Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-09

fldpper JargOn seems TO De SOnle-
what different from the slang that
ordinarily erlivens everyday speech.
The ordinary slang phrase is the
happy, or unhappy, thought of some
wit. If 1t fills a need, replaces
some dull abstraction by a vivid
mental picture, then it becomes pop
ular. In time it is either worn out
by too much use and discarded or
it becomes respectable English, rec
ognized by the solemn makers of
dictionaries.
The fiapper talk appears to be an
attempt to do a wholesale job, to
turn the entire English vocabulary
of youth into picturesque and sporty
patois. Let no noun or verb re-
main undlsguised seems to be the
slogan of happer, organized and un-
organized. New terms are being
added every day by earnest gum
chewing young philologists.
An interesting tendency in the
new jargon is the use Of proper
names in the way that Hooverize
was used during the war. To be put
through a QUESTIONABLE is to be Ed
isoned. To be on time for a date
is to Houdini. The analogy of this
last is apparently that punctuality
is considered a striking achievement
By the same sort Of association a
girls new dress is called her Ur-
ban set. Trotzky in for a
touch Of this sort Of fame, but he is
not taken seriously by the language
makers. A trotzky is an old lady
with mustache and chin whiskers.
One reaso that flapper talk re-
mains SO peculiarly the property Of
the fapper is that the vocabulary 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 f1apper
words are descriptive Of beaux,
dancing. parties. clothes, marriage.
money, automobiles and petting.
Petting which was itself slang,
is now too tame and too much of
a g%littering generality for the flap
partly replaced the word petting,
and a whole assortment of terms
refer to this activity in it's various
aspects. Thus, a moving picture III
ditorium becomes a petting pantry:
the affectionate type of flapper is
biscuit or e. cuddler; a peter who
likes to hang on a boys neck is a
necker; and a necker of the male
species is a snugglepup.
The non -fiapper element Of the
population has small place in its
vocabulary for such terms and so
they do o. become general prop
erty. All over the country. how
ever, the language of the f1apper is
similar. The newest phrases travel
by letters. by word of mouth, and in
lists occasionally printed in maya
zines and newspapers. One maya
zine devottes it's pages entirely to the
interests of the tribe.
A few phrases hat have possibili-
ties for use IN the conversation OF
the general public have become pop
ular American slang. There always
seems to be a demand for slang tags
to express greeting, approval, dis
approval and to replace a simple yes
or no.
Just now the fiapper, and slang
talking America as well, refers to
anything pleasing as the berries
The weird natural history illusions
that's the frogs eyebrows. or the
bees whiskers of the ducks quack
or the snakes hip and the rest-used
to express approval are also cpl
demic. Anything unpleasant is ap-
popriately blaah. blaah being one
of those senseless words that ex-
press an idea clearly by sound. A
we'll estabiihed ubtitute for yes Is
II hope to tell you"
These tags r amusing for only
a short time, They are soon stale
and must be replaced. How a phrase
has q metecric career and sputters
out is seen by recalling the same
type of slang expression. such as
the new historic 81 should worry
and "Ill tell the world"
Occasionally one Of these shelved
sayings stages a comeback. We note
in the latest fiapper vocabulary
printed in the flapper magazine the
ancient word whangdoodle. Oul
grandmothers used this word hui
morously to describe mournful
whining music. or a ranting speaker
Modern youth has adopted the tern
and made it a synonym for a JAZZ
band. 1t is rare. however. that the
slang Of q generation ago can bs
busted of and applied to curren'
topics Generally there 10 nothing
more conspicuously lifeless thar
defunct slang phrase.