The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1893-03-08
GIRLSWHOUSE SLANG
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO
COLLEGE GRADUATES.
Slang In the Mouths of Men l. Bad Enough.
but whea Wei Bred YoznE Women Are
Addicted to the Habis It Becomes Abso-
iutcIy Intolerab.e.

but When Well Bred YoznS Women Are
Addicted to the Habit 1t Becomes Abso-
iuteIy Intolerab,e-
Dear girls, avoid slang. There are so
many reasons Why you should not use
it, and only one excuse in its favor that
I have ever heard from any reliable au-
thority, Here It is:
Oliver Wendell Holmes, IN one OF his
raey breakfast table talks, says. Don't
think underyalue the proper use and
application OF a cant word or phrase. II
adds piquancy 10 conversation as q
mushroom does to q sauce." That this
is the idea most young people have
when they first begin 70 use It all viii
admit, but unfortunately it is ike mod
crate drinking IN It's tendency, so insin-
uating in its growth as a habit, and they
become so addicted to it" TO follow
out the sinlile), that It seems impossible
to make themselves ineligible without
1t. have heard young ladies q talk
ing who seemed 10 have an entire vo-
cabulary composed OF slang which
would be as utterly unintelligible 10 a
well bred English or Scotch girl as
Chinese or Greek
ToquOte the veteran 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 FIJI them up with
whatever idea you Ike. Itmakes 10 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 ''in-
tellectual bank empty.
Iwonder what DIR. 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 1t almost verbatim:
Say, Jen abbreviated form Of Jennie.
life is too short 70 use the whole Of q
persons name), who IS the fly looking
'slide' in the yellow striped get up"
''Oh, come of the roofF To pretend
you don't know Cob. &C. o. B. are the
young gentleman's initials wittily con
verted into 'Cob.D After the way you
went for him at the ball last week!
You can't stuff ne with that kind Of
gag, Miss Innocent"
"Oh, IS that CObs He must be of his
nut to rig himself In such 'swagger'
way"
"Oh, Jen, look at CObnOwl de Is hor-
ribly 'rattled.' Mabe Cshort for Mabel
'slung a glance at him, and he lost MS
head as well as his base"
is she mashed on CobT'
''Ha, hal Pull down your vestr Do
you think Mabe Is of her baseg She likes
him TO trot her round and stump up the
needfuF for ice cream. etc, but she likes
All Jones better al the ssme-ee.' You
can be. your sweet life she won't marry
Cob"
Look at him now. you bet he's 'hus-
tiingrr
Get there, Ehr' ''Ruddigorer' That
was boss rum and so on al fnitun,
ad nauseun. All this in a perfectly audi
bic voice, and they were seemingly un-
aware that there was anything vulgar or
out Of the usual IN their conversation.
Probably there was not, and yet those two
young ladies were college graduates and
were possessed of more than average abil-
ity.
If you think this description exa agger-
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 sly. But l never could talk
ike that" Take carel Just as conf
dent ones as you have begun by using :
few slang words-''they are so cute and
expressive, you know!r-Snd ended by
forming q vulgar and enslaving habit
which took great strength Of mind and
firm perseverance 10 break. The worst
stage of q slang devOtee IS when she
.rows utterly unconscious Of or indif-
.erent to the habit There IS very little
hope of improvement Tor her. The only
safe way Is never 70 form the habit ct
all.
Dear young girls, on you the ian
guage Of the future" N great measure
depends. You are the coming mothers
and teachers and VIII have an all pow
erful influence in mOlding the language
of the next generation TO come and num-
berless generations after that. See TO II
that it is a language Of intelligence.
grace and purity.-aliss Frank Davis IL
Wives and Daughters