The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-11-14
SLANG USED 81 WonEN
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The story was told not long ago el
gently bred eastern woman who. astons
tshed and shocked at certain expressiona
that she heard her daughter use reman
strated with her On The ground that her
conversation was s~uniadyllzen It fair
ly bristled with words and phrases not
all Of which she knew the meaning o.
but whose slangy sound was unmistak-
able. says the Indianapolis News. She.
was quite sure, she continued. that 9 err
tain nice girl friend Of the daughter
never employed them. "Juat wait until.
after our tennis game" vas the daugh-
ter's answer. The mother did wait
During the course Of the game she heart
the nice girl use expressions worse, Il
anything. than her daughters, almost
strong enough to make an o~ld-fashioned
person like herself faint The daughter
was triumphant, the mother could say
nothing more
The experience Of this mother must
have been that Of many other women
of the older generation, taught toregaTd
pure and choice speech as one OF the
essential marks of refinement. Truly,
some Of the expressions that women 9TH
erwise gentle let fall to-day are amaz-
ing. We have grown SO used to them,
however, and they are uttered with such
dash and ~cleverness that 1t is only when
we stop to think of them that our blood
nearly runs cold. A carefully reared
young girl viii tell you that owing to
her dissipation OF the night before she
feels simply bum" A charming young
matron will affirm that a certain play
is rafting good" uttering the phrase in
a tone that indicates how everyday a
matter it is with her. Society young
women have their own pet "swear
words" invented by themselves, and
freely used to vent annoyance on the
golf links or the tennis court.
II. is all a fad, of course, and probably
like other fads, it will pass. Slang is
queer, anyway. From n point Of view
it is all vulgar, but certainly-and it is
not easy to explain whS-some Of it is
much more vulgar than the rest. In
that well-written story Of American life,
'"The Darlingtons," an elder sister, who
has just responded Get out!" to the
younger girls remark, rebukes her the
next moment for describing a certain
man as 'pluggy." One would hardly de-
fend Get out, {" but "pluggy,' although
not exactly slang, sounds a degree
worse. Different sets Of people have
somewhat different notions as to where
to draw the line in slang, for it is pretty
generally admitted that we cannot alto
gether get along without it's raciness,
picturesqueness, brevity and force
The American girl who, during a GRO
quet game, objected to the English girls
exclamation; ooh, what a beastly
fuke!" being asked what she would
have said herself, replied with the
equally extraordinary: ooh, what a
horrid scratchl"
Slang with women, at least, has come
with indulgence in outdoor sports which
carry their own characteristic express
sions with them. As long as these sports
remain fads, so long will women amuse
themselves with a somewhat ~audacious
use of the terms. AS the novelty wears
of, and only wholesome interest re-
mains, the rougher and more daring
words will 60, too. Meanwhile, barring
the strongest Of these, which fairly hurt
the ears, there is a certain breeziness
and s%pontaneity in their use by refined
young women, who somehow manage t.
soften them by their manner Of utter
ance to the level of at least the permits.
sible.
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