Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-07-31
ITO Be Continued).
THE USE OF SLANG.
Each Social Level Has Its Own Choice
Phrases.

Everybody knows, or thinks he
knows, exactly what slang is, says
London letter; but few would be able
to give off hand definition in two or
| three words. To say, as one dictionary
does that it is low talk" or "a Ian
guage of the lower classes is incor-
rect for Society with big "S," has it's
own characteristic slang.
The army, navy, stock exchange,
even the theological colleges could
compile a fairly large dictionary Of
trAir several slang terms. The fact Is
slang is a sort Of irregular verbal COIN
age which certain sections Of society
find useful-in some cases interesting
merely as a relief from the starched
language of academic responsibility,
as when the Bishop Of Oxford horri-
fled William Cory by saying Let me
have a squint at the plans Of spire
which the bishop of Salisbury was
contemplating.
At oxford, as most persons know,
the undergraduates have curious
custom Of shortening words and tack
| ing on "er" at the end. Breakfast is
brekker, lecture is lekker sitting room
| is sitter bedroom is bedder, rugger
and soccer are rugby and association
| football. Jesus college for some un-
known reason is still further corrupt
ed becoming Jaggers, and the Mar
tyrs' Memorial, erected in memory Of
Ridley and Latimer becomes the Mar
mers Memugger.
"Wekker" is waistcoat and the
morning rollcall is the ROLLER"
Money is naturally the subject Of
much slang, and is variously known as
blunt" "oof," 'rhino," "chink' (very
| expressive), "the needful," the ready
etc. Coinage has it's slang terminol-
ogy, a six-pence being a tanner
probably from the gypsy word "tano, =
little-a shilling a bob" a sovereign
| "quid' or "a thick 'un."
A slang word which has lately over
run English speaking countries is
| "swank," and there has been much
discussion about it's derivation. The
word itself is old, having been used
for generations in Scotland, with the
meaning of supple, lisom," springy,
apt for work. Burns uses it in this
sense But the current slang mean
ing is ito swagger, boast" and some
etymologists, derive it from the Ger
man "schwanken," to waver, sway
from side to side, as a person with
staggering gait.
This, however, is rather improbable,
for "schwanken" has for the most part
other connotations, rather in the di-
rection of lightly lowering than Of
staggering.
1t is more likely that "swank' is d
composite word, invented by COM
pounding "swagger' with rank"
pink" (high jinks), pink" (of con-
dtion), or some such word, on the
principle of Lewis CAROLS portman-
teau words, snake and shark amalga-
mating in The Hunting Of the Shark
Thieves have a large slang vocabu-
laTy because lHey llllu IL uSSiui ~
have a language Of their own. In Hen
ley and Farmers dictionary the slang
synonyms for thief or "swindler'
| occupy three closely printed columns
Police magistrates became linguistic
experts in this department.
The late Montagu Williams once
| asked a prisoner how he had spent
| some money which he admitted having
stolen The reply was: Il 'ad point
o mahogany, two doorstops and
stinker, that was a steever; and then a
London mystery and a slice of spotted
plain, and that's how l spent the
sprat." (Stout, slices of bread, penny
cigar, threepence: sausage, current
loaf, looD. II understand" said Will
liams; seven days"
1t has been said that there was no
slang in any European language until
the middle Of the fifteenth century,
when Francois VillOn wrote his ball
lads in a Partisan thieves lingo. But
| this is not to be taken very literally.
for slang must always have existed
| more or less.