The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-07

when Henry Mencken almost made
slang look respectable along comes
the fiapper to inject . complex IN
the American language. II you
walk aloof from the fapper tribe
you may b peacefully aware that
there 10 an elaborate flapper pa
tots, As much . part Of the out6t Of
the snappy young thing - hsf roll
tops, sport hat, and sweater.
! Like the uniform. the language
OF the flapper is peculiar to her
type. The only exception. IL that
the fiapper language 10 also spoken
by the cake eater and other male
contemporaries Of the modern girl.
To the rest Of the population, in
GLIDING almost everyone over Is
years, happer talk comes close to
being incomprehensible., Not many
Of the terms are In general use.
Few full-fledged adults, for in
stance, would be able to use cor
rectly IN their ilapper meaning to-
mato, egg, potato, mustard plaster,
lemon sQueezer, squirrel, berries.
alarm clock, and nat tire. These
are perfectly respectable English
words in their established sense.
In flapper language they are used
as metaphors. Some are apt, while
others seem forced.
Flat tire is certainly an express
sive term for q maidenly flapper
over 80. Alarm clock, for chaper-
on, is not far-fetched, either. Chap
!erOns nowadays are about as pop
ular and as little needed as the
family sleep chaser. A mustard
plaster is listed in one ,flapper vo-
cabulary as ian unwelcome guy
who hangs around" Lemon squeez-
er is fiapper for elevator, though
the term might be applied equally
we'll to a street car or crowded au.
tomobile.
Truck Patch Terminolsgy.
The agricultural terms are the
hardest to unravel. Why a brain
less girl who is pretty and dances
well should be tomato is not ex-
planned: Nor is it perfectly cleal
why a youth who lets his girl pay
his own way should be an egg, un.
less perhaps such person is con.
sidered hardboiled. 1t is true thai
to call person an egg has a faint
ly insulting sound, even il the
meaning is unknown. But the same
might be said of most agriculture
terms. Yet the meaning that w
associate with them make then
seem complimentary. Peach ant
pippin have long been used to ex
press praise. On the other hand
lemon, fish and purple COW carr,
a, meaning of disparagement.
A potato in its latest sense is tn
male prototype of the tomato
brainless hoy. To add to the con
fusion. squirrel becomes a verb IL
the new usage and means to hide.
| Flapper jargon seems to be some
what different from the slang tina
ordinarily enlivens every-da.
speech. The ordinary slang phras
is the happy, or unhappy, though
Of some wit. II it fills a need, re
places some dull abstraction by ,
vivid mental picture. then it be
comes popular. In time it is eithe
worn out by too much use and dis
carded, or it becomes RESPECTABLE
English, recognized by the solemn
makers of dictionaries.
The flapper talk appears to be a
! ottornpt IN do who1ooavo inh 4
turn the entire English vocabular
! Of youth into a picturesque an
! sporty patois. Let no noun or yer
remain undisguised seems to be tn
slogan of flapper. organized an
unorganiZed. New terms are bein
added every day by earnest gum
chewing young philologists.
An interesting tendency in tn
. new jargon is the use of prope