The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
waahington, d. @.
FLAPPERS AND THEIR
METAPHORS.
WaahingtOn, d. Q.

| Washington, D. c. Aug. 6.-Just
when Henry Mencken almost made
slang look respectable along comes
| the flapper to inject q complex into
the American language. If you walk
aloof from the flapper tribe you may
| be peacefully unaware that there Is
an elaborate flapper patois, as much
part of the outfit of the snappy
young thing as her roll tops, sport
hat, and sweater.
Like the uniform, the language of
1.-The flapper is peculiar to her type.
The only exception is that the flapper
language is also spoken by the cake
eater and other male contemporaries
of the modern girl. To the rest of the
population, including almost everyone
over 25 years. flapper talk comes close
to being incomprehensible- Not many
of the terms are in general use.
Few full fIedged adults, for in
stance, would be able to use correctly
in their fiapper meaning tomato, egg,
potato, mustard plaster. lemon
squeezer. squirrel. berries, alarm
fectly 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 expressive
term for a maidenly flapper over 80.
Alarm clock, for chaperon, is not far
fetched, either. Chaperons nowadays
are about as popular and as little
needed as the family sleep chaser. A
mustard plaster is listed in one flap
per vocabulary as IAN unwelcome guy
who hangs around" Lemon squeezer
is flapper for elevator, tho the term
might be applied equally well to a
street car or crowded automo bile.
Truck Patch TerminOIogy.
The agricultural terms are the hard
est to unravel. Why a brainless girl.
who is pretty and dances well, should
be a tomato is not explained. Nor is
it perfectly clear why youth who
lets his girl pay her own way should
be an egg, unless perhaps such a per-
son is considered hardboiled. 1t is
true that to call a person an egg has
a family insulting sound, even if the
meaning is unknown. But the same
might be said of most agricultural
terms. Yet the meaning that we as
sociate with them may make them
seem complimentary. Peach and
pippin have long been used to express
praise. On the other hand, lemon,
fish and purple cow carry meaning
OF dispara cement.
A potato in its latest sense is the
male prototype of the tomato
brainless boy. To add to the con-
fusion, squirrel becomes a verb in the
new usage and means to hide.
Flapper Jargon seems to be some
what different from the slang that or
dinarily enlivens everyday speech.
The ordinary slang phrase is the hap
Ply, or unhappy, thought of some wit.
If 1t fills a need, replaces some dull
abstraction by a vivid mental picture,
then it becomes popular. In time it
is either worn out by too much use
and discarded, or it becomes respect
able English. recognized by the solemn
makers of dictionaries.
The flapper 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 remain undis-
guised seems to be the slogan of flap
per, organized and unorganized. New
terms are being added every day by
earnest gum-chewing young philolo-
gists.
An interesting tendency in the new
jargon is the use of proper names in
the way that Hooverize was used dur
ing the war. To be put thru a Ques-
tionaire is to be Edisoned. To be on
time for a 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 her Urban
set. Trotzky comes 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 reason that flapper talks re-
mains SO peculiarly the property of
the flapper is that the vocabulary is
restricted to the social interests Of ex-
treme youth. 1t is as specialized as
the argot of the stage, sport, or poll
tics. Almost all the flapper 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 gilt
tering generality for the flapper Ian
guage. Puppy cuddling has partly re-
placed the word petting. and a whole
assortment of terms refer to this ac-
tiVity in its various aspects. Thus,
moving picture auditorium becomes
petting pantry; the affectionate type
OF flapper is biscuit or cuddler;
peter who likes to hang on a boys
neck is a necker: and a necker of the
male species is a snugglepup.
How tho Language Spreads.
The non-flapper element of the
population has small place in its vo-
cabulary for such terms and so they
do not become general property. All
over the country, however, the Ian
guage of the flapper is similar. The
newest phrases travel by letter, by
word of mouth, and in lists occasion
ally printed in magazines and news
papers. One magazine devotes its
pages entirely to the interests of the
tribe.
A few phrases that have possibilities
for use in the conversation of the
general public have become popular
American slang. There always seems
to be a demand for slang tags to ex-
press greeting, approval, disapproval,
and TO replace a simple yes or no.
Just now the flapper, and slang
talking America as weIf, refers to-
anything pleasing as the berries. The
weird natural history illusions
that's the frogs eyebows, or the bees
whiskers. or the ducks Quack, or the
snakes hips, and the rest-used TO
express approval. are also epidemic.
unpleasant is appropriately
bIaah, blaah being one of those sense
less words that express an idea clearly
by sound. A well established substi-
tute for yes is II hope to tell you"
These tags are amusing for only a