Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1915-02-04
The University
Weekly Letter
University, Mississippi, January
so, 1915.
SLANG: ITS ORIGIN, USE.
AND ABUSE.
BY David H. Bishop,

Just on the outskirts of our &C.
cepted vocabulary thes> is \ large
number of words and phi asses that
constantly press for admission
into respectable speech Despite
the opposition of purists, literary
people and schoolmaster many OF
these terms work their war up
intU the .'best circles Of approx
ed words. In their successful
ascent into respectabiIity there is
nothing new or abnormal. Indeed
we see in their acceptance one
method by which language has
alwaysg grown Slang, ss a feature
of speech. is in no sense modern,
the specific instances of il are al
ways so. On the other hand, the
present attitude towards words
regarded rs slang is rather mod
ern. and the word itself, in its
present application, belongs TO
the nineteenth century. Shake
speare hated silly, affected, or
cant terms; but he showed no
distaste for words because they
were new or un-literary. With
almost unerring taste he used the
word that hit the mark, whatever
its origin might be. And so with
his contemporaries. Richard Ca
rev, writing in 1895, praises the
tongue for its rich variety |
Of expression; and to illustrate
he gives twenty-five ways OF tell
ing a man TO leave one house.
half of the terms he
gives would have been classed as
slang If the the term had then
been in use.
Slang originates in various
too numerous for men,
Joining here. In a general way
{ may be said that these sources
ire in instincts of the mind for
resh, simple, unaffected, whim-
lical. humorous, or original ex-
recession of thought. Just as the
Iverage man would not wat to
,arb himself habitually id silk
rat and frock coat, 50 he does rot
Ike TO speak constantly with the
primness Of formal langu-
lge. He resorts instead TO the
'asy language that borrows words
rom the jargon Of the stock
market or the game of base ball:
md thus these terms ars EXTEND
d finally into common use.
Again. some men have a gift for
picturesque or humorous express
ion. They see n likeness in thingsI
essentially different that others
rave not discovered, and they
originate metaphors. Such was
he case with the mai who havingI
lad experience with milestone OF
good and of bad composition,
hrst said firm, courageous man
that he had plenty Of grit.
But the operaxi II OF these
language instincts does not us-
ually result SO happily. AT least
ninety per cent of the slang
vocabulary tends to weaken Lam
guagc or Is in bad teste. The
to humorous expression
in most slang reveals an
effort at smartness OF a coarse
ness of feeling that is disgusting.
And much of the slang that is not
thus offensive displays a mental
laziness- Men resort 70 il because
they are too INDECENT to think out
their thoughts to clear and de-
finite expression. The talk of a
person whose language abounds
in slang is pitifully weak in
thought. A half hour OF it Is 4
WEAKNESS to the flesh.
To sum up: Slang originates
and persists rs n natural process
of language growth. A very large
part Of current slang at any period
is more or less objectionable; and
this part passes out Of use and is
forgotten in a few years. But
some words that originate as
slang rise TO approved usage and
then lose their slang character.
In the total these have greatly
~ ~soLnl r.x~ y~<xr b,xi~