The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-02-17
GROWTH OF SLANG.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE BECOMING
DEE ORALIZED.
Growth OF I~ll-Sounding Notwithstanding
of Words Commonly Used but I'm
worthy the Dictionary-"Money'' Seems
to Have the Most Nick Names.

The use Of slang is spreading alarm.
ingly in all classes Of London society.
Even at the best "at homes" the re-
grettable practice is more noticeable
than ever. Slang has one, and only
one, advantage. 1t often conveys to
the mind a clearer and more distinct
sense of what is meant than would
more classic language, says the Lon
don Mail.
"High-falutin'' is much in evidence
just now as a slangism. 1t means
putting airs on being stuck up
"showing off, and such-like human
failings. Come now, none O. yer
hlgh-falutin',' when expressed in an
angry voice by a big man, is a solemn
warning to the other man not to ap-
pear what he is not, neither to show
or nor initiate the swell" or the
fancy"
The vernacular is particularly rich
IN slang synonyms for money many
of which are remarkable in their ap-
propriateness. In scores Of ways one
may speak of our coin, among them
being the actual the needful,' or
the Wherewithal:' tin" "brass,'
blunt" "chips,' "dibs'' or "pieces;"
dust" "chlnk," Shot" ~"shekels" or
"spondulics;" 'stamps,' Feathers" or
"palm-soil,' which last is such an OBJ
viously applicable word for it that
"shin-plaster' seems feeble by COM
parison.
These epithets, however, are not
more curious than the technical and
trade slang which was brought to the
notice of the royal commission on Ia
Dor. Among the quaint terms, as set
forth in the report of the evidence,
are these: "Bell-horse,' "caunched,'
"fudd,' "mungs,' ''slop-dash work.
"sprigger," ''tingles" and "slugger.'
Booze has become familiar
through a song, Come Where the
Booze is Cheaper In this connection
a story, said to be authentic, is told.
On the terrace, beneath the windows
of the royal apartments at Windsor
castle, the Guards band was playing
a lively air which immensely pleased
the queen. She sent a gentleman to
find out the title of the music. He
returned with hesitancy, trying his ut
most to avoid telling her majesty the
name of the piece.
He, however, was forced to report.
and the sovereign was told hat the
tune was Come Where the Booze is
Cheaper"
Universities are happy hunting
grounds for slangisms. A student al
ways goes up to the "'varsity.'
Little go" and "snails' are the names
given respectively at Cambridge and
Oxford to a students first examination.
The final EXAM, on which degrees are
obtained, is called greats" at Oxford
and the great 60 at Cambridge.
When a man failed at an exam.
he used to say that he was "plucked.'
Now, however, such an event is more
frequently referred to as being
"plowed.' The greatest calamity that
can befall a student is to be "rusti-
cated,' that is, sent down from the
Sly " q lSl IL vi lOl SOOu.
A genius for quaint metaphor and
a natural picturesque use of language
makes American slang humorous.
Sometimes it is ever tinged with po-
etry. Here are a few American slang
isms which are becoming at home on
this side of the Atlantic: "Tangle-
foot which has almost the ring OF
poetry about it, as a name for ardent
spirits, is a happy thought. The pa
tient labor of the gold washes and the
finality of it's results is very graph
ically expressed by pan out which
is also used to denote a climax. What
a concrete image is conveyed to the
mind by the designation push buggy"
as compared with our meaningless
equivalent, "perambulator.."
To have a hard row to hoe is said
Of a person who has a difficult under
taking in hand. England has become
familiarized with coon" Ca contrac-
ton of "raccoon') and "a gone COON"
the latter signifying one in such an
lawful fix as to be absolutely past
praying for"
Its origin is traced to the American
civil war, in which a spy dressed in a
raccoon skin hid himself up a tree.
A soldier came upon him, and think
ing he was a real coon, prepared to
fire at him with his rifle.
This was too much for ..r. Spy.
who shouted: Don't shoot; I'll come
down; 1 know I'm a gone coon."
Thereupon he came to earth, which
as it. were so "hummuxed' his would
be destroyer that the latter at once