Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-11-24
vHESLANG OFLONDON
re sliYMlNG FEATURE, WHICH IS
PECULIAR TO ENGLAND.

al, BIZ Any Mcans-A Dissertation ON an
Unknown Science.
Evway of introducing the subject let
$40 rranliso that there is certain school
= tbinscrs-dwcllcr for the most mart
:, rc-v questionable districts of Lon.
,or-vho hold that policeman in plain
clothes. dress he ever so plainly, NAV
.rvav, be known as such by q cursory
ir.nrrtlon of his boots. Whether this
op;rian is well founded know not, but
y. existence, and also the existence of
rbyming slang, was brought to my no.
,,ca not long ago in Oxford street-not
rho oxford street of west enders and
=, Quincy, but Oxford street 'out
s,rpncy way" happened to be rather
.-outly shod, and l wear spectacles,
which are, suppose, often assumed for
the purpose of disguise, and as passed
by group of i'll favored loiterers at a
street corner l distinctly heard one of
them remark to another: i" 'Ere's tee
n'ver dick is goggles and is blanky
da,sics:"
walked quickly away, but the words
remained in my mind. The opinion they
conveyed, except rs affording proof that
the speaker belonged to the school of
thinkers above alluded to, did not inter.
g.; me so much as the words themselves.
Tee" IL OF course merely an abbrevi-
a-ion for detective. Much might be
written about dick" 1t is pure Ro
many. connected, as every student of
tic Sanskrit ''drish'' and tho Hindoo-
stance "dckhno," meaning ito see"
Eut "daisios"-bcing the slang term
and. as ! shall show. the rhyming slang
term f0g "boots"-isa good specimen of
amo,t singular perversion of the English
language. which is well worth the at
t,rti0n Of any ono who cares about lin
rustic oddities.
Rhvmiug slang is peculiar to England
sud, believe, 10 London. The French
language, so rich i'll slang, does not ad-
nit Of such treatment. 1t is of modern
c-igin. and doubt if any trace of it is
% be found i'll the records, which are
fairly plentiful, of the slang of last cen.
tg-y. Nor do recollect any instance of
10, appearance in the works of Dickens,
Harrison Ainswoyth or Bulwer Lytton.
Rhyming slang expressions may he
divided into two classes-the simple
and the complex. The simple method
consists in substituting for word some
other word or phrase which rhymes with
r. Not that every one is free to choose
his own rhymes. Usage has established
certain rhyming slang equivalents for
certain words, and, although no doubt
new rhymes are always being intro
ducrd On trial, yet when one has become
recognized as belonging to the dialect
u can never be dislodged. For instance,
the rhyming slang for "a pocket" is
',kvr0cl,et, and neither docket nor
socket would he tolerated The eyes
aro ''mince pies" the ear and the nose
are, eddy enough, the frosty and
clear and the Il suppose. How, when
and why these particular rhymes were
universally adopted will never be
known. As Professor Dowden remarks
IN connection with n very different SUBJ
Jet, To tho eyes of no diver amid the
wrecks Of time will that curious tails
man slcam." Who was Charlie Pres
'''' lfIIllOTtstllLcu aS
synonym for ''waistcoat?" And why
should coat and trousers DO concealed
Under such circumstances as I'm
ah1at and 'round the 'ouses?''
Other examples of what have called
the simple form of rhyming slang are
cat and mouse" (house), elephants
trunk ldrunk), bull and COW" (row).
and I'm SO frisky" whisky. But if 1
am asked how daisies can be the
rhyming slang for ''boots" l answer
That we have here an example Of tine
second or complex form of the jargon,
Vllch finds its highest development in
t.!' mouths of experts. Having got your
rnyme-say, ''sllyrocket" for pocket
You are permitted, within certain i'll
H"lined limits. to make your slang
Equivalent shorter and more occult by
omitting the rhyming portion. Thus
pocket becomes "sEy" and daisy
roots, - the simple or first standard form
Tor boots" is contracted into "dai-
Sizes In the Same way no master of tho
language would ever give brandy or gin
thtir primitive names, Jack the dan
o or Brian O'Lynn.' The one is
always referred to as Jack" the other
rs Brian II will be seen that words
treated i'll this way must have tend
'h'F' IN constant use, to lose sight, as
" We're, of their original forms and to
.''omo merged in the great mass of or
'lnary prosaic slang. For instance, in
"rt !, scene I, of 1.-The Cotton King"
''iic ono says that somebody has "a
,Teak of black across the chivvy." An
AHoiphi audience knows, of course, that
chirvy means face, but the earlier
form of the word, chevy chase" be-
ing now rarely if ever used, the rhym-
ing original is probably known to few
pi'ygocrs, and tho word "chivvy" is
mus IN danger of being left with no
more poetry about it than is attached to
sucn terms as ''conk" OF "boko," the
Vrnlnary slang for nose
We hear great deal about the way
III winch slang has invaded our CONVEX
s1tion and our literature; but, in spite
VI the recent popularization of the cos
YER doubt if much rhyming slang is