The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-13

antiquity. The idea of a cake being given
as a prize seems so obvious that IL Is per-
haps lost labor to trace IL back to litera-
ture. Athenaeus, in his "Depnosophistae
(bool1 IA, chapter SOY, speaks of a certain
kind of cake which was given as a prize
at the "all-nlght" festivals to whomso-
ever kept awake through the solemnities.
So the expression "hemeteros no pura-
mous''-"we take the cake'-would seem
to have become proverbial. 1t occurs in
two passages in Aristophanes (''Thesm" "a
and "Eq." 30.
When a real LADY, uses the euphonious
synonym of giving you the ten command
ments" for the unpleasant operation of
scratching your face. IL appears that she
Is in reality only making a quotation from
Shakespeare. The words occur in the sec
ond part of King Henry VI" act l, scene
3, when the Duchess of Gloster, after re-
ceiving box on the ear from Queen Mar
garet. saws:
Could 1 come near your beauty with my
nails,
Ia set my ten commandments in your
face.
The same phrase is put by Sir Walter
Scott into the mouth of one of the women
in "Waverly," who, in defense of a friend.
cries: III set my ten commandments in
the face O. the first loon that lays finger
on him"
Crank" is not an American, but an
English word, which has long been in
common use in Derbyshire, where, as here,
it is applied to a man who has fads, fan
cies and notions outside Of the ordinary
run of those of his neighbors.
Not a few slang expressions have come
to us from an ancient Celtic source via
England. Thus, "beak," as applied to
magistrate, comes from the Celtic beach;
"twig' is from tuig, to understand; 'cove
from coove, a courteous person; hook
it from thugad, begone; brick from
brigh, courageous person; "cut your
stick from cult as teach, leave the house.
Washer" is by some believed to be de-
rived from the Celtic meas, elegant; but
others say its source IS masha, a word in
the old romany or gypsy tongue, signify
ing the fascination of the eye.
The word ''sheeny," as applied TO a bad
Jew, is said by some to come from "Meseh
Meshineh.' a curse used by the Hebrews
during the middle ages against their indi-
Vidual prosecutors, and supposed TO mean,
May you be afflicted with the five deadly
curses" This explanation is disputed by
others, who claim that the word is from
the Hebrew "shenir," bright and hence
Snowy" Advocates of this latter version
say that the term is quite modern, was
earned by touts and bookmalers on the
English turf on account of their loud"
clothes and profuSe display of jewelry, and
has become a word of contempt applied
by orthodox Jews to pork biters'-peo-
pie who ought to be Jews, but are not.
Doodle is not difficult to trace. A pro-
prietary club was established in London
nearly a century ago by. a man of that
name, and became the resort OF a fast set
who gambled heavily; the winners eX
planned their possession of an unusual
amount of money by the single word
Boobies and thus the use of the term
began. Boobies is still in existence in st.
James street, but it no longer a gaming
club.
The word push may have come to the
English from the Danes, who had a noun,
puts, meaning a push; or it may have
been brought over by William the Con-
queror in the French verb pousser, to
push. Whether its latest use will win it
a new definition in the dictionaries re-
mains to be seen, but as "the fancy" and
the talent have gained places there
seems no reason why the push" should
not.
How many readers know how the word
ring came to be applied to a coterie of
men banded together in politics for their
own advantage, pecuniary or otherwise?
Fifty years ago a Broadway druggist,
who was a member of the New York
board of aldermen, formed what would
now he called a "boodling combine" which
created no little scandal a the time, but
has long since been forgotten. His name
was Charles II. Ring. and thus originated
the use of the word ring" as applied to
a syndicate of political spoismen. Here
we find the derivation of the word ring
err" as given to a horse entered in a race
with others far below his class in speed
by ring of dishonest turfmen.