The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-22

OPhOrs.
Either we take a great deal of our
slang from the French, or else they are
Indebted much to u.s. because one con-
tlnually finds the same pert phrases crop
ping up in the conversation of the slang
OF both civilizations, says the New York
Press. you can search me, or, as they
say in Paris, 'Vous pouvez me foullier,"
L do not know; but the most likely expla-
nation is that of a mutual exchange. For
who would pretend to give a threadbare
example, that. unaided by comparison,
French and Americans should have hit
on ''in the soup" to express trouble, pow
erty, discontinue? They have a whole
range Of lin the soup"-in the panade,
bread soup; in the deche, a meaningless
word; in the molasses, and, last and ter
rible the superlative of sin the pomade"
or ointment.
The other day 1 heard an old Paris
dame scolding, calling names She called
young man goujat. camp follower and
robber of the dead; muf1e, which means
cad and blank fool interviewer, and
Georgette, which is the precise equivalent
of Willie boy"
Yet it would be idle to pretend that the
Parisians have not their own slang. Dis
putting cabmen listen with good nature
to such epithets as Goldfish" Carcass"
veal" and ''old aunt" For ladies" the
fighting word is arrived at more quickly,
''rosse'' (old horse) or vieiIle tourte Gold
meat pie) being sufficient to bring on hos
tilities. Another fighting word for ia
dies has been for long time camel"
with "dromedary" for its superlative. In
Avignon, down in the South of France,
a barber called a married woman
camel" which means nothing worse
than stupid. s"Chameau!' She had him
before the judge de paix, who fined him
nine francs and COSTS When all was
over he turned to the judge de paix and
asked 81 understand now that may not
call madame 'camel?'"
you may not"
But 1 may call camel 'madame?"
"Oh for that, do as you please" replied
the judge.
az thank your honor" said the barber,
who was what they call malin, hard to
beat. Then, bowling to the woman, he
said: Madame, salute your
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
When a girl desires to give expression
to her tenderest sentiments she tells her
young man that he is cher little pig"
while he in turn calls her his '1ittle pink
pig" his pink sugar baby. his little gild-
ed tresor de cherie and his angel made Of
honey.
There are a hundred ways to say a man
is dead. He is dead, he Is cooked he is
fried, he is cleansed, he has put up his
shutter, he has stopped his baker, can
celed his lease, swallowed his chew, let
himself slide, or they put him in the
domino box. But 81 claque" is the COM
monest expression, a claque being one of
those opera hats that make swapping
noise when it is shut up. Death is 1.-THE
comrade" OF a person who is drunk they
say: He has dined, he has his sunstroke,
he has his pompette, he has something in
his hair, he is a professor of the Sor-
bonnie, he is in the Lords vineyard. But
the young men about town use newer
words. "Je me boissome" q Intoxicating
ly beverage myself, or 81 am going to
imbibe," or 'to asphyxiate myself with
absinthe), or "chase the fog" with any
morning drink. Such a youth. when he
is taking too much, frankly calls himself
a candidate a la folte, while he would
characterize the physical act as trying
to drink higher than his neck"
It has been said that a foreigner knows
a language only when he begins to 1alk
It's slang In reality 1t is no more proof
thar that other supposed proof, the ability
to pun. Immediately he gets soma sight
freedom with a language, the foreigner
Q.II l..Az %
ering a mistaken flavor of words, the real
secret of his pleasure in them being
simply that he understands them, more
or less He will see connections, illusions,
puns and bons mots where the native
would see only stupidity. 1t Is particular
Iy true Of slang We Americans in Paris
seldom get it right, even when the slang
phrase is common to both languages. A
Partisan gilded youth may use the jargon
of those young persons, which is oftenest
the argot of thieves and tramps; but the
ambitious foreigner with the same words
in his mouth Is likely to be talking folly
and resemble the fond Hottentot tricked
out in the white mans finery. We all can
CINE how grotesque a Frenchman
would seem "rubbernecking'' among our
own pet metaphors.
ATTEMPTS AT ENGLISH.
The other day my French teacher con-
fided to me that none of his American
pupils would find him "go-along," which
Vas not so bad for "come-on." He Is
proud of saying at is up to you,'' but
too often says it in the wrong place. When
he told me that 1 seemed to have diff
Guilty in getting nearest to the idea"
was at sea until it flashed on me that
nearest" and next" meant the same in
his French mind. Then I "got next to
it," He is proud of the word telephone
hat" what is that?" I asked, pretend
ing not to know "Dhee hat one converse
across which is a way he has of talk
ing through his hat. He is convinced that
1t is very chic.
The overworked word "chic" Cor chiaue
which means Chevy, however well it
may now be settled, and respectable not
only in French, but in most other Ian
euages is pure slang and of not at all
Hlustrious origin. "a minister of the en-
pire who was a frequenter of the coulsses
of the opera, one evening sent two dane
Ing girls to take supper at restaurant
at his expense. Being modest, they did
not run up the bill beyond So. When the
great man saw the bill, he stuck up his
nose at it. "You lack Clique, pas de
Clique" few nights later two other
damsels, striking the same snap, deter
mined not to commit the same error They
spent $50. Then the minister made an
other face. TOO much chique trop de
chiqueP' he exclaimed. The word found
favor, coming to stand for the golden
mean, removed from extravaganza on
either side To be chic IS, first Of all, to
be correct, in the worldly sense. Yet 1t is
noticeable that among Paris artists the
word always has an exactly opposite that
is. bad meaning. When a painter goes
in to please the vulgar, especially when he
draws without model, they say he is
"doing chic" With them "chc" is the
abuse Of memory, work without con-