The Washington weekly post., 1899-10-24
George Ade, the Chicago Newspaper Man,
Whose "Fables In slang, Have Attained
Considerable Vogue, Gives an Insight Into
the Vocabulary Of Odd Expressions
slang Doesn't Originate I'm the Siums and
Work Its Way TO Higher Piano.

from the press. In both of these book
+. Mr.. AIDE mas gathered up the vernaculai
CT the period the irreverent metaphor
the far-fetched simile, and The word.
coined in the street. He deals in a Ian
guage which is often spoken but seldom
written
! The other day he was asked to give al
opinion as 10 the origin of the many slane
. words and phrases which are being added
to our vocabulary every year, TO enrich il
r or corrupt il, according to the point oi
view
Il must confess that it is difficult tC
locate the birthplace of piece of slang,
, he replied. THE critics who denounce
slang most bitterly, and who deny it any
place in literature, usually say that all
slang has its origin in the criminal or
slum layer of society and then gradually
works its way up until In the course of d
Few years it reaches the photographer.
wen, / don't believe ii. There are too
many kinds of slang. The criminal ele-
ment has its own argot. but the slang of
the basement saloon doesn't ordinarily
md its way into the colleges, and yet our
colleges are regular hotbeds of slang In
thief parldnce at the present time a po-
hceman is bull a mans legs are his
| gains. MS nose Is a 'beak' or 'conk,' his
ilbs are his Stats, and so on. Could you
/ imagine seminary girl using any such
ugly terms? When she talks slang she
says that something or other is a lily or
hun or the only flower on the stem
She may talk of having a mash or Civ
ing some one the frozen face or the glad
hand but all such expressions are merely
playful and figurative, and | don't see
that they can be traced to the vicious ell
ement of the large cities. And vet the
stock argument against slang is that il is
borrowed from the slums
| Slang that Is Needed.
"Of course, We can trace dozens of slang
words and expressions to the race track
and the poke: table, but even this Ian
guage. borrowed from the gamblers has
| It's value. Is there any good equivalent
LOT the word biuff" And could anything
be more expressive than standing pat?'
Ihere are certain words and phrases that
grow INTO general use because there is an
actual need of them. Now. L call TO mind
two valuable slang words that have come
In within the last five years. One is kid
not in its old application to a small child.
however, and the other is string. When
you say that man started in 10 kid
you, you mean that he pretended 10 b.
serious with you, but that his real pur-
pose was to make fun of you and brinS
you into ridicule. Now, Is there any ,,n,.
WOrO or any SIX words in the purest yO-
cabulary that would express the same
shade of meaning? The nearest word is
'chaH, possibly. Dut chatting may not be
mock-seTious ana Kidding always is. You
take the other word. To string a man
means to deceive him by a pretense of
sincerity and induce him TO believe some
thing that isn't true The 'kidder' seeks
amusement only; the 'stringer' wishes TO
fasten conviction in the mind of his
nearer. Mind you, / don't say that orr
writer's of English ought to begin usiu.
string or kid but | do say that when |
such words come into our vocabulary be- |
cause they express new shades OF mean |
ing, II is not surprising that great many
people take them up ard use them freely. |
Then, again, great deal of our So |
called slang isn't slang at all When q |
young man calls his girl peach or a |
bird he is simply following the eyampIa /
of the poets. He is talking fguratiyely. !
When you say that such and such thing /
is the limit, you are not abusing good /
English. / say of d man, L can see his
finish That is absolutely correct Eng
lish, and very fOrceful English, too.
Another kind of slang is nothing more
than the putting of old words irto new
combinations, the result in each case be-
ing a novel and catchy phrase that is
banded about in common talk until no
writer dare use it, because ii has become
familiarized, you may say, into nothing
more than slang.
Freakish Phrases Are Popular.
"Queerest of all is the senseless slang
phrase which holds the fancy of the hour
and then passes away. There are numer-
Gus phrases that have come and gone
within twenty years. At present you hear
a man say thai he felt ike thirty cents
Can any one aualyze that into a sane ex-
preston? Yet il is amusing and catchy.
I first heard that thirty cents compari-
son In 1895. Since then 1t has come into
general use, merely because it's so freak ;
ish. It's the same with the current |
How'd you like to be the iceman% II be-
gan as a song. and 1t has given rise to I
whole breed of iceman gags none OF {
which actually means anything II IS a |
Of Where did you get that hatg :
and Whoa. Emma II will die out IN a I
few months and some other idiotic word Z
Or phrase will take its place To me the {
study of the constant changes in slang
and colloquisl talk is very diverting. II ,
L is worth while for a scientist to watch /
A snake shed its skin. 1 don't see why Il {
sn't worth while for a man to watch a {
people shed its vocabulary.
BY the way, ] have come upon a new !
oieee Of slang within the past two months {
md II has puzzled me. / first heard IL '
rom big newsboy who had a stand on I
corner A small boy with several pa :
>ers under his arm had edged up until he | =
vas trespassing on the territory Of the q
'ther. When the big boy saw the small o
me he went at him him In a threatening
way and said: Here. here, Twenty-threel
rwenty-three" The small boy scoWIed | ;
nd talked under his breath. but he moved ;
way few days after that I saw a d
street beggar approach well-dressed c
nan, who might have been a bookmaker a
r horseman, and try for the usual touch =
This man looked at the beggar In cold \
isgust and said: 'Aw, twenty-threer F
ould see that the beggar didn't under Fl
tand il any better than ! did 1 hap
ened 10 meet man who tries to keen II
p on slang. and ] asked the meaning OF a
fwenty-three" He said IL was signal s
clear out. run, Set away. In his u
pinion il came from the English race h
racks. twenty-thrse being the limit on ~
le number Of horses allowed 10 start In | n
ne race This was his explanation. e
ont know that twenty-three is the lirnIt 81
ut his theory was that twenty-three' g.
ieant that there was no longer any -
Jason for waiting at the post 1t was a o,
gnal 20 run, synonym for the Bow 81
~ boys ON your wayr Another stu- Ia
snt OF slang said the expression originat- o.
in New Orleans at the time that an at =,
.mpt Was made to rescue a Mexican en- t1
ezzler who had been arrested there and
as being taken back TO his own coun- | d'
y. Several OF his friends planned To -
ose In upon the officer and prisoner as >,
icy were passing In front Of business h;