The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-02-27
SLANG OF THE CIRCUS MAN.
Jargon Which is UninteIligible to All but
tho Travelling Snowman.

Jargon Which is Uninteiligib1e to All blu,
tho Travelling Snowman.
The circus folk not only have a
| slang of their own, but as they are
masters in the general slang of the
day they talk q iargon which would
be simply unintelligible to the un-
initiated. They are in line of bust
ness to catch every can't phrase 60
ing, and any new word which is only
a local invention. To a circus man
! the manager Or the head of any en-
terprise is always the main guy, "
while those in subordinated posi-
tons are simply guys" The tents
are TOPS" to the circus mon, and
they are snbdivided into the big
top" the animal top" the kid
top" the candy top" and SO on in
definitely. 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 bark
er."
The men who sell peanuts, red
lemonade, palm leaf fans, animal and
song books and concert tickets are
known under the general term of
butchers" while that class of cir
Gus followers whose methods are
outside the pale of the law, such as
pickpockets, gamblers and short
change men, are either crooks" or
"grafters. " To get q PERSONS money
without giving them any equivalent
Is TO turn them" A countryman is
either q lube" (Reuben) or JAS
per-"
Thus If copntryman went into a
sideshow and was robbed of $40
there circus man would say, 1.-THE
Rube went against the CRATER in the
kid top and got turned for 10 cases.
From the combination of the warn
ing cry Of Hey" and the word
"Rube" comes the circus mans raj
lying cry vt Hey, Rube" which is
always sounded in times when
fight with outsiders 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 COM
paratively rare today, however, and
serious trouble seldom occurs, ex-
cept. in sparsely settled regions Of
the south and west.
The musicians with a circus are
known as wind TANNERS, the can
vas men and other laborers are tra-
zorbacks," while a man who drinks
to excess is either "lusher" or
'boozer. {" These last two expires
sions 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
Jump" and travelling is lump
ing" A circus that travels overland
is known as "a red wagon show" in
contradistinction to a show that
travels by rail.
The show ground is always called
the slot, and the dining tent, where
most of the circus men get their
meals. is the camp" Horses are al
ways 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. Thus among &C
robats there are the "understander,
the "middleman" and the stop
mounter. F"
Among the riders there are rough
riders, pad riders and bareback rid
ers, and among the funmakers there
are "patter, or talking clowns,
singing clowns and knookabouts. A
clown used to be called "cackler"
in the English circuses. The three
ring tents, with their great size,
have knocked the aged patter clowns,
common in the single rings in Tony
Pastors day, out of business. No
body without a voice like speaking
trumpet can be heard nowadays in
the great tent. The knockabout bust
ness has come up in consequence,
and the dude and Reuben clown me.
ander among the audience represent
ing eccentric spectators not belong
ing to the show.-Worcester Amer
lean.