Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-07
LANGUAGE MAKING
IN THE TRENCHES
The War Zone Has Need of New
Dictionary of Slang, but Revised
Editions Would Have to Follow in
Rapid Succession.
BY RAYMOND G. FULLER

BY RAYMOND G. FULLER
THERE are dictionaries and dictionaries
i OF course. But, unlike books III genera
there are no dictionaries Of all time ther
are only dictionaries OF the moment 1t was
is and will be impossible for any Noah Web
ster to keep up with the language. Wa
makes the effort harder.
one of the favorite subjects of debate II
schooldays is Resolved, That the pen i
mighter than the sword" Let us see II an!
alliance exists between the leglons of sol
diers and the legions Of words
First, let us look into a dog's-eared pro.
nounelng dictionary Of the place-names which
have made the European war famous Dogs.
cared already, though a dictionary Of the
moment. Many people prefer "Pretzel" as the
| pronunciation of that Galician town miscaed
a stronghold, but this Handy Help informs
| us that the place is "Chemesel" A diction-
! ary is supposed to lend assistance in time of
doubt, but here is one which lacks even dla-
critical marks. Mondider is "Ntohn-d dee
dee-eh," BuXiers is "Buesy-air" Siedlce is
"see-ay -dlltse," and, behold, Warsaw is
"Vahrshahvas." If the impossible should hap
pen, however, and the United States should
be invaded by foreign foes, we should have
our revenge in watching them wrestle with
such American names as Tioughniougha,
Chlcothe, Ossawatomie, schochon, syla-
cauga, Pocomoonshine and possibly Kalama-
zoo and Philadelphia Yet the disturbing
thought may occur to us that a foreigner
might be able to deal with some Of these
words rather more efficiently than we can
ourselves
From Whitechapel to Harvard
The inadequacy Of dictionaries in wartime
goes beyond the matter Of pronunciation.
Take, for instance, the slang of Tommy
Atkins. II Tommy happens to come from the
Whitechape district in London his slang Is
his language To the unsophlstlcated officer
1t is pure gibberish. No wonder. There used
to be a popular song in Whitechapel which
started with the following verse:
As sat in front of the Anna Maria
Warming my plates of meat
t There came knock at the Rory OMore
That made my raspberry beat
Doubtless the context explains, but "Anna
Maria" is fire" pilates of meat" is feet"
Rory O'N1ore" Is door" and raspberry" is
heart" With Whitechapel Tommy Battle
of the Nile is "rhyming slang" for tile" or
hat. He lights his cherry ripe" (pipe) to
warm his Il suppose" (nose) He devours a
Joe Savage" Ccabbage) for his glorious
sinner (dinner), and his favorite dish is
"bonnets so blue" Qrish stew, washed down
with temp" C'back slang" for pint) of
never fear" (beer). OF course he doesn't
carry all his luXuries into the trenches. but,
on the other hand, he doesn't abandon his
language. Some of it is "back-slanE,"
formed by reversing tho usual pronuncia-
tion of words and sometimes inserting a
vowel for the sake of euphony Euphony
in Whitechapel? Yes. "Kennurd" for
drunk" In Whitechapel you might hear
such conversation the following-by no
means harsh to the ear. II somewhat puz-
zling to the understanding:
What biz OF yad, Bin?"
ION doog. Neves yanneps is all I tog."
Which means:
What business today Biu?"
mo good. Seven pence is all got"
But when Harvard recently essayed to tie
he can to slang it was actually proposed
though not by the President and Fellows-to
introduce "backslang" in place of the other
Iinds. If 1t were applied to the grand old
rational game, "Hit the ball." would become
'Tih the lab" and the pleasantest shout
If all would be, 'Llik the eripmu"
Returning to Tommy Atkins in the trenches
We find that not only does he keep his old
slang, but he also borrows and creates.
ierman and so on-goes into the new COM
'osite dialect. Listen to Tommy and his pal
s they sit In little French cafe within
ound OF gunfire:
A Conversation with Key
where's Bill?"
Bill 'oo?"
"The knocker in A Company"
"oh! im-hes in Blitey"
go onl"
"Yes he's worked his ticket" Very loudly
} the lady who serves them)-"Another cafy
ly, ma sivous- plait."
"Ah vice. ah wee" (ths in answer to oues-
ons not understood)
"our cove got the wind up last night. not
rf"
That's nothing new, he always does" s
"Yes, he reckoned he saw a lot of Bocbes: s
Q was standing to arms all day and night I
an de burr ma, please. All wee, ah wee
Lbby an"
Here's the key:
(Hindustanl, perhapsl.
Fnocker'-drummer
Working your ticket'-getting sent home
r some illness or injury. r
officer. Q
Getting wind up'-becoming panic -strlcl- a
"Boche'-a German. A London Times cor a
spondent says that this word was hardly I
lown before the war, though "alboche" OF i
hlch It is an abbrevation, was fairly com r
on. IL means we ara foIa ttrrot.-- , a