[Ads-l] Query: Slang "insect promenade"

Stephen Goranson goranson at DUKE.EDU
Fri Jan 20 13:55:20 UTC 2017


Correcting my (wild) guesses:
According to Julian Franklyn, A Dictionary of Rhyming Slang:
Doss Chiderdoss (which meant, so the poet said, 'sleep, gently sleep')[....]

SG

________________________________

Perhaps the speaker, Doss Chiderdoss, is a spider who caught someone in his (barred?) web?

Perhaps the speaker is a bed (doss) bug?

Perhaps the speaker is a cockroach, a survivor?

Perhaps (even Homer nods) it was reaching for a rhyme?


Stephen




________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <>
...Sent: Friday, January 20, 2017 7:46 AM
To: ...
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Query: Slang "insect promenade"

Perhaps the speaker is a minute performer in a Victorian flea circus.

JL

On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 9:13 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
...> wrote:

> Gerald: You have probably seen this, but it might be interesting to
> other readers. John Stephen Farmer carefully annotated the poem, but,
> oddly, he did not provide an annotation for "insect promenade".
>
> Year: 1896
> Title: Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang
> Rhymes (1536-1896)
> Author: John Stephen Farmer
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3D-5FzM1AQAAIAAJ-26q-3Dpromenade-23v-3Dsnippet-26&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=C-dieSKr6ApYScS2oIQg9FGVSVqDcvMVuwEMgpvZBCg&s=tAKSqM8PNEzz_Sz8HW3w16WKj3kcSsmc95KFAIVyMP8&e=

[https://books.google.com/books/content?id=_zM1AQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE70JKGprkuFnLUJsAJcvSg_dN8R5nppq1yh1x_CdQOrYvr9cRbrFyLh_4y5horSaQx5atF6tqFsyxvkIt4pPUOSy7A9Dxm6vzVtfQ9VuPuLfTXEn-_RAMNC0z4j9wwEFzmiDtOxs]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3D-5FzM1AQAAIAAJ-26q-3Dpromenade-23v-3Dsnippet-26&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=C-dieSKr6ApYScS2oIQg9FGVSVqDcvMVuwEMgpvZBCg&s=tAKSqM8PNEzz_Sz8HW3w16WKj3kcSsmc95KFAIVyMP8&e=>

Musa
 Pedestris<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3D-5FzM1AQAAIAAJ-26q-3Dpromenade-23v-3Dsnippet-26&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=C-dieSKr6ApYScS2oIQg9FGVSVqDcvMVuwEMgpvZBCg&s=tAKSqM8PNEzz_Sz8HW3w16WKj3kcSsmc95KFAIVyMP8&e=>
urldefense.proofpoint.com
/

[https://books.google.com/books/content?id=_zM1AQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE70OklkbBbKUNgLVzaLMtOyNecybiK941gVFr2_jz3fEMgI0n3iZPKkrVRCCfYf1Yed5Mo-I-anrAkRJL5AsCYHtD3UsBQh4PaslBQIHpopDxsO0fkitwCkhgN1gQzieiKg7Nc7x]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3D-5FzM1AQAAIAAJ-26q-3Dpromenade-23v-3Dsnippet-26&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=C-dieSKr6ApYScS2oIQg9FGVSVqDcvMVuwEMgpvZBCg&s=tAKSqM8PNEzz_Sz8HW3w16WKj3kcSsmc95KFAIVyMP8&e=>

Musa Pedestris<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3D-5FzM1AQAAIAAJ-26q-3Dpromenade-23v-3Dsnippet-26&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=C-dieSKr6ApYScS2oIQg9FGVSVqDcvMVuwEMgpvZBCg&s=tAKSqM8PNEzz_Sz8HW3w16WKj3kcSsmc95KFAIVyMP8&e=>
urldefense.proofpoint.com
/


>
> Below is a rhyming slang interpretation for "insects" but it does not
> work well for the singular "insect", and it may be irrelevant.
>
> Year: 2015
> Title: Little Book of Cockney Rhyming Slang
> Author: Sid Finch
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Insects and Ants - Underpants.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 7:36 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <...>
> wrote:
> > A poem titled "The Rhyme of the Rusher" (1892) is marked by rhyming slang
> >
> > and cant. One particular item is unclear to me: "insect promenade."
> What in
> >
> > the world does that mean?
> >
> >
> > The relevant lines are (and btw, mince pies = eyes]:
> >
> > And I smiled as I closed my two mince pies
> >
> > In my insect promenade.
> >
> >
> > Any help would be much appreciated.
> >
> >
> > Gerald Cohen=pZmu0vALQIILwbfZy-qRmr1KpSfiQBinD2ndFKsrxeI&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=C-dieSKr6ApYScS2oIQg9FGVSVqDcvMVuwEMgpvZBCg&s=pZmu0vALQIILwbfZy-qRmr1KpSfiQBinD2ndFKsrxeI&e=>



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