West Point slang (1905)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 03:46:48 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

>The US Military Academy Library has some great digitized materials on its
>website, including four issues of the annual publication _The Howitzer_
>(from 1897, 1905, 1910, and 1915):
>
>http://digital-library.usma.edu/collections/books/howitzer/index.asp
>
>Searchable page images are provided, and a full-text viewing option is
>available for each page. This list of "West Point Slang" is from the 1905
>edition. HDAS cites several entries (e.g., "B-acher"), though many others
>are antedated by a similar list in the 1900 edition (e.g., the first
>known cite for "B.S.").

The slang glossary must have been a regular feature in the Howitzer after
1900. The 1910 and 1915 issues also have lists (1910, pp. 279-281; 1915,
pp. 353-355).

There's a great deal of overlap on the lists. For instance, all three
lists have "skag" for "cigarette" (antedating the OED's 1915 cite). The
1897 issue doesn't have a slang list, though there's a long slang-filled
verse that antedates "skag/scag" even further:

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http://digital-library.usma.edu/cgi-bin/htmldoc.exe?CISOROOT=/howitzer&CISOPTR=807
(p. 101)

The Dompon.

[Dompon is a Spanish word meaning to not "boot-lick." The poem was
suggested by the peculiar practice which cadets have of rolling their own
cigarettes out of "Lone Jack" tobacco.]

Roll roll, my scag, roll round and round,
Without a pause, without a sound,
So rolls away my hard-earned cash.
This good "Lone Jack," best in the land,
Follows the motion of my hand,
For some must follow and some command
Though all return to ash.
Thus sang the "greaser" at his work
O'er his open tobacco box,
While o'er his features spread a smirk
As rapidly the scag he made,
And soon between his lips it laid.
[etc.]
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--Ben Zimmer