The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-10

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Bob" behind his back, while the shop
boy, if he is merely on speaking terms
with another who has reddish hair, VIII
rarely address him by any other name
than Ginger" not because he is intimate
with him, or because he desires to be
thought so, but because for him acquaint-
anceship, unless it be avowedly untriend-
ly, must either exist as familiarity or it
cannot exist at all. If he does not scowl
at man, or ignore man, it is neces-
sary that he should slap him on the
back. So in the same way slang is In
stinctively resorted to by many people to
describe the appliances or incidents of
some pursuit with which they are really
intimate, whether it be yachting, racing
hunting, shooting or ock-brolSing. Slang,
however, when its application is thus con-
fined, is not so much slang as a kind OF
technical language, differing only from
the cabalistic symbols of chemistry in the
fact that, unlike them ii expresses some
affection for what it denotes. Slang prop
erly so called is a kind of peculiar lam
guage which is not applied to peculiar
things but to ordinary For instance if
the workmen at the mint had, for technl-
cal reasons, set of special terms for the
various coins produced by them, the pro-
fessional use of these could hardly he
called slang; but when a schoolboy calls
a shilling a bob and when coster-
monger calls a sovereign a monarch
we have specimens of slang of a very in
dubitable kind Slang, then, is the ex-
press.on not of some private, some spe-
cial some technical familiarity with any
particular pursuit 1t is the expression of
some familiarity or free and easiness, gen
uine or affected, with life. 1t represents
some endeavor to pat life on the back to
dig it in the ribs, to assume with regard
TO it some privileged position, or caress
it gracefully or otherwise as the case
ho or IN in obo tr with ay
aggerated ease when confronting it.
Now slang, when used by the lower or
| ders of society, is form of expression
the use of which is perfectly natural and
intelligible; for one of the chief points
which distinguishes i'll bred persons from
we'll bred is the fact that with the former
| all intimacy is familiarity The AIRY of
the world calls a sovereign a monarch"
| and calls trousers "trotter cases" for the
| same reason that prompts him to call
! red headed acquaintance Ginger" He
has no instructive sense of social dignity
| in himself-no sense of the sullying nature
of too close and boisterous contact; and
dignity when he sees it in others means
for him merely hostile distance, an awe
which makes him awkward or a restraint
| which gals him.
Slang, however, as we are sufficiently
| well aware, is by no means confined to che
| ruder and the humber classes. 1t is muir
| HluTeQ IN Mayfair as well as SnOQlGQ IN
| Whitechapel. 1t is largely used in fact,
by the very class in which the sense of
| personal dignity is the strongest, and
| which is supposed TO possess, and on the
whole does possess, more finished manners
| than any other. What is the explanation
of slang when used by such a class as
| this? Some severe critics who, we need
hardly say, do not belong TO it solace
| themselves by accusing this class of vul-
| garity. But though sections of it are
| vulgar in a certain sense, their vulgarity
| is not that of excessive personal familiar
| ity; nor do they require in order to put
| themselves at ease with life, to adopt the
| attitude or attitudes of what We may call
| the mental larrikin. The use of slang
| by such persons results from subtler mod
| iflcatiOns of the mind. 1t results some
| times from an impulse to caress TO fondle,
to patronize, life and its resources, as may
be seen by the manner in which 1t is used.
and, indeed, manufactured by certain
| ladies'. One lady, for example. who rules
which recalls that of Catullus, rechristen-
ed dinner party by the euphonious dim
inutive of "dlmpy" tea party by that
of "teapy," a ball gown by that of a
"ballerino!' Slang like this bears the
same relation to that of the streets that
a woman's fingertips laid delicately on a
mans arm bears to street boys palm
applied violently to another street boys
back. 1t has, moreover, this exquisite
charm: 1t constitutes, while in its vir-
giual freshness, a kind of private language
by which members of a particular clique
remind each other that they belong to the
elect, and, such being the case, it is sooner
or later cultivated by those who mistake
the outer signs of grace for the fashion or
who hope to obtain the commission of
fashion by adopting its uniform, which,
unfortunately, rarely fits them. Slang,
moreover, when used by the higher classes,
expresses to a great extent not the famil-
iarity of good fellowship, but the famil-
iarity of complacent contempt, and when
used IN this way ii has likewise innumer-
a BILE imitators. In many cases, also II
| consists of names and phrases which are
born of the moment to describe the fash
ions of the moment and which consequent
ly never have time to assume a classical
form
Slang of this last kind. from the nature
of the case, Is inevi abe. Slang of the
other kinds mentioned is ITO those who use
il satisfactory and convenient and may
often give conversation an ease, without
| giving it a vulgarity which helps il to fit
closely to the facts Of life and character.
! But, however used we venture to say this
that il is always a sign OF some mental
weakness or defect; and the thoroughly
| accomplished man and woman of the most
fastidious class VII achieve all the grace
and lghtneSS Whlch slang can give without
ever having recourse 10 its use, except
when some of its phrases amused, as it
were, in inverted commas, or are. even
while they are being used, held up 10 a
MINI contempt. Whether the use of slang
| is increasing in English society or not we
are not prepared to say Ii was certainly
| never, or hardly ever, employed by the
more brilliant takers of the generation
that is all but dead. II forms no part of
the briiliancy of The School for Scan
! dali" 1t is entirely absent from those
comedies of the restoration whose authors
! belonged to the world Of fashion which
| they represented. No kind of language is
| so truly delicate and flexible as the Eng
! lish language in its most perfect and le-
| climate form. Many people are ashamed
| Of using il because they think II unped-
| antic. Those who think this bear wit
ness merely TO their own imbeclity in US
ing II and in seeking 10 achieve ease by
degrading IL; by the use of sang they
| often achieve something which is pedan-
| try upside down, Good takers however
who diSapproVe Of slang and avoid it, will