Morris tribune., 1898-05-04
ODD BoWERY SLANG.
Tough but Graphic Dialect of the East
Side of Gotham.

Side of Gotham.
Slang, like hot air, rises. It starts
in the speech of the least educated
to become incorporated into the
daily talk of the best informed. II
is true that the best informed use
slang alphabetically and with men.
tai quotation marks, but neverthe.
less they use it. Slang is the out
come of bright minds not well stored
with work. Hence it is graphic.
East of the Bowery they do not
say "beggar They say, "a man
with his hand out" When Stephen
Brodie wished to say that certain
popular novelist was not of very
heavy mental caliber, he said that
IF that gent fell on a wet sponge
he wouldn't squeeze it dry"
In the lower walks of life man
does not get angry; he "gets red
headed" He does not oppose mon
ey; he flashes wad," from which
he "skims" the ''long green. If he
happens to be we'll to do, he has a
"thick wad," so hard that "you
couldn't knock dent in it with an
ak" No man every struck another
east of the Bowery; he just care
lessly "threw 'em into him." the
Gem" being two hard fists.
A man in reduced circumstances
is, in slang parlance, ION the
swine" If his circumstances are a
little more reduced, he is ION the
swine train And when he lis 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 hap
pened to die a violent death, be
shot, "he did a gun croak."
In this locality men are not stab
bed; they are just "cut." LOB
ster," most favorite expression of
contempt, originated on the race
track, where it was used to desig-
nate a slow horse. And as there is
no quality of mankind which the
native New Yorker holds in more
reverence than rapidity, both phys
ical and mental, it naturally follow
ed that man mentally inactive be-
came lobster.
When a person is in hard luck, he
is "up against it, !" and if the luck
grows worse he is ''up against it for
fair" If person goes to another
persons house and so behaves that
is brought upon the house,
he "puts the whole drive on the
hog" which is a variation of ION
the swine'' and easily traceable to
tramp slang.
If one person rushes at another
like "a bull at gate" the other
person attempts to ''beat in the roof
Of his head" which might we'll dis
courage the oncomer.
East of the Bowery drinks, rats
and fists are always Thrown in.
If the citizen of this district should
throw in" too much "red
liquor" the next morning his ''ears
would be a foot OUT" meaning that
his head would be long. In this dis
trict the youths and maidens do not
court; they simply win" each 9th
Br. Defeat is impossible, itwould ap-
pear.
No one east of the Bowery at
tempts to do anything. He or she
makes a stagger at it," Beer is
known as "hops," cigarettes as
pipes" If a girl has a pretty fig
nre, she is "dead swell built" and
every man is a guy" If he is in
telligent, he is "a wise guys" if he
ISN'T, he is lobster guy" If he is
tall, he is high guy" and if he
IS strong he is husky guy"
Finally comes the all pervading
expression "get next" the great
of the east side. It's in
habitants "get next" to pretty much
everything they can.-New York
Mail and Express.