The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-20
FRENCH SLANG.
An Unfathomable Mystery to the
 Average Foreigner.

St. Louis Republic.
 The mystery of the French tongue has defed a good many people who have ac- quired that language on this side of the | water, to ultimately find themselves lost | ip Paris. And this, although they may have had the advantage of the best Par | isian teachers here.
 Accent aside. the difficulty lies in the broad contrast between the French laid down by the academy-which. alone, is taught by the best instructors-and the French, as commonly spoken by the | French people. While the academy is strenuously maintaining the purity of the French tongue by the process of elimina- | tion and exclusion, there are abundant ev- idences of material notifications and ex- tensions of spoken French. as are con- | stantly going on with the English lar- guage. Comparing dictionaries. we have about twice the number of words to ex- press the same things. and the revision of the French Dictionary. now in progress. will, 1t is announced. tend to reduce rath- CT than add to the present authorized vo- cabulary of our sister republic. But the French people care as little about the dictionary as we do, and in the intimacy of social and business life they have at least double the number of words, to the intense disgust of the classical re- formers. Add to this as many original varieties of French as there were original Provinces as a basis for these modif1ca- tions and you may readily understand the general result. If the French Academy went into local colloquialisms as our modern dictionary authors do 1t would have a vocabulary. of 10000 words or more.
 It is a curious commentary on the most civilized country on the face of the earth according to its generally undisputed claim-that, with a superficial area less than that of the State of Texas and the advantage of a couple of thousand years the start of us, the people indigenous to the soil of one section of France speak a tongue practically incomprehensible to the natives of another section-yet they all speak French. The present movement looking to the seculariZation of the school system and to general compulsory educa- tion will doubtless overcome to some de- gre this lack of intellectual cohesiveness in the course Of time. Meanwhile the American tourist need not be discouraged because he cannot at once understand people who do not understand them selves.
 Having mastered the classical French. 1t Is necessary to come in contact with the educated Parisians who speak and write that language. According to Partisan newspaper authority. these are on the de- cline rather than on the increase-so much so that certain public men are frankly commended for speaking pure French. Unfortunately, generally speaking, the tourist meets only trainmen. cab drivers, hotel officials and servants of all classes, who use colloquial French of a character not taught in schools either at home or abroad. It Is as full of slang as our lan- guage is among the same class here. Much of French slang must have had its origin with us; at least, 1t stands for the same thing.
 The word 'pouree" is short for "broke," "in the soup" And "bibi Ia pouree" is applied to the seedy bum" who lives the life of our "panhandler." The gay gris- cites of the Quarter Latin also apply the term to the fat and bedraggled women and line the benches along the Boule- yard St. Michel at night, for these were the gay grisettes of long ago.
 "Tuyau" means pipe, hose, etc. literally. Used by the French sport and betting men generally means a Head pipe cinch." In still another sense 1t is ''stovepipe" hat-"tuyau de la poelle. One may combine the two by wearing a ''stovepipe' hat and having "tuyau" on horse.
 There are several other slang terms for the high silk hat-"chapeau de haute forme." de huit reflects" literally, eight reflections. etc. all of which correspond to our "stovepipe" and to the English chimney hat" The round-crowned derby is called a melon in 4'aris.
 'Detraque" is French for derailed. As slang 1t means of his trolley" out of mind. "Turbiner." naturally suggests the wheel, and is applied as a noun to the person who has wheels" in his head.
 "Collee," stuck. is used as we use it in the sense of being "stucK" (on woman), engaged. It comes from the verb "coller," to stick, paste. It is also applied to the man who has been "stucA by somebody or to one who can't get away.
 "Faire la blanche" is literally to do the board-make the board-and is French slang for loafng. You know how a board cast on the waters floats Iuly hither and thither without guidance or known desti- nation. It is usually cut to Ia blanche" in conversation, and in not inaptly de- scribes loafing about town, killing time. "Flaneur" Is another term for loafer, idler; the dictionary terms for idle" are "oisif." "paresseux." etc. The facilities for doing the board in Paris are equaled by no other city in the world.