New Britain herald., 1929-05-25

1& ana uII0 Uy AStlO &e AAN~so through to the smaller placeA where youths who aps the 'sbig shots' are ever on the alert for new means of impreasing upon thoee about them that they gre really tough" It h . common sight to see small town bad boys outdoing each other in an attempt to convey the impression that they and the cops" are deadly enemies, when. according to expert- enced officers of the law. the acsu- al number of really dangerous char acters growing up in the average community the size of New Britain. Hartford. or cities of approximately the same size is very small.
 Idiouns of Gengiand
 "A bum rap" does not mean | blow struck by an inebriate or Q yagrant. Taken for . ride" does not signify that an automobile was brought around to ,someone's door by ! we'll wishing friend bent upon giving another . pleasant time. A ''bull' does not always mean ! male bovine. nor is . dick" unchanEeably the cognomen of . man who was christened Richard. When anyone is taken for |. ride, gangland means he has been conveyed to an ad- vantageous spot and killed. Bum rap" is the expression used to de- scribe an arrest without cause. while "bull' is the same as "a cop and the dick" is the detective. Collec- lively, when | gangster tells another that "a bull was taken for ride and bumped off" he is actually saying that an officer of the law was captured and put to death.
 The vaudeville circuits produce considerable slang in 3 season, prob ably creating more synonyms for commonly used words than any other medium. Money. on the stage. may be ''mazuma". gravy, ''gelt", rocks. dough, "the roll, "the old kick ''the wad". "the B. R." "plunks' and many other things. "A grand is $1,OOO. the other denom- inatiors are known as ''sawbuck", ''fiinif''. slug, and so on. A man may be referred to as guy. "gink'', bird, "heel". while a wom- an is everything from "a frail'' to '.moll', dame, 'cutie'. skirt, broad, jane, "sweetie' and many others
 Burkett "Batttng for Exercisc'
 Locally. few expressions con- taining combinations of slang and the mot, have endured for many years, having been passed down from father to son without suffering in the passage. Hugh Rorty Of Hart ford, who is probably as we'll known in New Britain as he is anywhere else due to his frequent appearances as referee and umpire in polo and baseball games. made history when he announced 10 . baseball crowd one afternoon that Jesse Burkett was batting for exercise" That "wisecrack" echoed throughout the length and breadth of the country and will probably live forever where baseball is played.
 The same Rorty tickled a large crowd in the Waterbury ball park while um pirinE a game several years ago between the Cincinnati Reds and another club. Billy Kopf Of this city being in the Reds lineup, A small boy in the grandstand had been heckling Rorty throughout the game and the crowd was enjoying the repartee. The boy assured Rorty that the latter. would never be draft- cd for war service when Rorty called g strike that looked more like ball, and because of the selective service system of obtaining men for the army at that time, the crowd gave the lad credit for thinking up a good one. A little later, however, Rorty evened the score when, in reply 10 g. shout by the boy, Want drink, Red" the sorrel matched ump came back with ''I'd like . drink and l wouldn't care what color it wAs.'
 "Jf don't hit it I'll eat it." shout cd Paddy" Kelly during an A. o. H. baseball game at Rentschler's