The herald., 1894-11-13
HESLANG OF LONDON
ITS RHYMlNG FEATURE, WHICH Is
PECULIAR TO ENGLAND.

|
of 1t by Any Means-A Dissertation on an
| Unknown Science.
By way of introducing the subject let
me premise that there is certain school
| of thinkers-dwellers for the most part
in very questionable districts of Lon
don-who hold that a policeman in plain
clothes, dress he ever SO plainly, may
| always be known as such by cursory
inspection of his boots Whether this
opinion is well founded I know not, but
its existence, and also the existence of
rhynirg slang. was brought to my no.
tice not long ago in Oxford street-not
the Oxford street of west enders and
De Quincy, but Oxford street "out
Stepney way" happened to be rather
stoutly shod, and l wear spectacles,
which are, 1 suppose, often assumed for
the purpose Of disguise, and as 1 passed
by group of i'll favored loiterers at a
street corner l distinctly heard one of
them remark to another: /" 'Ere's tee.
Dyer dick is goggles and is blanly
daisies?'
/ walked quickly away, but the words
remained in my mind. The opinion they
conveyed, except as affording proof that
the speaker belonged to the school of
thinkers above alluded to- did not inter-
est me so much as the words themselves.
''Tec" is OF course merely an abbrevi-
alton for detective. Much might be
written about "dick. " 1t is pure Ro-
many, connected, as every student of
that attractive language knows, with
the Sanskrit "drish'' and the Hindoo-
stance "dekhno," meaning "to see. "
But "daisies being the slang term
and, as shall show, the rhyming slang
term for ''boots"-is good specimen of
most singular perversion of the English
language, which is we'll worth the at
tention of any one who cares about lin
guistio oddities.
Rhyming slang is peculiar to England
and, 1 believe, to London The French
language, so rich in slang, does not ad-
NIT of such treatment. 1t is of modern
origin, and doubt if any trace of it is
to be found in the records, which are
fairly plentiful, of the slang of last GEN.
tury. Nor do / recollect any instance of
its appearance in the works Of Dickens,
Harrison Ainsworth or Bulwer Lytton
Rhyming slang expressions may be
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
it. 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
now rhymes are always being intro
duced on trial, yet when one has become
recognized as belonging to the dialect
it can never be dislodged. For instance,
the rhyming slang for "a pocket" is
'skyrocket, and neither "locket" nor
socket" would be tolerated. The eyes
are ''mince pies" the ear and the nose
are, oddly enough, the "frosty and
clear" and the II suppose" How, when
and why these particular rhymes were
universally adopted will never be
known. AS Professor Dowden remarks
in connection with very different sub
ject, "To the eyes of no diver amid the
wrecks of time will that curious tails
man gleam." Who was "Charlie Pres
colt, =" whose name is immortalized as
a synonym for "waistcoat?" And why
should coat and trousers be concealed
under such circumstances as "I'm
afioat' and "round the 'ouses?"
Other examples of what have called
the simple form of rhyming slang are
"cat and mousse (house), elephants
trunk" drunk, "bull and cow (row),
and "I'm SO frisky" (whisky). But if I
am asked how daisies" can be the
rhyming slang for 'boots' I answer
that we have here all example of tine
second or complex form of the jargon,
which finds it's highest development in
the mouths of experts Having got your
rhyme-say, "skyrocket" for 'pocket"
you are permitted, within certain i'll
defined limits, to make your slang
equivalent shorter and more occult by
emitting the rhyming portion. Thus
pocket becomes "sky" and "daisy
roots" the simple or first standard form
for "boots," is contracted into "dai-
sizes. % In the same way no master of the
language would ever give brandy or gin
their primitive names, Jack the dan
dy" or Brian O'Lynn." The one is
always referred to as "Jack," p" the other
as Brian" 1t will be seen that words
treated in this way must have tend
ency, in constant use, to lose sight, as
it were, of their original forms and to
become merged in the great mass of Or
dinary prosaic slang. For instance, in
act l, scene l, of ''The Cotton King"
some one says that somebody has "a
streak of black across the chivvy" An
Adelphi audience knows, of course, that
"chivvy" 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
playgoers, and the word "chivvy" is
thus in danger of being left with no
more poetry about it than is attached to
such terms as "conk" or "bol1o," the
ordinary slang for nose.
We hear great deal about the way
in which slang has invaded our CONVEX
sation and our literature; but, in spite
of the recent popularization of the cos
ter, I doubt if much rhyming slang is
heard in west end drawing rooms.
And | we only come across one exam
pie Of ita employment, except occasional
ly i'll music hall song. in what might
be called literary FORM There is q