Actionable Offenses: Scrouge

[Baker, John]

        Archeophone Records in 2007 produced a CD entitled Actionable
Offenses:  Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s.  It presents
the contents of two collections of phonograph recordings from the 1890s,
the very dawn of commercial use of the phonograph.  These are
essentially men's dirty stories - dialogues, poems, or other set pieces,
in each case recited by a single man, sometimes using multiple voices.
They were indeed actionable offenses; one of the actors, Russell
Hunting, was arrested for violation of the obscenity laws in 1896 and
served a three-month prison term.  The CD is accompanied by what is
unquestionably the finest set of liner notes I have ever seen.

        A striking finding of the CD is the use of the word "scrouge"
(rhymes with "gouge"), which I believe was not previously known to have
an improper meaning.  It's quite clear what it means on the CD, though;
if context were not sufficient, absolute proof is provided in that the
same story, "Sim Hadley on a Racket," was recorded twice, once by
Hunting and once by James White, who became Hunting's successor when
Hunting retired from the indecent recording business after his arrest.
The White version uses "scrouge" wherever the Hunting version uses
"fuck."

        "Scrouge" is a pre-existing word.  OED1 defines it as "To
incommode by pressing against (a person); to encroach on (a person's)
space in sitting or standing; to crowd."  Similarly, the Century
Dictionary says it means "To squeeze; press; crowd."

        This is, linguistically, perhaps the most interesting recording
(though many others are more interesting when considered just as
stories), so I quote from it at some length.  The identification of
speakers is not included in the recorded dialogue; White changes his
voice to reflect the speaker.  I have not followed the transliteration
in the liner notes, but have listened to the recording using my own
judgment; among other changes, I have spelled out words which the liner
notes spell in accordance with their pronunciation, such as "'ere" or
"'o."


        <<Sim Hadley on a Racket, a very pathetic recitation by little
Willy Brown.

        Hadley:  Heh, heh!  By Jesus, I'll tell you just one thing, that
is, I ain't going round this double asshole town any longer with my
pecker on dress parade.  I'm going to sink my sausage if it costs fifty
cents and I don't give a damn who knows it.  Sim Jones, he told me this
number four hundred and sixty eight was an assignation whorehouse, I'm
going in to get a little of that there assignation on the end of my
pecker.  [Knocking]  By God, if Mandy saw me now there'd be hell in the
household!  [Knocking]  Come on in there, God damn it, come to the door.
Oh, look at this coming, there's a face on you, bend a nail, says I.

        Madam:  Well, sir, what do you want?

        Hadley: Well, is this here one of them there whorehouses?

        Madam:  What?

        Hadley:  Whorehouse!  Sausage factory!  Place where you get your
flesh scraped!

        Madam:  Oh!  It's not exactly a place of that kind, but we have
ladies here.

        Hadley:  Well, you just show me one of them and be damn quick
about it!

        Madam:  Won't you come in?

        Hadley:  Won't I come in?  Well, God damn it, do you suppose I'm
going to scrouge out here on the doorstep?  Certainly I'll come in.

        Madam:  What kind of a girl would you like?

        Hadley: Oh, well, I reckon a little girl with big titties and a
wide ass. [Liner notes transliterate as "arse" - can't really tell which
is used from the recording.]

        Madam:  All right, step in the back parlor.  Maud!  Maud!  Maud!
There's a gentleman in the parlor.

        Maud:  I'll be down in a minute.  I've got three Spanish fellows
here buying wine.

        Hadley:  Oh shit, every old bag's named Maud.  [Liner notes
transliterate as "No shit," which would be a significant antedating, but
I think it's "Oh" rather than "No."]

        Maud:  Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main, in many a
stormy - why, hello, darling!

        Hadley:  Oh yes, darling me ass, how much do you want for a
scrouge?

        Maud:  Well, I want just one nice dollar.

        Hadley:  Yes, you'll get just one nice scrouge and twenty-five
cents for fifteen minutes.

        Maud:  That's all right, I won't do it less than a dollar.

        Hadley:  Well, here's your dollar.  Come on upstairs, dear.  No,
I guess I'll get my scrouge first.

        Maud:  Come on, I'm ready.

        Hadley:  Ready?  What in hell you got to get ready?  God damn
it, I'm the one's got to get ready, this old, old sausauge of mine won't
come up.  Jesus, I bet when I get into you you'll think a creamery
exploded in your ass.

        Maud:  Come on.

        Hadley:  And you'll have to get down and blow through it, I
guess, the damn thing's plugged up or something.

        Maud:  Look here, what do you take me for?

        Hadley:  Oh well, that's all right, then.  I'm going home.  I
can get done other places.

        Maud:  You just give me a dollar!

        Hadley:  You just go and scratch your ass - Jesus, no scrouge,
no dollar, that's the way it is with me.

        Maud:  You give me a dollar or I'll have you arrested.

        Hadley:  You go and shit in your hat, you damn gall bladder!  No
dollar, no scrouge, no scrouge, no dollar.>>


        I noticed only one other unusual usage on the CD, from a set of
conundrums:

        <<"By the way, John, what is the difference between a flag and a
frig?

        "Well, one is bunting, and the other is cunting!">>

        Is this an antedating for "cunt" as a verb?


John Baker

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