Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-07-18
NICKNAMING STOCKS.
PARLANCE OF BUSY BROKERS WHO
TALK QUICK AND TO THE POINT.

SecurltieS, w men C1ten EaVe Lengthy II
tles-Big Concerns With Little Names,
Some of Which Are Funny.
Things move so fast and breath is so
precious down in Wall street that the
brokers have to resort to O shortening
up of the names of tho stocks listed on
the exchange. To designate them by
their long winded titles in the course of
the days business would be absolutely
impossible; hence the abbreviations,
some of which are facetious, and to the
uninitiated meaningless. The Stock Ex-
change list contains the names of 76
different stocks, for almost all of which
there are characteristic authorizations
For instance, when buying and sell
ing or giving orders to clerks over tele-
phones, brokers cannot take time to re-
peat such long name as Chicago, Rock
Island and Pacific. They simply say
"Rocky," or ''R. l." Another long
drawn out name is that of the Richmond
and West Point Terminal Railway and
Warehouse company, which is boiled
down in brokers' parlance to ''R. 7. :"
Columbus, Hooking Valley and Toledo
Railroad company is corrupted into
shocking Valley" while General Elec-
trio company is spoken of as General
Elec." ''Pede'' is much quicker and
easier said than Peoria, Decatur and
Evansville, yet the former means the
latter.
Some of the other stocks which have
had their names trimmed down to suit
the convenience or fancy of Wall street
are the American Sugar Refining COM
pany, which is called Sugar Chica-
go Gas Trust company, "Gas," and
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy rail
road, Burlington. The preferred stock
of the Northern Pacific Railroad COM
pany is known as ''Nipper. d" Toledo,
Ann Arbor and North Michigan is eas,
lily handled as ''Tan." United States
Rubber company's stock is facetiously
called Rubber Balls' on account OF
the violent manner in which the stock
bounded up and down when it was first
put on the market.
The stock of the Missouri Pacific rail.
road, the favorite property of the Goulds,
is known to Wall street as "Mop.
'"Tommy Dodd'' was the name by
which the stock Of the Toledo, Delphas
ard Burlington Railroad company was
ki>oggn to brokers in Wall street fol-
years. But ifttia is heard Of it now.
But almost every one has heard OF
Nickel Pl6te'' in connection with
railroad, but comparatively few know
that the title is simply the brokers'
nickname of the Eow York, Chicago
and st. Louis railroad The name orig
mated when the road was constructed,
everything connected with it being Of
the best and ''all nickel plated" as
the saying Went then. ''The Big Four
is the common title of the Chicago,
Cincinnati, Columbus and st. Louis rail
road by reason of the four big cities
which the road connects ~. P" is
used for Union Pacific and Erie" il
place Of New York, Lake Erie and West
ern Railroad company
The stock of the National Lead com
pany is spoken of as Lead and al
times, when the price of the stock is de.
clining or at standstill, brokers and.
spectators tell each other that '1ead is
heavy much to the mystifcation OF
the greenhorn who never heard of lead
being other than heavy.
Whisky" sometimes ''whiskers, %
which is the brokers name for the stock !
of the Distilling and Cattle Feeding
company, is another term which has
often caused both fun and trouble |
Some time ago we'll known broker, il !
writing to a customer who is total |
abstinance advocate, spoke of "that
whisky you got from me-. " The broker
meant a block of the stock of the Distill- !
ing and Cattle Feeding company which
he had sold to the customer, but in the
letter he used the street term of "whis. !
KY"
The customers wife, who is also
strict on the temperance platform, got
hold of the letter. After giving her bet
ter half curtain lecture ON the evil OF
madam hied herself to the
brokers' Office in Broad street, and
shaking the letter in his face demanded
in the presence Of the Office employees
what he meant by giving her husband
whisky and leading him to become
drunkard.
Telegraph" is the Wall street alias
of Western Union Telegraph company's
stock, as is "Cordage," 2" or '"Twine, }"
Of the stock Of the National Cordage
ed. and II. - means the Del
aware and Hudson Canal company; "St.
Paul." or Paul" the Chicago, Mil
waukee and st. Paul, and "K. IT," OF
kitty" the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas railroad
The Stock Exchange is more COM
monty termed ''The Board' by the
and the condition of the stock
market they also designate in their own
manner. The market may be either
lively, strong, steady, feverisb, tired or
sick. The bottom may be knocked out
Of it, or it may be dead. The term
lamb was applied to the man with
more money than knowledge of the
ways of the stock market who went in
to Wall street to speculate. He was al
most always Invariably shorn of all he
had, but OF late years the genuine lamb
mas heen an unknown quantity in the
et.-New York World