The Indianapolis journal., 1896-08-09
THE SPREAD OF sLANGINEss.
In Such Universal Use that the Lam
gCage VIII he Modified.
PHILADELPHIA Record


If the Vicar of Wakefield was shocked
to hear the Lady Wilhemina Carolina
Araminta Skeggs eTclaim. on Jlmlni;, !,
and VOW she was "all in muck OF sweat.
what would Or. Primrose have said or
done could he have overheard the conver-
sation of the boardwalk or Of the summer
piazza? The boardwalk is an institution;
il is the American Rialto. One snatch
from ii the current speech of 1s96-and that
shows the girl and the young woman to
Great Scott! where is that poodie?''
comes from the lips of sweet sixteen, who
mas suddenly missed her dog In the crowd;
well-bred young girl. 1t is not necessary
TO quote the argot with which the young
person of both sexes salutes the morn and
the rise OF the moon, and all the festive
events between. The fact is that girls.
with the new freedom of outdoor life
which is their dowry in these days. their
OF sailboat and skill with the oars, their
swimming and diving and driving. have
borrowed the speech of the men-which is
no longer much restrained in their pres
ence. The bluest profanity probably they
do not hear; but they hear enough TO
frame vocabulary of their own.
Woman Is mans comrade now in so
many of the breezy athletic outdoor pleas
ures of life that either from literature or
from his own lips the once diffident maiden
has learned the forms of speech by which
he expresses his views of the game Of
life. She sits by his side at football and
cricket games or surveys the baseball dia-
mond with him, and is more intelligent al
TO the outcome of each fray or inning. OF
course. mothers and grandmothers and all
the auntS are shocked. The fathers hardly
notice It when she phrases q bit of slang
which shows how the masculine ideal of
the exquisitely refined woman is changing.
The young fellows themselves have never
had this ideal, or. having taught the cul-
pritS this new and dreadful eXpresSiveness
in speech, are so far particeps crimnis as
not TO dislike it, The school mistress and
the college professor will labor in vain:
the conversation and chaff of these young
people will not be put into the same Eng
lish which adorns their essay writing.
Now. ii is impossible to set the young
girl back into her former seclusion from
the robust enjoyments of outdoor life
She has conquered this kingdom. in spite
of all the doctors. She likes it. and it likes
her. Yet it has brought to her adaptive
ear the language of the 'bleachers' at a
ball game-the slang with which roughs
and toughs express their emotions vent
their rage at the umpire or cheer on their
favorites. Far, far. indeed. from any ridic-
ulous form of daintiness and squeamish-
ness in speech has this modern revolution
carried her The English language will
be modified soon if we do not look to it.
young rosebuds" is only intermitted
within earshot of Queen Victoria Else
where IT prevails from the Thanks. aw-
fully to the newest adornment of our
common speech Surveying the ground
critically, there appears only one bit of
high ground by which to escape from this
rising tide. 1t is, perhaps. for men to set
speech. AS they have latterly set up the
standard for all these new and ample and
| praiseworthy open-air enjoyments of the
and wives, so they will have to make pat
tern for the accompanying refinements of
the language If we are ever to have these
again. 1t Is "a large contract not to be
realistic bit of slang in the wording of
1t; but there seems no other way.