The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-07
Frederick Haskin' s | etter
FLAPPERS AND THEIR METAPHORS.

names u IL way I08b dOOVor1Ze
was used during the war. To be
put through . QUESTIONABLE Is to
be Edisoned. To be on time for q
date is to Houdinf. The analogy Of
this last 10 apparently that punctu-
ality is considered striking
achievement.
BY the same sort OF association
girls new dress is called her Ur-
ban set. Trotxky comes in for a
touch OF this sort Of fame, but be
Ii not taken seriously by the laa-
Euage makers. A Trotzky is An old
lady with mustache and chin
whiskers.
One reason that flapper talk re-
mains so peculiarly the property of
the fiapper is that the vocabulary
ID restricted to the social interests
OF extreme youth. It is At special
ICED as the argot OF the stage, sport
or politics. Almost all the flapper
words are descriptive of 6eaux.
dancing, parties, clothes, marriage.
money, automobiles and petting.
Petting, which was itself slang,
is now too tame and too much of
q glittering generality for the flap-
per language. Puppy cuddling has
partly replaced the word petting.
and q whole assortment Of terms
refer to this activity in its various
aspects. Thus moving picture
auditorium becomes q petting pam
try; the affectionate type Of dap
per is biscuit or a cuddler; peter
who likes to hang on a boys neck
is necker; and a necker Of the
male species is snugglepup.
Hsw the Language Spreads.
The non-happer element Of the
population has small place in its
vocabulary for such terms and so
they do not become general prop
erty. All over the country, how
ever, the language OF the flapper is
similar. The newest phrases travel
by letters, by word Of mouth, and
in lists occasionally printed in
magazines and newspapers. One
magazine devotes its pages entirely
to the interests of the tribe.
A few phrases that have POSSIBLE
tiles for use in the conversation OF
the general public have become
popular American slang. There al
ways seems to be q demand for
slang tags to express greeting, ap-
prevail, disapproval, and to replace
a simple yes or no.
Just now the flapper, and slang
talking America as well, refers to
anything pleasing as the berries.
The weird natural history illusions
that the frogs eyebrows. or the
bees whiskers, or the ducks Quack,
or the snakes hips, and the rest
used to express approval. are also
epidemic. Anything unpleasant is
appropriately blaah, blaah being
one of those senseless words that
express an idea clearly by sound
A well established substitute for
yes is II hope to tell you"
| These tags are amusing for only
short time. They are soon stale
and must be replaced. How a
phrase has a meteoric career and
sputters out is seen by recalling
the same type Of slang expression
such as the now historic ~ should
worry" and "Ill tell the world"
Occasionally one Of these shelly
ed sayings stages comeback. We
note in the latest flapper vocabu-
larry printed in the Flapper Maya
zine the ancient word whangdoodle
, Our grandmothers used this word
, humorously to describe mournful
whining music, or a ranting speak
, er. Modern youth has adopted the
, term and made it q synonym for a
jazz band. 1t is rare, however. thai
, the slang Of a generation ago car
be busted off and applied to cur
rent topics. Generally there il
, nothing more conspicuously life
: less than defunct slang phrase.