Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-07-22
BRITISH SLANG is
OF NEWEST ORDER
Oblique Mischievousness Charac-
terizes Most of Tornmy's Lat
est Witty Expressions.
MANY SYNONYMS IN RIME
Pseudo Grumbles Have No He's
itancy of Joking When on
Danger List.

| LONDON, July 21.-An entirely new
! crop Of slang has come into force in
| tho British army during the past year.
| They have taken the place of "blighty"
and the rest Of the picturesque
synonyms that were upperrnost year
or so ago. a hospital orderly writes
| about them as follows:
There is brand of cheap olga
rettes. popular in the army. known by
the name of Singles to Working The
allusion cnwraped in this mild with
cism is typical of the obique mis-
F. chievousness which characterizes the
| hest OF Tommy's slang. Tommy has
| passion for what one might call the
| pseudo grumblc He is a grouser who
doesn't mean his grousing to be taken
| seriously.
Having served for two years as an
| orderly in war hospital. l may claim
TO speak with some assurance of that
| lovsble absurd. CHEEKY malcontcnt.
the British soldier. i have heard him
| crack jokes about timber shortage,
| for instance. Can you guess why?
| Because he had found out that Of
| ticially he was on what is known as
tho danger list (and let me say that
| only a hero could crack jokes when
lisD, and was voicing the charming
theory that he might be bilkcd of a
| coffin. That is our fearless and ma
cabcr Mr.. Atkins all over. Another of
| his war hospital pleasantrics is TO
! announce that he is going to the pic
lures. This is the regular phrase for
the visit to the operating thcater.
And isn't II rather fine?
OINISG SLANG RECOGNIZES
POPULAR WITH TONNES
But l wish Tommy would rid him
self of his habit Of using riming slang
1t is curse, this vast list Of
synonyms. which. l can only surmise,
originated somewhere far back in the
thieves Latin OF the tramp. Both the
old army and the new are in the
| thraldom of the inane lingo. Chevy
| chase. means face 'mince pic means
eye false alarm means arm al
| mond rocks means Socks daisy root
| means boot ! could (for may sins)
continue the dismal catalogue down a
| column.
Heaven forbid that should perpet-
uate such monument of Stiffness;
| but, indeed. l fear that the riming
slang fashion is all too deeply estab-
| iished: our recruits are carrying 1t far
and wide and it's entry into the civilian
| language will be one Of the least sat
isfactory souvenirs Of Armageddon
"At the hospitals. either in the
wards or the recreation room. the COL
lector OF outre nelogisms would have
happy hunting ground. Pass the
/ oojah.' says the one-armed man who
| is playing billiards, What is the
oojah? The oojah is any object in
heaven or earth; 1t is the thing which
has no name or the name of which
You have momentarily forgotten. The
one-armcd man. about to make his
stroke. requires the little twisted wire
bridge. mounted on lead pedestal,
'hat forms the cues rest which-poor
chap!-he ought to have formed with
his lost hand. So he demands the
oojah. which is army for what-d'ye-
call-it And his opponent. whose face
is SO dishgured that he has had to be
given moulded mask to cover part
of 1t. dubs his mask his oojoh.
JOLLY SYNONYMS HAVE
ORIGINS OF MUCH DOUBT
"Oojah may come from the East. with
'cushy' and 'blichtly' and .bondook' "a
rifle) and 'Sieda' (good morning), and
'burGoo' (porridge), and host of other
jolly synonyms. But where did click
and rumble originate? To be rumbled
is to be found out; you may be
'rumbled swinging the Lead which
means that your shamminE or Sinking
| is detected. But IL you apply for a
soft job and obtain It, you have
clicked Again. you may Spruce
The verb to spruce is obscure: but
one may illustrate its employment by
mentioning that If war hospital con-
valesccnt who should be useful, wash
ing dishes or cleaning knives for his
ward sister vanishes with the design
OF evading these responsibilities he is
sprucing. In other words, he Is doing
| a mike On his return sister will
doubtless tick him off, or his com.
| rades give him the bird Doubly will
this be the case If he has been OBJ
served afar in colloquy with a 'pushei,'
tgirD, and 'is suspected of CHANGING
his nit (sninning far-fctched varn)
or telling a a sob-story'
And as I go about my hospital
duties In the midst of this babel of
metaphor which has come not only
from all over the British Isles, but
from India and the Colonies Ito saw
nothing of na-poo' and the rest of the
harvest from France) wonder whet! er
my native tongue will ever be the
same again. For 1 have reeled be-
| meath the assault OF .-Henryisms in
New York. and 1 remember with grim
anticipation that America. too. has
entered the war. and her troops are
also TO mingle not only their blood but
their bewildering idiom with ours. A
formidable prospect. for there is no
disease more catching than slang"