The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-27

stance. the expression used in the above
conversation y at luncheon table such
an it,, or an tit by itself An tit means
a willie boy in certain sense, and
Willie boy means a young man who
loves to go out to balls and parties, who
thinks great deal of his appearance, who
has in fact a very small average of brains.
From the number of times one hears the
expression willie boy or lit used it
would seem that there were very many of
them lat larger A kid is more easily
explained. 1t means youth and inexperience,
term. Perfectly fine'' and lawfully any
thing at all, are simply misused express
slons, which are very much IN vogue. one
''old-fashioned" person was correcting her
daughter the other day when she used the
word ''awfully'' in connection with some
thing she was eating, saying ''it is awfully
NICE and said: My dear child there is
nothing awful but the day of Judgment
The poor girl looked frightened to death by
the earnestness in which her mother spoke
to her.
Making use of the word IBID" for invita-;
sides. ITO be hidden to the feast" is well
and good for an expression. A bid" prob
ably comes from it. However, it does sound
rather brusque and slangy." One Of the
most curious words now constantly used is
"corlSer." In scanning carefully numerous
dictionaries it is needless to say that no
which means as light as cork, or with the
consistence of cork, but that is just the
opposite of what "corker'' means. AS far
as can be learned corker," applied as 1t
is to either man a woman, means that
he or she is fine looking, full of fun, in
fact good all-round' person, which is
making use of one slang expression to eX-
plain another In the same way, one often
hears the expression, Il had 'corking,
good time" Meaning Il had very good
Time" or "a superlativeiy good time" it
must come from the same place that cork
err comes from. How often one hears
young girls make use Of the word .'splen-
did, and "splendidly'' in the most inapro-
pos manner. They say constantly. we had
a splendid time How does Jennie look?'
"Oh, she's looking splendidly we'll" This
is very much in use. and one hears 1t
Almost every one knows what "up-to-
date" means. 1t is not an expression so
hard to explain as others. as 1t speaks for
dinners and "up-to-date" conversations. 1t
is used to express up TO the times" for al
most anything. In this way we often hear
IT: What kind of an affair was Mrs:
Stevens's the other night?" "Oh! fine!
thoroughly 'up-to-date.'
One wonders where on earth the express
sion 'to be stuck on comes from. As far
as can be made out, you can be stuck on
1t seems to mean ito be fond Of" and one
hears it so often and in such fashionable
rect to say it. ~ery funny effect was
produced upon some guests at an afternoon
reception this winter in New York, who had
not been going OUT much, and did not
know how prevalent slang was. 10 hear a
misunderstanding young woman, most styl-
ishly dressed Tres say to you young man with with
out in the field somewhere and lose your
seif-you do make me SO tired"
I'm the push IS another slang expression
one hears all the time DO you know Mr..
in the push. He goes with entirely an
other crowd +" That is supposed to mean
that Mr.. Richardson is not a member of
that particular persons set" as, of course,
every one thinks that her friends are I'm
the push" There are all kinds and grades
of pushes" evidently as one hears the ex-
preston lin the push" in the lowest as
well as the highest classes of society. We
get our slang from the lower classes. and
'Chimmie Fadden'' has much responsible
ity on his shoulders for the introduction of
it among the Upper Four Hundred" Of
or American cities. In the push shes
peach, I've been thrown down" hes
chasing, or, as Chimmie would say,
chasin' Miss Jones'" are all expressions
heard every day In the very best society, in
drawing rooms and bathrooms, and when
young girl does not use slang she is an ex-
ception. She may not use many slang
words only just now and again-and IL
must be distinctly understood that she does
not use all the above described modes OF
speech" one after the other, during an
evening or at dinner. 1t is. however, very
rare to meet one who uses none at II.
Webster says that the word slang is or
gypsy origin. or said to be SO. The Scan
dinavian tongue lays also claim to the
English. sling. The Norwegian word
''sleng-jeord" (ord-word) means "a new
word that has no just reason for being
also. the 3argoH OF some particular col
lege. class in society. theater. sailors. etc.
From this undsputed authority we learn
that to use slang is to sling 'uncalled-
for and unreasonable language. How very
refined sling word" sounds!