The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1906-12-27
Slang SelECOnsCiOus.

1t is told of Mr.. Calling, who has re-
Gently retired from the editorship OF
Lloyd's Weekly, that he once gave
counsel to the young man who wrote
the ANSWERS to Correspondents" col
umn OF another journal. =" Are you
conscientious in that department, sir?"
asked Mr., Catling. II try to be, said
the young scribe. "Then cease to be
as soon as possible, " said the veteran.
"Scrupulous fidelity in hunting up re-
plies to every query that reaches o
newspaper Office Sir, that way mad
ness lies."
AS regards facts not contained in the
standard reference books, this is un-
doubtedly good and practical advice.
But there is raging today such an cpl
demic of conscientiousness among om-
! niscients as recent experience does not
parallel. We refer to the suddenly ap-
parent efforts to discover the origin OF
current pieces of slang. Instead of be-
ing the spontaneous, unstudied utter
ance OF spirited and flexible intellects,
slang has become thoughtful and in
Prospective. 1t delves into its own
past. People want to know the why's
of its existence.
We have been much edited by the
learned symposium now going on re-
garding the history of that mystical
number of dismissal, g 49," which ex-
actly two years ago could be uttered on
the vaudeville stage without laugh,
and now convulses continent. Every
conductor of an inquiry column knows
the answer as we'll as many private cit
izens; the trouble is that they do not
all know the same answer So far as
we can ascertain, the phrase "twenty-
three" originated in the following
manner:
| Q) Race tracks are so laid out as to
accommodate not more than twenty.
two horses at time The twenty
third horse entered, Therefore, must be
put out of the race.
(2) The psychapathic ward at Belle
we Hospital is ward No. 80, and, in
the vernaeular of the ambulance sur
geon-" Twenty. three for his" is equiv
alent to "He's crazy"
i (3) In numbering the rooms of Ger
tain new hotel, the numeral "23 " was
inadvertently omitted. The clerks
therefore used ".Show the gentleman
to room 90" as signal to the "bounc
err" when an undesirable appIican
came for room.
((4) The expression originated from
! the twenty-third verse of the thirC
chapter of Genesis: I" Therefore, tn,
Lord sent him forth from the gardel
of Eden, to till the ground from whenc
he was taken.
(5) The expression originated from
passage in IA Tale of Two Cities
'She kissed his lips; he kisses hers
they solemnly bless each other. TIL
spare hand does not tremble as he re
leases it; nothing worse than a sweet
, bright constancy is in the patient face
She goes next before him-is gone; tn
knitting women count twenty-five.
:, "rhe murmuring Of many voices, th
upturning of many faces, the pressin
on of many footsteps in the outskirts {
: the crowd, so that it swells forward i
: a mass, like one great heave of watel
' all flashes away. Twenty.three.
(6) "Twenty-three" is used by teleG
raphers to signify keep off the wire,
as they use thirty" for saying 'goot
t. night
at ALI of these are plausible. Sever
ID of them are undoubtedly true. III
r. reader is at liberty to reject or accel
ly whichever he sees fit. And, after
Of has done SO, he may freely specula
or how the phrase was conveyed from Il
nt East Side hospital, the anonymous b
l. tel, the race track, the Sunday. schoC
n. or the library, to enrich our herita,
H. OF English speech.
e. Nor is this the only linguistic pro-
%. lem of the day. The handing of
1t. 'lemOn" has recently been traced ba
to Roswell and to Loves Labo