The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-02-19
KY Books
THE AMERICAN THEsAURUS
By A. de T. Gingras

ed by Thomas w. Crowell Co.,
432 Fourth Ave-, New York City,
l272 pages.)
Slang is frowned upon in formal
prose writing, and cautious schol-
ars use it only in decorous quotes.
Yet much of the vernacular is
strong enough to withstand the
test Of years and usage, and final
ly enters the respectable covers
OF Webster's English dictionary.
For slang is the picturesque, life
Of language. II bubbles up out of
the soda fountains and the army
camps, the strawberry festivals
and the business offices. It froths
up from the underworld and the
lives Of Migrants, from syncopated
music and from boxing matches.
The authors divide their book into
two main sections, general slang
and special slang. Under the first
category are such headings as
animate and inanimate existence,
communications and volition,
time and space. Under special
slang are words stemming from
various trades, arts, sports and
entertainments.
For the lover of words, the
volume is not only a good refer.
ence work. II is an inexhaustible
source OF amusement and delight.
A review of the words yelling up
from the eating places all over
American Is alone worth the price
of the book. Kitchen workers are
greaseballs. and kitchen biddies. A
cook is called some forty slang
names from gut burglars to mess
mol, from slushy to pot rassler.
Dishwashers have twenty differ.
ent labels from bubble dancers to
sud singers. The waiter and wal
tress have q couple of dozen nick
names from soup jockey to tray
trotter. from beanery queen to
curb hopper. The restaurant itself
Is several dozen things from a
grubbery to a filling station, from
mulligan joint to a dine-and-
dancery. A cafeteria is a grabe-
terra, a cheap restaurant quick
and-filthy, q Chinese restaurant a
chophouse, doughnut and coffee
stand q sinker joint, a hot dog
stand q doggery.
Following the two main divisions.
about 50 pages are devoted to
slang origins. Absquatulate, mean
ing to decamp, is explained as the
pseudo-Latin reverse of squat. An
ecdotage or reminiscent old age
Is q blend Of anecdote and dotage.
When . cheap saloon is called a
barrelhouse, the word comes from
the racked barrels along the wall.
A charley horse or muscular
strain or cramp, originated in a
lame horse named Charley at the
Chattanooga, Tenn. baseball park.
Chortle ID Lewis Carols coined
word dor chuckle and short. Dood-
ling or absent.minded idle draw
ing came right out of the moving
picture, Mr.. Deeds Goes To Town.
More than $50 pages Of index,
concluded the volume, so that the
reader might track down almost
any conceivable slang word with
q minimum Of searching.
This reviewer was so gratified
with the wealth of word wisdom
contained in the volume, that she
was surprised with one blind spot
in the book. Having been long de-
lighted personally with the intrig-
ing turns of language originating
in southern United States like hush
puppy, little old doll-baby and
fixin' to 60 somewhere, she was
surprised that only western lingo
was given q special division under
regional slang. Perhaps revised
version at q later date win con-
tain cOlloquialisms from the south
in special section, and also those
from New England.
.(THE SUNBURNED CORPSE by
Adam knight, murder mystery,
published by Crown Publishers,
4iS Fourth Avenue, New York
City, 2ls pages.)
Mr.. knights skip-tracer hero,
Steve Conacher, is either indeli-
cately oyersexed or the author has
been out at sea for a long time
without sight nor sound Of woman.
II q cross-section we're cut of
Steve's imagination at almost any
moment Of the day or night, it
would contain q lady's thighs and
torso. Now his reviewer has no
objection 10 either Of these i'm
portant biological props of the hn
man female form being introduced
with discretion into any work of
fiction. She is adequately supplied
with both herself. and would hate
to think that the male Of the
species should ever underate their
importance In or cut of fiction.
But Mr.. knight has them float
ing around Daliesque-like from the
time Steve Conacher climbs
aboard the s. S. Rico in New
York bound for Puerto Rico. I'M