Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-03-09
sLANG I'M NEW YOn1.
Origin OF Some Phrases Heard Among
The Tenement Folk.

Origin OF Some Phrases Heard Among
he Tenement Folk.
The words ana phrases in New
York's slang which are rooted in
the sense Of humor OF the people are
very many. The word "growlor" is
accounted for in two ways, both of
which credit the term with a hui
morous derivation. A "growler,"
be it known, is any vcssel-pail,
pitcher or can-that IS sent to the
corner saloon for the family supply
of lager beer. 1t is said that the
word grew out Of the protests Of the
girls who did not like TO be sent to
the saloons, or out of the 'grow-
ing" Slang for grumbling) of the
children whose play in the streets
was interrupted by their having to
perform similar errand5. o. the
other hand, the quarreling that fol-
lowed too frequent emptying5 OF the
can by gangs, or social lotteries
of drinking men, is said to have
given the beer vessel its nickname.
The horse play of the mountebanks
in the variety shows is commonly
called funny business, and the
term has now come to be applied to
all rough play-frolicking, souffling
and practical joking -among the
masses. A fimsy excuse or tran
sparent lie is called a song and
dance. why didn't you keep
your engagement? Now don't give
me no song and dance, is an ex-
ample of the use of this queer phrase.
The old slang words 'cheek" and
gall - meaning assurance-have
been supplanted by the word
front, and we hear nowadays that
man who is unblushingly au-
dacious, assuming, or presuming
has, not ''the front of Jove himself,
as Shakespeare wrote, but IAN aw-
full front-a front like de court
house" A tipsy man whose uncer-
tain locomotion carries him swaying
from side to side of the pavement is
declared to have a skate" or to
have 'his skates on Men who
drink too much and too frequently
are said to suffer from hitting the
bottle" At first it was said of the
opium-smokers that they chit" the
pipe-as all pipe smokers do, to
cleanse the instrument-.so that
hitting anything has come to sig
Nifty an abuse of the. habit with
which the article thus chit" is in
timately connected. 1t is q humorous
conceit that led to the saying, APP
piled to all who are dull or obtuse:
''He has a fog in his head. With
the same spirit very rich person,
or one who is prodigal with his
wealth, is said to have money to
burn. To meet with q cool reccp-
ton is called getting a frost. To
steal is to pinch, and to be ar
rested for it is to get "pinched,
though the genuine and general
slang phrase for getting arrested is
getting the collar" a term grow
my ndUUl dll OuV "a UllO hCOlOu VI Ctll
officer in hustling an offender along
with grip upon his collar.
Anything and everything that is
done easily or quickly is said to be
done in a walk" Men are said to
"get rich in a walk" or to win a
boat race in a walk. That is an
expression borrowed from the turf,
which has also lent to New York
the word ringer, perhaps the most
difficult to explain of all the local
slang terms, and yet, like all
slang, most concise and expressive
to all who make use of it. A
ringer, in slang, is anything that
looks like what it is not; so that if q
person is thought to closely resemble
Grover Cleveland, he is spoken of as
"a ringer on the president" or if he
wears a brilliant bit of glass, it is
said to be "a dead ringer on a.
diamond" dead" signifies the ut
most, the veriest, that which is alb
solute. = Harper's Weekly.
49,