Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-08-09
FLAPPERS COIN
A VOCABULARY
OF THEIR OWN
BY FREDERIC y. HAsKIN

| ildue sldns look respectable alons
comes the flapper to inject Z
complex into the American Ian.
guage. If you walk aloof from
the flapper tribe you may be
peacefully unaware that there j.
an elaborate flapper patois. a,
much part of the outfit OF the
snappy young thing as her rol
tops. sport hat, and sweater.
Like the uniform, the Language
of the flapper is peculiar to hel
type. The only exception is that
the flapper language is also
spoken by the cake eater and 9TH
er male contemporaries of the
modern girl. To the rest of the
population, including almost ev-
eryone over, 25 years, flapper talk
comes close to being incompre-
hensible. Not many OF the terms
are in general use.
Few full fledged adults, for
instance, would be able to use cor
rectly in their flapper meaning
tomato, egg. potato, mustard
plaster, lemon squeezer. squirrel
berries, alarm clock, and flat tire
These are perfectly respectable
English words in their established
sense. In flapper language they
are used as metaphors. Some arc
apt, while others seem forced
Flat tire is certainly an ex-
pressive term for a maidenly flap
per over 80. Alarm clock, for
chaperon, is not far fetched eith-
er. Chaperons nowadays are about
as popular and as little needed
as the family sleep chaser. A
mustard plaster is listed in one
flapper vocabulary as "an unwel-
come guy who hangs around"
Lemon squeezer Is flapper for ele-
vator, though the term might be
applied equally well to a street
car or crowded automobile.
Truck Patch Terminology
The agricultural terms are the
hardest to unravel. Why a brain
less girl who is pretty and dances
we'll should be a tomato is not
explained. Nor is it perfectly
clear why youth who lets his
girl pay her own way should be
called an egg, unless perhaps
such a person is considered hard
boiled. 1t is true that to call n
person, an egg has a family in
sulting sound, even if the mean
ing is unknown. But the same
might be said Of most agricultural
terms. Yet the meaning that
we associate with them may make
them seem complimentary. Peach
- ,;,, hnpn Itcn6
to express praise. On the other
hand, lemon. fish, and purple
COW carry a meaning of dispar-
agement.
A potato in its latest sense is
the male prototype Of the tomato
-a~ brainless boy. To add to the
confusion, squirrel becomes a
verb in the new usage and means
to hide.
Flapper iargon seems to be
somewhat different from the slang
that ordinarily enlivens EVERYDAY
speech. The ordinary slang
phrase Is the happy, or unhappy,
thought of some wit. If 1t fills
a need, replaces some dull alb
straction by a vivid mental pic
ture, then it becomes popular. In
time it is either worn out by too
much use and discarded. or it be-
comes respectable English, recog-
nized by the solemn makers OF
dictionaries.
The flapper talk appears to he
an attempt to do a wholesale Jop'
to turn the entire English Vocab-
ulary of youth into picturesque
and sporty patois. Let no noun
or verb remain undisguised seems
to be the slogan of flapper, or
ganized and unorganized. New
terms are being added every day
by earnest gum-chewing young
philologists.
An interesting tendency in the
new, iargon is the use of proper
names in the way that Hooverize
was used during the war. 10 pc
put through duestionnalre is
to be Edisoned. To be on time
for date is to Houdini. The
analogy of this last Is apparently
that punctuality is considered
striking achievement.
By the same sort OF association
a girls new dress is called ner
Urban set. Trotzky comes in nor
a touch of this sort of fame. but
he is not taken seriously by the
language makers. A Trotzky Is an
old lady with mustaehe and chin
whiskers. |
One reason that flapper talk re-
mains so peculiarly the properly
of the flapper is that the vocab-
ulary is restricted to the social
interests of extreme youth. 1t is
as specialized as the argot of the
stage, sport, or politics. Almost
all the flapper words are de-
scriptive OF beaux, dancing. part
les, clothes, marriage. money, au-
tomobiles and petting.
Petting, which was itself slang,
is now too tame and too much of
a glittering generality for the
flapper language. Puppy cuddling
has partly replaced the word pet
ting. and a whole assortment of
terms refer to this activity in Its
various aspects. Thus, a moving
picture I auditorium becomes a
pelllHSf pdHtfy, liiC oiioSsioi'itS
type of, flapper is biscuit or
cuddler, a peter who likes to
hang on a boys neck Is a necker;
and a necker of the male species
Is a snugglepup.
How the Language Spreads.
The non-flapper element of the
has small place in its
for such terms and so
hey do not become general prop
srty. All over the country. how
ever, the language of the flapper
s similar. The newest phrases
.ravel by letters, by word of
mouth. and in lists occasionally
printed in magazines and news
)apers. One magazine devotes its
jages entirely to the interests of
he tribe.
A few phrases that have possl-
)ilities for use in the conversation
If the general public have be-
,ome popular American slang.
There always seems to be de-
nand for slang tags to express
.reeting, approval. disapproval,
md to replace simple yes or