The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-07-06
NEW YORK SLANG.
Some of the Words and Phrases of the
Tenement House Folk.


The words and phrases in New
York's slang which are rooted in
the sense of hnmor of the people are
very many. The word "growler"
is accounted for in two ways, both
of which credit the term with a hu-
morous derivation. A "growler, )"
be it known, is any vessel-pail,
pitcher or can-that is sent to the
corner saloon for the family supply
of lager beer. 1t is said that the
word grew out of the protestsbf the
girls who did not like to be sent to
the saloons, or out of the ''growl-
ing" (slang for grumbling) of the
children whose play in the streets
was interrupted by their having to
perform similar errands. On the
other hand, the quarreling that fol
lowed too frequent emptyings of the
can by gangs, or social coteries
of drinking men, is said to have
given the beer vessel its nickname
The horse play of the mountebanks
in the variety shows is commonly
called funny business, y and the
term has now come to be applied to
all rough play-frolicking, scuf1ing
and practical joking among the
masses. A fiimsy excuse or trans
parent lie is called song and
! dance. " why didn t you keep your
engagement Now don't give me
no song and dance, is an example
of the use of this queer phrase. The
old slang words "cheek" and gall
meaning assuranee-have been
supplanted by the word front,
and we hear nowadays that man
who is unblushingly audacious, as
suming or presuming has, not the
front of Jove himself, as Shakes
peare wrote, but IAN awful front
a front like de courthouse.
A tipsy man whose uncertain To-
comotion carries him swaying from
side to side of the pavement is de-
clared to have a skate or to
have "his skates on. Men who
drink too much and too frequently
are said to suffer from hitting the
bottle" At first it was said of the
opium smokers that they hit the
pipe-as all pipe smokers do, to
cleanse the instruments that hit
ting anything has come to signify
an abuse of the habit with whicI the
article thus ''hit" is intimately con-
nected.
1t is humorous conceit that led
to the saying, applied to all who are
dull or obtuse, HE has fog in his
head" With the same spirit very
rich person, or one who is prodigal
with his wealth, is said to have
money to burn" To meet with
cool reception is called getting a
frost. To steal is to pinch, " and |
to be arrested for it is get pinch |
ed, though the genuine and general |
slang phrase for getting arrested is
getting the collar" term grow
ing naturally out of the action of |
an officer in hustling an offender |
along with grip upon his collar.
Anything and everything that is |
done easily or quickly is said to be |
done "in walk" Men are said to |
"get rich in a walk" or to win a
boat race "in walk y That is an
expression borrowed from the turf, |
which has also lent to New York |
the word ringer, perhaps the
most difficult to explain of all the
local slang terms, and yet like all
slang, most concise and expressive
to all who make use of it. A ring
er, in slang, is anything that looks
like what it is not; SO that if per-
son is thought to closely resemble
Grover Cleveland, he is spoken OF
as "a ringer on the president, = or if
he wears brilliant bit of glass it
is said to be "a dead ringer on ada
mond.' Dead signifies the ut
most, the veriest, that which is abb
solute. Harper's Weekly.
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