1874 Slang article

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A gem of an article. Sorry in advance for typing mistakes.


9 December 1874, EVENING TELEGRAM (NY), pg. 1, col. 5:

_ENGLISH SLANG._

_THE ASTOUNDING PREVALENCE OF_
_SLANG PHRASES IN OUR_
_EVERY DAY SPEECH._

_An Account of Some of Them in Local_
_Use--Their Convenient and Abomina-_
_ble Features--How They Originated_
_and How They Have Been Perpetuated._

   Then they would talk--
   Good God, how they would talk!

Let us present a few specimens:--

"What does Old Probabilities say?" "Cheese it," "Tumble to a racket," "You
know how it is yourself," "Bully boy with a glass eye," "Oh yes, I've been
there;" "That's the worst I ever heard," "That's what I rold him," "What are you
going to do about it?" "Put a head on him," "Is that your little game?" "You old
duffer," "What a cheek," "Give us a rest," "That's what's the matter," "Let's
take a smile," "Where's Tom Collins?" "Gone where the woodbine twineth,"
"Like a Philadelphia lawyer," "He'd skin your very teeth," "He's no chicken," "He
doesn't scare worth a cent," "There;s a nigger in the fence," "Go for him,"
"Mind your eye," "George, I'll strike you like a real man," "George, I'll hit
you with a feather," "Over the river (_au revoir_) George," "That's what my wife
said," "There's music in the air," "Big Six," "He's got the stamps," "Red
hot," "Go West, young man, go West," "Rip, slap, set him up again," "How is that
for high?" "It''s a put up job," "Ko-rect," "He did his level best," "Loafing
around the throne," "You're a nice young man," "You're too fresh," "You're
altogether too new," "It's all the go," "Show me your man," "There's too many
frills about him," "What a sport," "He knows what's what," "It's all O. K.,"
"Keep a stiff upper lip," "It won't wash," "Maniac water," "You lie, villain, you
know it," "You lie for British gold," "Step up to the captain's office," "He's
naughty, but he's nice," "I smell a mice," "He's soo (sic) high toned," "Go
it lemons," "Put a Mansard roof on him," "Don't put on an agony," "Whip the
coon around the stump," "What's your hand?" "High low, Jack and the game," "Go it
blind," "My gay and festive cuss," (Artemus Ward), "Knee high to a
grasshopper," "I think he's perfectly charming" (with marked accent on the charm, a
young ladies' phrase), "Paddle your own canoe," "A big thing on ice," "Two can
play at that game," "Like Muldoon, he is a solid man," "Willie, have your had
your morning bounce>" "Ah, going for a walk?" "Oh, George, he's a charmer, oh,"
"Got a brick in his hat," "A nobby youth," "He's dressed to kill," "The bloated
bondholder," "I'm in the same boat," "We'll take a whack at it," "Simmer
down," "You've dropped something (?)," "On the fly," "Don't give it away," "Shoot
that hat," "That's all gammon," "Do you see any green in my eye?" "Go it while
you're young," "He'll laugh the other side of his mouth," "Have you seen the
elephant?" "Cut his tail off behind his ears," "Schware off" (Jefferson's "Rip
Van Winkle"), "Draw it mild," "It's no go," "When the soup house moves away,"
"Go 'way, I'm a bad man," "put me in my little bed," "That's too thin," "Oh,
Keizer, don't you want to buy a dog?" "I should smile if you didn't," "How
does the land lay?" "You can't most always sometimes generally tell," "Why is
this thus?" "We'll shake hands across the bloody chasm,"--Greeley (a phrase which
afforded a good opportunity during the last political and Presidential
campaign fpr the "small fry" politicians to "let off" their superfluous powder), "He
slings a nasty pen," "Dead to rights," "Bring him to his oats," "Give him
away," "His little bill," "Hang it up," "Lay him out" (a murderous phrase in use
among the "Rattle Row Gang"), "Keep cool," "Used up," "Quite some" (Western
colloq), "Oh, let it slide,"  "Soft soap" or "Sawder" (Sam Slick's favorite
expression), "Shine 'em up" or "Want a shine?"

The foregoing expressions are heard every day wherever the English tongue is
spoken or written. They are used by that shrewd observer of human nature, its
weakness and foibles--the street gamin, including the newsboy and bootblack,
the nattily dressed clerk, the fair and pretty school girl; while even the
banker, the broker and elegant professional gentleman employ them because they are
pithy and to the point, and come to the "mind's eye" when more elegant and
correct English fails to "come to time" at the critical moment. It is not always
an easy matter for even an educated or cultivated gentleman to employ the
most elegant diction with which he is familiar. Many a person acquainted with the
difficulties of extemporaneous speaking will recognize the truth of this
statement and readily recall to memory the "sinking feeling," confused state of
mind and hesitancy of "the words up fit to their own thoughts" at the proper
time when called upon suddenly for a speech or address.

On the stage this sinking sensation of inability to utter the "lines" at the
proper moment frequently happens to young and inexperienced devotees of the
"sock and buskin," particularly at the first appearance or debut, and is known
either as nervousness or "stage fright." In fact, the journals containing
critical notices of the debut of Miss C-- on the tragical stage, at the ---
Theatre, of the previous night, will quite frequently say:-- "The lady showed
unmistakable genius. She has an excellent voice, a fine stage presence, an evident
appreciation of the rquirements of tragedy, and when the nervousness incidental
to a fist appearance has worn off she will be a desirable acquisition to the
Brooklyn stage." Now, there is another class of professionals connected with
the drama who quite frequently fail in their "lines" or respective parts, and
who, possessing the ninchalance or ease acquired by their profession will not by
any manner of means become nervous over it. And when affairs come to such a
pass they introduce what is known in stage slang as "gags" amd "bits" (words
not in the text or play), which frequently, if the actor is a man of wit, please
the "gods" immensely and "bring down the house." Hence probably the origin of
the phrase "playing to the gallery" or "playing to the gods," It is a bad
habit, however, as it frequently gives rise to anachronisms and other
inconsistencies, and when an actor is perfect in his "lines," should in no wise be
countenanced. It is said that the introduction of the "gag" or "bit" is frequently
indulged in by amateurs who would be professionals. If so, they either commit
an error or labor under a delusion, for the reason that a "star" be really
meritorious actor will not stoop to such means in order to make his wit
conspicuous. It was probably the introduction of a "gag" at the first production of
Home's tragedy of "Douglas" in Scotland that (illegible--ed.) an enthusiastic
"god" in the "pit" to rise and say:--

"Weel, lads, what do you think of Wullie Shakespeare noo?"

Thus is slang often introduced on the stage and from thence communicated to
the people.

But in the ordinary social intercourse and communion of educated people it is
decidedly not always an easy matter to say something that is worth saying and
say it in the manner in which it should be said. The vocabulary of English
words, although a lingual bouquet garnered and plucked from the Greek, the
Latin, the soft and balmy Italian, the voluptuous Spanish, the vivacious and
exquisite French, the profound and philosophic German and the tongues of the land
othe midday sun, the burning and poetic Orient, sometimes becomes limited
indeed.