The Washington times., 1920-11-05
Damon Runyon
ON
.SLdnp.
ON
Slang.

Mr.. Arthur Brisbane. in his Today. the most
widely read column in the world. recently COM
mented my use Of the term, Barney Mccoy"
as meaning a prearrahged prixefight.
Mr.. Brisbane remarks that there are accepted
words In language that grow Just as
strangely-for instance. "fiasco" and sincere"
An explanation OF the derivation Of the term
I employed may be interesting as showing how
slang starts and develops into common use.
Years ago many knockabout dancing teams
sang q song about Daniel oLeary and Barney
rhythm. The dancers knew each others every
move and worked in beautiful harmony
One time a couple Of boxers. who were sup
York boxing club. and displayed such an inti-
mate knowledge Of each others style and
movements and worked SO well together that
It was obviously the result OF rehearsal
Some one in the gallery was evidently re-
minded OF the old knockout teams. and started
whistling the tune to "Daniel oLeary and Bar
ney Mccoy" As a result fake fights came to
be known by that long term, finally shortened
down to just Barney" which is a generally
accepted slang term today for q prearrange-
ment to defraud Of any nature.
am under the impression that "Tad." the
great cartoonst. was the first to use 1t in a
newspaper in that manner. Tad" is usually
first to give publicity to new slang terms.
Years ago free ticket was known as .
"broadS q Skull" or q "deadhead.' Today
of many boxing shows punch holes in every
complimentary ticket they issue. Some keen
mind saw a connection between these holes and
the feats OF Annie Oakley, the woman rifle ex-
pert hence a new slang expression, which has
gone all over the country.
Tad" gave this its first publicity, too.
Bugs" Baer, who writes for the Hearst
papers. conjures up words and terms.
picturesque and expressive. from his brain every
instant. Tad inyents new words, too. but
Tad" will get more OF what he calls "kick"
out OF a word or phrase by constant repeti-
tion.
His "you-tell-'ems," and 'that-wins-the-ele-
gant-so-and-so,' always some incongruous ar
ticle such as O celluloid ash tray, are classics.
Tad" was first to give publicity to the Aus
tralian slang now having quite vogue In Amer
lea This Is a sort of rhyming slang, as, for
instance, "a twist and q twiri, that's Q girl"
"a this and that is your hat" 'the storm and
strife, that's the wife,"
In San Francisco this slang is shortened down
to one word, as "twist" meaning q girl, and
"strife" meaning wife, In Chicago q girl is In
elegantly referred to in slang circles as "a
broad" Other slang terms for girl or woman
include Jane" and "wren."
These last are now archaic. So Is the word
'boob," derived from 'booby." The modern ex-
"mug" This fs very old English slang word.
A promissory note Is nowadays called q
Kathleen Mavourneen" You remember the
old song, at may be for years, and II may be
forever" 4 bad check is called a rubber"
check, because IL bounces back when 1t hits the
bank.
In the old days a man who was executed was
ed off" TodAy he Is Knocked Off" There 10
just difference of one word between the last
two expressions. but that one word tells the
"wise cracker" your vintage.