Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-15
TALKING SHOP
By Anna Bird Stewart

|OUR English cousins have been enjoying a
- little squib that recently appeared IN
Punch" According to the story retired
Major, though laid up with govt, was proving
his devotion to the hunt by resolutely shoot
ing from motor car.
Watch that bird; he's hit hard" the MINI
rod called out.
Yes, sill" responded his genial chauffeur.
les steerin' bit wild, sir. Got it in is
differential gear, sir, l think"
That is an amusing example of unconscious
talking shop" All of us are guilty of it
more or less. Go into a company of musicians.
of artists, of newspaper men, of plumbers, of
baseball players, and you are sure to hear
terms of whose meaning you must guess, used
as the common counters of conversation.
After a time such talk becomes tiresome. 1t is
only when the terms are used to describe some
thing entirely different, as in the case of the
ardent chauffeur that we get real enjoyment
out of shop"
A veteran theatrical manager was once dis
cussing the decline in church attendance. Il
don't think much of the church business these
days." he said in all seriousness. Il once
lived next door to a church which was said to
be the most popular in town. They gave
three performances a week. except in Lent,
when they had two day. And, do you know,
| don't think they ever had more than fifteen
dollars in the housed"
There is a somewhat similar tale about a
politician who enjoyed fame as a campaign
orator. On one occasion he was inveigled into
accompanying his ancient maiden aunt to
prayer meeting. The minister called upon
him to lead in prayer. Rising promptly, the
stump speaker put one hand between the but
tons of his coat, the other behind him, and be-
gan Oh, Lord and esteemed fellow citizens
Another instance furnished perhaps as anus
ing bit of theatrical criticism ever emanated
from the wittiest of critics. Two women who
kept boarding house were advised to see
Jerome K. Jerome's symbolic play, The Pass
ing of the Third Floor Back" in which the
English actor. Forbes Robertson. has been ap
pearing in this country. After doing So they
did not enjoy it one bit. 1t was utterly silly and
impossible. Why. nobody could run board
ing house like that and make any money!"
This unconscious shop talk has been used with
telling effect in literature and drama, where it
| is an unending source of humor. In The
Poor Gentleman" a play by the younger
George Colman, it is made the chief foundation
| of the comedy. The part of DIR. Ollapod, for
| years one of the test classic roles for come
dams, is an apothecary a cornet in the guards
and sportsman. With what delicious humor
he confounds the languages that serve his differ
ent callings! I'm as ready for foe Gus
TONER" he declares genially; "always willing
| to charge them both"
| Much of present day slang is due to the
| talking of SHOP" as the most cursory survey
| of popular expressions will show After ALL
much as we decry slang, who knows but that
| many such phrases may become not merely
| recognized part of the language but also real
| figures of speech? After ali, what is the poets
exalted metaphor but variation of this sort
of shop" a reference to thing in the
| terms of another?