The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1895-03-01
80 q THE cIRcus -
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But Size Travelling ShoEMans
The circus folk not only have q
slang Of their own. but IS they are
pastmasters In the general slang Ct
the day they talk a iargon which
would be simply unintelligibis to the
uniRitiated, says the Worcester
american. They are in a Lire Of
business TO catch every cant phrase
going, and any new word which IS
only local invention. TO & circus
man the manager OF the head Of any
enterprise is always s'the main guy, .
while those in subordinate positions
are simply guys. The tents are
"tops" to the circus men. and they
are subdiyided into the '.bigtop,n the
'.snimal top. the '.kid top" the
''eandy top" and so on indefinitely.
The side show, where 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 a 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, y while that class of circus
followers whose methods are outside of
the pale of the law, such as pickpOck-
cts, gamblers and shOrt-change men,
are either ''erOoks" or sgratters. To
GET persons money without giving
them any equivalent is ''to turn
them" A countryman is either
'Rube" (Reuben) or a Jasper
Thus if a cOuntryman went into
side show and was robbed of $40
there, circus man would say: The
RUDE went against the CRATER in the
kid top and got turned for ten cases. "
From the combination of the warning
cry of ''Hey" and the word ''Rubs"
comes the circus mans rallyins cry of
''Hey, Rube!'' which is always souAAsd
in times when a fight with outsidygS
is imminent.
The cry of 'Hey Rube!" has been
in use among circus men for half
a century or more, and in the old days
it was often followed by blOodshed and
even loss of life. Fights between
circus men and outsiders are compare
| lively rare to-day, however, and seri-
GUS trouble seldom occurs, except in
the sparsely settled regions of the
South and West.
The musicians with a circus are
known as ''wind-jammers," the can
vasmen and other laborers are srazor.
backs" while man who drinks to
excess is either a "lusher" or a 'boOz-
err" These last two expressions are
not confined to 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 a "jump," and
travelling is jumping" A circus that
travels overland is known as ga red
wagon show" in cOntradistinction to a
show that travels by rail.
The showground is always called
the slot, " and the dining tent, where
most OF the circus men get their
meals. is the scamp" 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 add
to the picturesqueness of the circus
folks vocabulary. This. among aero
bats there is the ''understander" the
''middleman" and the "topmounter, "
Among the riders there are rough
! riders, pad riders and bareback riders,
ana among the funmakers there are
''patter" or talking clowns, singing
clowns and knockabOuts. A clown
used to be called 'cackler" in the
English circuses. The three-ring tents
with their great size have knocked
the aged patter clown, common in the
single rings in Tony PASTORS day, out
of business. Nobody without a voice
like speaking trumpet can be heard
nowadays in the great tent. The
knockabout business has come up in
consequence and the dude and Reuben
clown meander, among the audience,
representing eccentric spectators not
belonging to the show.