Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-21
THE
VINTAGE
YOUR SLANG
{, 30 thing goes further toward

n q
which sh. ceased TO be young more
than the way she does her hair. IL is
tho vintage of her slang. Every one
knows that you can always tell when
a. woman stopped taking an active in
terest IN the mode by the style Of her
coifure and you can tell when she
ceased to keep her ears open and her
senses keen by the date of the slang
she uses.
Now. of course. there are some thor
oughly progressive and fully alive
women who simply don't use slang at
all. just as there are some women who
do their hair in a distinctive. individuai
way that bears no date. But the thang
that makes woman fatally out of date
is the persistent clinging 10 MODE or
a line OF slang that has ceased to be
novel that has no connection with
things as they are now instance,
the rated pompadour was part OF the
picture with the clothes and hats with
which IL was WORN. but with present
dav clothes II Is senseless and discord-
ant And SO some of the once telling
hits OF slang that were in circulation
then. added piquancy no doubt TO the
conversation for a short day or two
but carried over into thees days. when
all the background OF our daily life has
changed and changed manr times. they
are decidedly fiat. stale and unpront-
able.
You know You can be thirty anu
hack number aud you can he seventy
and still have youthful point OF view
and he part If the moving. throohlog
life about you Rut beware the slang
that is passe It will date you IS sure
N as rattlesnake reveals his ag9 ~
the number II ratties IN his tail
In the repuhlic or china. you know
e.ygs a hundred or 50 Years I'D are
great delicacies. ard occidentals who
have been treated 10 them are abla e
get M quite a taste for them. They
have A rich, quaint. interesting favor
that they tell us is not like anything
alS. in the way of food and is really
deIectable. But even III China eggs
a few months or a Year old are den-
eacv in the eyes cf no o1e. So with
.ur slang. The fashionable slang Of
the days of Beau Rrummel viii hear
revival. but the slang Of last winter or
FIVE winters ago IS in the realm Of con
sation what the egg Of 1917 is III
this years food supply
There are always 6 lot OF women who
never advance much in their sentiments
from the DAYS Of thesr own courtshIp
and maria ge There are no footba i
games like those they witnessed with
their husbands when those husbands
were still freshly graduated and still
knew all the college football PLAYERS oy
sight There ware no dances like those
dances and no candies '-le the exreh-
sive brand Of candy t.lat those hns-
bands used 10 send during the months
II their courtslip. And 50 the slang
of thos- DAYS is hail0wed b. tender
associations, Perhaps il Is no wonder
And so il is that every once ~ a
while you meet woman Wno IS stu
young enough n face and figure Sfli.
a virile. very much alive SORT q person
physically who has Simply stopped
growing so far As her mod Of thought
and expression goes. she peters 70
her daughters men acQua intances a.
baaus or admirers o.. II the admirlns
one becomes quit ardent. as lovers.
word tha. strikes VERY dlscordani
note on the ears OF the present genera
ton.
And her slang j. Of the same vintage
special conrotation at the time they are
used. just as slang does. that is not
understood by later generation
Now all this has a special bearing on
present day slang. For present-day
slang. and present-day eaten phrases.
are largely a growth of the war. And
now, al this minute. they are much 70
the point Some of them others are
already going the way of ,ha lost words
Of the ages Take camouAage, foi in
stance When il first came 20 as. u
was an excellent word. We talked
bout camoufaging our paTs-caI de-
fects by the clothes we wore. We "a *
ed about camoufiasine wars sr3SEltut@
cake with Ella borate names. We cam
ouia aged. or talked about camouflaging
everything
Bac the word has been lNer~orked,
Ii IS not that We are bothered mos of
uS because We hav ve taken Z Fr@Hch
word and given it al English form v q
have don hat before and there are
few language purists VINO really can
convince us that such an action does
not strengthen the English tongue
But We are tired Of the word II sun
has q legitimate military as5 Bat aS
a word T. he arp'i-d in slang fashion.
TO every action we'll. il is al
ready a little c,4 fashioned. our ears
are listening for something new.
over the top''-'Treat EN- rough -
Can the Kaiser'-all those phrases
sounded fresh and fascinating few
months ago But even now they are
passing on, and new catch phrases and
slang from the trenches are coming
home to US
When Pershings victorious men
come home, they viii bring much slang
With them. Imagine the horde of
younger brothers going proudly about
with slang from Frame on their lips
and Young sisters too. for the matter
q that.
T. VIII AL be very welt 100 On lhe
lps Of the young Youth is adaptable,
and youth VIII use the slang o. the
present just 50 long as II is the slang
Of tn. present. As soon as Il becomes
the slang Of the past youth viii take
up-the slang cf the present.
But We older generation. we must be
careful Don't let US brand ourselves
of the vintage Of the Great War by
retaining some favoritc bit Of military
slang 70 the days Of our octogenarian-
ixm.
a--~ct<cSs.<