every man, in fact who does,
says or thinks something worth mention,
or thinks he thinks, for that matter, gen.
orally comes to the front and acknowl.
edges that it was he and none other who
said, did or thought this or that Often
the trouble is to find out who was the
real original Jacobs among them all, so
numerous are the claims put forth by
different persons that they are the think
ers, sayers and doers of something re-
markable. Now, with all this being true,
take it to be an extraordinary thing
that in not single instance has there
been man or woman coming forward
and acknowledging the authorship of
any of these terse, picturesque or rough
ly slangy expressions that sweep the
country like Il whilwind and then die
out, leaving no trace.
SOME OLD ONES.
And it is remarkable how sometimes
they die out as quickly as they spread
If track were kept Of them all-or a reg
ular register by somebody-this assertion
would be more susceptible of proof. But
can recall number of cases of this
Find, even without having anything tc
aid my memory. You remember that gag
about How do you sagatiate? or, How
is your corporosityy They spread over
the country inside of Il month, being in
everybody's mouth; and then they Just
as quickly sank into the bottomless pit
of the past. ] venture to say not one
man in thousand could recall either OF
the two queer expressions on the spur OF
the moment if required to do So 1t was
the same with that old Tom Collins gag,
the original of the McGinty gag of today.
That was put on its legs early in 1874 in
New. York. think, and within three
weeks it had travelled as far as San Fran.
cisco. A man couldn't put his nose into
the street in the spring and summer OF
that year without hearing some reference
TO the mythical Tom Collins. and a score
of topical songs were started at Tony Pas.
tors, and at the other variety theatres and
concert halls, all with Tom Collins in
them. In the fall of that year Tom Col.
Inns was as dead as Il door nail. with nc
hope Of ever resurecting him. There
have been, to my personal recollection, a
long string of similar words or catch
phrases coined, set in general circulation
and then squelched within the past
twenty years alone. Others have lost
much of their one time popularity, but
have survived after a fashion, like
Where did you get that hat: Cheese it!
Come Off Get on to his nibsr And the
band played Annie Laurie!' johnny, get
your gun! No tlics on him! Has youI
mother any more like you?' They all dc
it, Have you got the mate to it, Shoot
that hat! Pull down the blinds!' Break
away! and a whole lot of others You
remember when that shibboleth Chest.
nutsr was first manufactured2 No? Well,
neither do |. 1t seems a century ago
the expression appears to us to be as old
as Methuselah. And yet it can't be SC
many years ago when it first originated.
Remember the chestnut bells and the
lively home industry that sprang up in
that article-makers and dealers even
advertising heavily to effect sales, and
territory for the sales agents being
farmed out, much as it is by the sewing
machine companies for their agents.
Yes, all that happened quite recently,
and where do you hear chestnut bell
tinkling now? Nowhere. 1t has done
its duty
GAGS" QUICK TRIP.
AT the same time" ventured the re.
porter, interrupting the smooth current
OF the old captains talk, there seem tc
be some slang phrases and slangy songs
that are enjoying green old age even
today
These are eXceptions-rare eXcep.
tions-to the general rule. And when
think of the huge mass of short lived
slang expressions, many of them enjoy.
ing existence no longer than those sand
flies we have with us during summer
day, these exceptions seem all the rarer.
There are certain words which arise in
this same sudden and impersonal way,
such as dude and 'mugwump, etc,
and which fit the needs of the hour as
well rs the needs of aflertime. Those, of
course, stay with us. They really supply
long felt want and aye made to do per.
mancnl duty. But even for these,
so far as know, it is always
impossible to find responsible au-
thors of their being. The newspapers
and magazines will, subsequently, take
the thing up and give derivations of
these words and expound their origin
and birthplace, but even they have never
been able to find the real father of any
of these graphic expressions. And that,
/ repeat, is singular. No more so, how
ever, than the extraordinarily rapid man.
ner in which these words or phrases be-
come, for time at least, the common