Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-12
HISTORICAL sLAN0,
Some OF the Expressions Coined by the Mas
ter Minda OF literature.

Some Of the Expressions Coined by the Mas
ter Minds OF literature.
From the Kansas City Star.
The present age has q tendency toward sacri-
ficing elegance for aptness in its daily CONVEX
sation and this gives rise to many popular ex-
pressions not in accordance with the rules or
books Of the wise men, which are known as
slang. The word slang is of obscure origin,
probably coming to US from the gypsies.
A''slang-whanger" is q noisy, turbulent fell
low whose language is not Of the best, and
slang itself is generally considered disreputa-
BILE. But there are qualities, classes, distinc-
lions and differences even in slang. There Is
the low, vulgar slang. whose origin is in OBJ
security and whose use Is among the vicious and
degraded. Above this is the dictionary slang
OF known pedigree and traced descent, often
classical.
precise people generally walk around. 1t means
'nobly elevated" especially in character, and
was coined by Sir Walter Scott. Similar to it
are upper ten and upper crust" meaning
the higher class Of society, which are said in
the dictionary to be Americanisms, colloqrial
and low, the former being contracted from
upper ten thousand and the latter carrying
with 1T the suggestive superiority of the fancy
top crust Of a pie.
The "brick" Is merry citizen. rarely one of
q
below the upper crust" in social standing,
but he bears his mediocrity lightly and laughs
his CHEEKY way through the world, often enjoy
ing more than his stiff-starched superiors. He
is a jolly good fellow and never lacks friends.
W. VI. Thackeray first used the word m the sen
tence, Hes dear little brick" "A brick in
his hat is an expression applied to an intoxi-
Gated person, probably from the fact that in
that condition his head feels a. heavy and USE
less as brick would be If worn in the hat.
4 Tha Ok a
Of the genial novelist, but is contraction of
devilkins, diminutive of devil, and therefore
only polite, Sunday school sort of way of say
ing "the devil" Webster calls 1t a vulgar in
terjection. ITO play the devil" means to in
tsrfere with in ruinous way or to initiate the
solemn seriousness by the staid old dictionary
without any signs of disapprobaton. from
which IL may be concluded 1t is good English,
although 1t would not add to the elegance Of
drawing room conversation.
John RUSSELL Bartlett, in his Dictionary of
Americanisms. ia authority for the statement
that ''on his own hook means by himself or
on his own responsibility, and John Milton,
stately and ponderous, Is accused Of having
originated the phrase, ''by hook or crook"
it is in this way that Americans are accused Of
obtaining the almighty dollar" this last being
an expression fathercd by Washington Irving,
which il so apt that it has had large use.
Inc modern use OF the word rats" an an in.
PERFECTION can hardly be explained. Sometimes
1t expresses incredulousness and Is uttered dis
dainfully just after the climax of an exagger-
atod statement. Sometimes it is used to ex.
press disgust and il rightly pronounced is eff
fective Its use as 4 noun has q place in the
dictionary OF slang as one who deserts his party
or associates among printers one who works at
less than established rates,
Lord Stanhope, also known as Lord Mahon,
an English statesman and historian, who died
In 1875. gives this interesting history concern
ing it: 1T CHANGED that not long after the
accession Of the house of Hanover, some Of the
brown, that Is, the German or Norway, rats
were first brought over to this country Tin
some timber, it il said,) and being much
stronger than the black, or till then, the COM
mon rat, they in many places quite extirpated
the Inter. The word (both the noun and the
verb to rat) was first, as we have seen. leveled
nt the converts TO the government OF George ],
but has. by degrees. obtained o wider meaning
and come to be applied to any sudden and Mer-
cenary change in politics"
In the book Of Job, the oldest literature ex-
tant, and according to John J. Ingalls,, "the
highest production Of the human intellect"
appears the sentence II am escaped with
the skin OF my teeth" which is undermined
''by the skin of my teeth" and gives the
idea OF narrow escape, one so close az 70
be just by the thickness of the skin on the
teeth, which is SO thin that no microscopic
has yet been able to find it. ITO cast in
or insults spitefully, would cast a
stone at the exposed teeth OF snarling dog.
Tooth and nail' denotes the manner Of an
action full Of frenzied fury typiiied by biting
and scratching, az when two belligerent cats
make tho fur fly.