Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-02-23
GIRLS WHOUSE SLANG
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO
COLLEGE GRADUATES.

Slang In the Mouths of Men Is Bad Enough,
but When Well Bred Young Women Are
Addicted to the Habit 1t becomes Abso-
luteIy Intolerable.
Dear girls, avoid slang. There are so
many reasons why you should not use
it, and only one excuse in its favor that
have ever heard from any reliable au-
thority! Here it is:
Oliver Wendell Holmes, in one of his
racy breakfast table talks, says: Don't
think I undervalue the proper use and
application of cant word or phrase. 1t
adds piquancy to conversation as
mushroom does to a sauce" That this
is the idea most young people have
when they first begin to use it all will
admit, but unfortunately it is like mod
crate drinking in its tendency, so insin-
uating in its growth as habit, and they
become SO addicted to it, Ito follow
out the simile), that it seems impossible
to make themselves Ineligible without
it. have heard Young ladies q talk
ing who seemed to have an entire vo-
cabulary composed of slang which
would be as utterly uuintelligible to "a
well bred English or Scotch girl as
Chinese or Greek.
Toquote thevateran philosopher again:
''These expressions come to be algebraic
symbols Of minds which have grown TOO
weak or indolent to discriminate They
are the blank checks Of intellectual
bankruptcy. You may fill them up with
whatever idea You like. Itmakes no diff
ference, for there are no funds in the
treasury upon which they are drawn"
That of course is very severe, but
have often heard quite clever and well
educated young ladies using those odious
blank checks to such an extent that
any one not knowing them intimately
might readily have supposed their Fin
tellectual bank empty.
wonder what DR.. Holmes would have
thought of an actual conversation be-
tween two young ladies in good society.
so called, who sat behind me in the grand
stand at baseball match last summer.
can give it almost verbatim:
Say, Jen abbreviated form of Jennie;
life is too short to use the whole of
'snide' in the yellow striped get up?'"
ooh, come OFF the roof! To pretend
you don't know Cob. &C. o. 3. are the
young gentleman's initials wittily CON
verted into COBB After the way you
went for him at the ball last week!
You can't STUFF me with that kind of
gag, Miss Innocent"
ooh, is that Cob? He must be off his
nut to rig himself in such 'swagger'
way"
"Oh, Jen, look at Cob now! He is hor-
ribly ratified Mabe Short for MabeD
'slung glance at him, and he lost his
head as we'll as his base"
''Is she mashed on Cob"
"Ha, ha! Pull down your vestr Do
you think Mabeis of her base? She likes
him 'to trot her round and stump up the
needfuI for ice cream, etc, but she likes
Alf Jones better all the saua-ea.' You
can bet your sweet life she won't marry
Cob"
Look at him now. 'You bet he's 'hus-
Ting"
sect there, Eli" "Ruddigore!" That
was boss rum" and so on ad inituIn.
I'D naUseum. All this III perfectly audi
bic voice. and they were seemingly I'M
aware that there was anything vulgar or
out of the Esual IN their conversation.
Probably there was rot, and yet those two
Young ladies Were college graduates and
were possessed Of more than average abil-
ity.
If you think this description exayser-
ated, listen critically to the next IN
restrained conversation between two
young ladies whom you know to be
guilty of using slang freely. fancy
hear you say. But never could talk
like that" Take care! Just as conf
dent ones as you have begun by using a
few slang words-"they are so cute and
expressive, you Rnow!'-and ended bv
forming a vulgar and enslaving habit
which tool, great strength OF mind and
firm perseverance to break. The worst
stage of slang devotee is when she
grows utterly unconscious of or infif-
fercnt to the habit There Is. very Etzla
hope Of improvement for her. The only
safe way Is never 10 form the habit :; :
all.
Dear young girls, on you the Tan
guagc Of the future IN great measure
depends. GoD aTo TIE coming mothers
and teachers nd VIII have an I'll pow
erful influence III noldiug the la2,-y.f-c
of the next generation to come and u,1.a-
bcrlcss generations after that. Sec t. =.
that it is Il language OF Intelligence.
grace and pUriyv.-liiss Frank Davis Il
Wives and Daughel-.
The Value Of u Guosi address.
Young men shoJlld study 10 talk wei
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