The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1894-10-03
THESLANG OF LONDON
ITS RHYMING FEATURE, WHICH Is
PECULIAR TO ENGLAND.

Say "Daisies" For Boots, and You VIII Have
Made a Good Start, but That Is Not All
OF IL by Any Means-A Dissertation on an
Unknown Science.
By way Of introducing the subject let
me premise that there is certain school
VI thinkers-dwellers for the most part
I'm very questionable districts of Lon
don-who hold that 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 know not, but
its existence, and also the existence of
rhyming 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, suppose, often assumed for
the purpose Of disguise. and as passed
by group Of i'll favored loiterers at
street corner / distinctly heard one of
them remark to another: "'Ere's tee
Dyer dick lis goggles and lis blanky
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" It is pure Ro-
many, connected, as every student Of
that attractive language knows, with
tho SanslSrit "drish' and the Hindoo.
stance "dekhno," meaning "to see. "
But daisies being the slang term
term for boots Sis good specimen Of
a most singular perversion of the English
language, which is we'll worth the at
tention of any one who cares about lin
guistic oddities.
Rhyming slang is peculiar to England
and, / believe, to London. The French
language, so rich in slang, does not ad-
NIT of such treatment. 1t is of modern
origin, and doubt il any trace Of it is
to be found in the records, which are
fairly plentiful, of the slang of last cen.
Il
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 mas established
certain rhyming slang equivalents for
certain words, and, although no doubt
new rhymes arc 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 "looket" nor
'-socket" would be tolerated. The eyes
sre "mince pies;" the ear and the nose
are, oddly enough, the "frosty and
clear" and the 81 suppose. How, when
and why these particular rhymes were
universally adopted will never be
known. As Professor Dowden remarks
in connection with a 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
cott," whose name is immortalized as
a synonym for 'waistcoat?" And why
should coat and trousers be concealed
under such circumstances as "Tm
afioat" and ''round the 'ouses?"
Other examples Of what have called
the simple form of rhyming slang are
"cat and mouse" (house), elephants
trunk" drunk, "bull and COW" (row),
and "I'm SO frisky" (whisky). But if I
am asked how daisies" can be the
Thyming slang for boots / answer
that we have here an example Of the
second or complex form Of the jargon,
which finds its 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-
sies " In the same way no master of the
language would ever give brandy or gin
their primitive names. "Jaok the dan
dy" or brian O'Lynn." The one is
always referred to az "Jaok," the other
as Brian" II will be seen that words
treated In this way must have tend