The Lamar register., 1895-02-16
SLANG OF THE clRcus MAN.
'srEon hlch I- unintsiIisibi. to An
Hut the Irsseiin. Showm,n


the day they tall, iargon which
would be simply uninielligible to the
uninttiated. says the Worcester
American. They are in line Of
business to catch every cant phrase
going. and any new word which is
only local invention. To { circu-
man the manager or the head OF any
enterprise is always 1.-THE main euv.''
while those in subordinate positions
are simply guys" The tents are
tops TO the circus men. and they
are subdivided into the "bigtop.r the
''animal top the "kid top.n the
candy top" and so ON indefinitely.
The side show. wherc the Circassian
girls Fat women and other curiosities
termed freaks are shown. Is termed
the "kid show and the man with the
persuasive voice who seeks to entice
people into the .'kid show" is known
as barker"
The men who sell peanuts. red lem
onade. palm leaf fans. animal and
song books and concert tickets are
known under the general term of
butchers" while that class OF circus
followers whose methods are outside OF
the pale OF the Law. such as piekpock-
cts. gamblers and short-change men.
are either crooks" or ..grafters - To
got a persons money without giving
them any equivalent is "to turn
thcm-" A countryman is either
''Rnhe" (Rsubenl or Jasper"
Thus Il countryman went into
side show and was robbed of $40
there. circus man would say: The
Rube went agains, the CRATER in the
kid top and got turned for ten cases"
From the combination OF the warning
cry o, Hey" and the word ''Rubs"
comes the circus mans raIlying cry OF
Hey. RuboiT which is always sounded
In times when fight with outsiders
Is imminent.
The CRY OF Hey Rubei" has been
in Use among circus meLs for half
a century or more, and in the old days
Il Was often followed by bloodshed aud
even loss life Fights between
circus men and outsiders are eompara-
lively rarc to-day. however. and seri-
Gus trouble seldom occurs, except in
the sparsely settled regions OF the
South and West.
The musicians with circus are
known a. wind TANNERS the can
vasnen and other laborers are razor
backs while man who drinks to
excess Is either ..lusherh or ''booz-
er. These last two expressions are
not confined 70 circus men, but have
been used largely and more commonly
by them than BY any other class The
distance from one town to another is
always known as Jump" and
travelling is jumping A circus that
travels overland is known as "a red
wagon show in contradistinction to a
show tha; travels by rail.
The showground is always called
the ..lot,r and the dining tent, where
most OF the circus men get their
meals. is the camp" Horses are
always stock. and the horse tents
are the ..stock tops" Then there are
scores of technical terms describing
the work OF the different performers
which. while hardly to be classed as
SLANG in themselves, nevertheless ada
TO the picturesqueness oil the CIRCUS
folks vocabulary. This. among aero
hats there is the '.understander the
..middienanr and the "topmounter.
AnonU the riders there are rough
,.i8ers -pad riders and bareback riders
and among the funmakers there are
matter or talking clowns, singing
clowns and bnockabouts. a clown
ps,.d 10 be called ''cackler" In the
= 4. f.,,4,acs The three-ring tents