The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-04-29
ODD BOWERY SLANG,
cough. but Graphic, Dialect Of tho En-
EfSpS f1ftAa. Mad.

hougb, but Graphic, Dialect OF tho East
Slide Oftsn Needs an Interpreter.
Slang, not hot air, rises. 1t starts in
the speech Of the least educated to be-
come incorporated into daily talk of the
pest informed. 1t is true that the best
informed use slang apologetically and
with mental quotation marks, but never
theless they use it. Slang is the outcome
Of bright minds not we'll stored with
work. Hence it is graphic.
East Of the Bowery they do not say
hand out" When Stephen Brodie Wished
to. say that a certain popular novelist was
not OF very heavy mental caliber, he said
that If that gent fell on a wet sponge
ne wouldn't squeeze it dry
In the lower walks of life man does
not get angry; he ''gets red-headed." He
does not expose money; he Clashes a
wad," from which he ''skims' the 'long
green.' If he happens to be well-to-dO
he has ''thick wad," so hard that you
couldn't knock a dent in it with an axe :"
10 man ever struck another east of the
! into him." the "'em" being two hard
| fists.
"A man in reduced circumstances is, in
slang parlance, son the swine." If his
! circumstances are little reduced, he is
ION the swine train" And when he sis
on the caboose of the swine train,' his
| condition is most deplorable. No man
ever died east Of the Bowery; he "did a
croak." And, if he happened to die a
violent death, be snor, che did gun
croak." In this locality men are not
stabbed; they are just 'cut" Lobster"
a most favorite expression of contempt,
originated on the race track, where it was
used to designate a slow horse. And as
there is no quality of mankind which the
/ hold :>>
ence than rapidity, both physical and
mental, it naturally followed that man
mentally inactive became a lobster
When person is in hard luck, he is
cup against it, and, if the luck grows
worse, he is ''up against it for fair If
a person goes to another PERSONS house
and so behaves that discredit is brought
upon the house, he puts the whole drive
on the hog" which is a variation OF con
the swine," and easily traceable to tramp
| slang.
If one person PUSHES ut another like ga
! bull at gate" the other person attempts
to "beat in the roof of his head" which
might we'll discourage the oncomer
East of the Bowery drinks, rats and
| fists are always thrown in" If the citi-
zen of this district should unwisely
next morning his Gears would be a foot
out" meaning that his head would be
| long. In this district the youths and
! maidcns do not court, they simply twin"
each other. Defeat is impossible it would
appear.
| No one east of the Bowery attempts
to do anything. He or she "makes a
| stagger at it." Beer is knows as ''hops;;"
cigarettes as pipes If girl has a
pretty figure she is dead swell built -
and every man is guy" If he is intel
| ligent, he is "a wise guy if he isn't he
is ''lobster guy" if he is tall, he is a
.'high guy. and if he is strong, he is "a
husky guy
Finally comes the all-pervading express
| sion ''get next" the great shibboleth of
the east side. Its inhabitants 'get next
| to pretty much everything they can.-
New York Mail and Express.