The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-04-07
American slang is Matched on

the American college campus.
The modern slang vocabulary,
undergoing a constant revision as
current expressions become trite
and new ones are created to re-
place them, is traceable almost to
the word to student groups, pos
sessed with desire for the
bizarre and unusual writes John
w. Harden, staff members of The
Charlotte News, in that paper.
The American college was es-
tablished as the principal slang
uage" source in a survey re-
Gently made by S. L. Woodward,
Jr.. son of S. l.. Woodward, prin-
cipal of Fassifern School, Hen
Jacksonville, and local insurance
man, who makes his home at the
Y.M.C.A. The survey was part
of an English language proJectc
launched at the University OF
Tennessee by Mr.. Woodward. ~
He sent QUESTIONABLE to oo
American colleges and UNIVERSE
ties, asking for the slang IN use
by the students there. ReplieS
were received from 80 of these
making it possible to draw some
conclusions regarding the use
and origin of slang at the Amerl-
can institutions of higher learn.
ing.
VERY DESCRIPTIVE
/ The final collection of these
missionaries and the classifl-
cation and tabulation of the III
formation that they contain re-
veals that in many cases slang
expressions for given person
or thing are often more descrip-
tive than the dictionary term de-
signed for the same use. The
slang words also reveal an APP
parent desire for shorter terms
and expressions more easily pro-
nounced.
Much of the slang constitutes
nothing more than an abbrevia-
ton. Some words are new terms
that have been created by per-
sons bored with the constant use
of long-accepted Technology.
Those expressions that catch the
fancy of the student body pass
almost as fast as an electric cur
rent into the general vocabulary
of the American public. Slang
is more frequently popularized
by the printed word-newspaper
sports pages being perhaps the
leading medium-and the theatre,
with it's various qualifications con-
shutting the entertainment world.
Slang can claim responsibility
as a language builder, Mr.. Wood
ward found in connection with
his study. Some slang expressions
of another da yare to be found
in recent editions of the leading
dictionaries.
Below is q tabulation of the
slang currently in use en- 30
American college campuses, as
revealed in Mr.. Woodward's sur
vey. The words there, not al
ready in common use, may catch
the public fancy at any time and
sweep through The streets, the
offices. and the home of Amer
lea to become quite the correct
thing to say under a given cir.
cumstancc. The expressions come
under the headings of mlscellan-
eouS, social life, college routine
and customs, students. instruc-
tors and courses and examina-
lions. and the administrators Of
the college.
SLANG VOCABULORY
Mail from home: fanmail, good
news, getting the devil, Godsend,
check.
Food: grub, chow, eats, gulash,
garabe, chuck, mess and fud.
Movies: squawk, talkies, noises,
show, leg show.
Condition of being without
money: broke, busted, flat, drain
ed. financially embarrassed, flat
as a pancake. punctured.
Smoking material: Tags, weeds,
ncrvine, coffin tacks. tacks, nails,
Hoover dust, stogies.
College automobile: chariot,
wreck, silver bullet, wagon. fliv-
yer.
College campus: the hill, zoo,
graveyard, pen, the camp.
Hospital: pest house, st. James
infirmary. pill room, horse pistol.
Names of courses of study:
bugology, sike, comp, eco, exc,
hysterical grammar, lit, 20, cato