Jon's 1901 "A Dictionary of everyday twentieth century slang"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks for the annotations, Wilson.  One could probably write a
mildly interesting lexicographical monograph about what's on that list.

But remember, the vocabulary must be 99% WVE.

JL

On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 4:32 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Jon's 1901 "A Dictionary of everyday twentieth century
> slang"
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>
>  A couple of minor points on "farmer". The Dutch do know what a
> "farmer" is. The soccer/football team from Groningen goes by "the
> farmers". The team's and fans' slogan is "Proud to be a farmer!"--not in
> Dutch, but in English (I have local insignia to prove it.) On the other
> hand, Groningen is the Dutch equivalent of Tennessee or Alabama to a New
> Yorker (rural and conservative~Calvinist).
>
> As for "farmer" as an insult, there is a perfectly good "peasant" that
> is used either a denomination of something rustic (e.g., peasant bread)
> or is, in fact, an insult. AFAIK, there has always been a semantic
> distinction between "farmer" and "peasant".
>
> And one more minor thing--among those with whom I have associated in the
> past, "bug juice" tended to refer to "red" drinks (Kool Aid, Hawaiian
> Punch, Tahitian Treat, etc.) and, less frequently, other "artificially
> flavored" drinks in unusual colors (e.g., "grape drink", "watermelon
> drink", etc.). Occasionally, this would extend to other similarly
> flavored products (e.g., a watermelon-flavored chewing gum would be
> referred to as "bug-juice gum"). I do not recall any racial divides in
> this terminology, but my sample is not representative. I do recall some
> statistical reports from the late 1980s that associated sale and
> consumption of most such drinks with Latinos, although I have no
> pretense to the ability to recover the data, at this point.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 7/21/2010 2:57 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > ...
> > The JD supplies _Farmer_ "an unsophisticated person; a novice; an
> > ignoramus." One time, in Amsterdam in 1961, a GI complained aloud that
> > the joint's "girls" weren't speaking in English, thereby preventing
> > him from being able to participate in the conversation. One of the
> > girls turned to him and replied,
> >
> > "You want to hear some English? How about this? 'Hat up, _farmer_!'"
> >
> > In both Germany and Holland, _bauer_ and _boer_, resp., translated by
> > the girls as "farmer," was used by them as a pswaydo-insult - a
> > foreign word is not a real insult, if, by those at whom it's directed,
> > it's regarded primarily as mere noise, even though it's clear from
> > context that the "noise" isn't being used as a compliment.
> >
> > IAC, the similar use of English _farmer_ by both the girls in 1961 and
> > the JD in 1901 is most likely a complete coincidence. ;-)
> > ...
>
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