Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-08-18
.SLANGS IN USE IN
LONDON NOWADAYS
Some of Them Sound Like "Pig-
Latin" of our Childhood Days;
Others Hcscmblo Nothing.
uBy THOMAS BuHKED

Lo$D6N, Aug ~ In London.
tho cosmopols all languages are
spoken English, French. Polish
Welsh, German, Czech Swedish.
Norwegian. Danish Dutch Chinese
Japanese, Swahih, Urdu. Hindoatani
-- oh. and lot Of others nut where
80 many languages are spoken u is
difficult Ia convey secret lnfoTma-
ton, meant for single ear. without
the danger Of being overheard hy
someone privy 90 that Language 40
, the London black sheep. Instead Of
1 speaking In foreign languages TO hts
cronlos. inycnts esotcric languages OF
his own
! You may remember that excellent
/ ballad 10y W r. Henley written en-
b tirely In thieves slang. with lts
solemn burden.
It's up tho spout and Charley wag
/ AWith booze and biowons ana Whni
not.
Suppose YOU melt tho multy swag7
Boozs and the blowens cop the lot
| It.fs2s an excellent specimen Of the
current slang of iia time. but that
slang is no more The trouble about
these manufactured languages Is that
they are 80 soon out ~ repair After
% few months use the police and
indeed. the general public have dis.
covered the dictionary and once
they are common property they are
valuclcss for secret intercourse Most
criminals and coppcrs marks are
compelled 20 Transact their business
in crowded places. like saloons ana
street corners where casual convcr-
sation may be picked up by rival
and % secret language IL Of great use
90 them while its secrecy lasts
Every week old slaurH are developed
or new dialects invented.
Derived From Homnny.
Most Of these anomalous and ESQ
ioric languages derive from the
Romany Years ago gyps.cs began
to Fequent race meetings telling for
tunes and torecaHtlng the winner
Their Romany dialect wnH picked up
by the bookmnkerH. vaudeville artists
and petty fry of the criminal world
ana hy them slightly varied. and cir
cllsted as "a medium Of private in-
tcrcourse
But there is always some fool
member OF the gang who passes the
secret 10 some one elise. who tells
pal. who tells a vaudeville artist. and
the vaudeville artist spreads II among
his friends. and across the footl.ghts
and thero ls an end Of lt You may
be- quito sure that whatever new SEE
ct"t lanEuafe is invented the vaudc-
viue people viii have ~ next week
and destroy rs uuuty
have been doing a biz that way
myself Just lately by tryinE ~ teach
rhyminr slang 20 a doughh0y iu pc.
turn FOR his kindness in putting me
wise 20 baseball language Hut either
I'm punk stuff as an instructor. or
he's fool-and Lord forbid that 7
should suggest tho latter Believe
me. after three hours hard coaching
I turned 90 him and spoke unto him
in this wise:
We'll me old alan. shall we slmp- /
son 90 the nearest evening and have .
skating / told tho worry and /
me godfrr that I wouldn't be home .
900 Rypsles
r., Didn't Understand
AnShe said hordiint understand !
why, irs easy. .iuf lt7 JUST look ht I
10 carefully. and remember that i'r I
rhymiug slang which. az tho phrase
tolls YOU ls based ON rhyme Has 81 /
got your roat7 Well Iu explain IN !
-hymluF slang you take the word you
want to say and then think OF some
phrase whose final word rhymes with .
your word HUi YOU DO not use tho
fn8l word you usc the first word of
'hc phrase cnn'aipIng the rhymI~r
word The follow tnv g'aaa4ry tgIIl.