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

[Robin Hamilton]

The author was A.R.Marshall:


“Pomes” from the Pink 'un – A. R. Marshall – Google Books
https://books.google.com/books/about/Pomes_from_the_Pink_un.html?id=fFUoMwEACAAJ

https://books.google.com/books/about/Pomes_from_the_Pink_un.html?id...Title,
"Pomes" from the Pink 'un. Author, A. R. Marshall. Published, 1897. Length, 126
pages. 

See Jonathon Green: thedabbler.co.uk/2012/03/pink-un-blues/

R.

> 
>     On 20 January 2017 at 14:54 Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 
>     The closest word I can come up with is head ('ead'?).
> 
>     On Jan 20, 2017 9:48 AM, "Robin Hamilton"
> <robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com>
>     wrote:
> 
>     > The reference would seem to be to the speaker's face: anglice, "I closed
>     > my
>     > eyes in my face". But how you get from "insect promenade" to "face"
>     > beats
>     > me.
>     >
>     > A further problem is that while the poem mostly plays on rhyming slang,
>     > one or
>     > two items are Cant, or simply slang -- booze, do a bunk, give the
>     > office,
>     > flimsy, mug -- so whether "insect promenade" is playing off against
>     > rhyming
>     > slang or some other register is an issue.
>     >
>     > I'm tempted by "Lambeth Walk", but that's anachronistic.
>     >
>     > Malapropism, allusion, pun, or rhyming slang? You pays your money ...
>     > Farmer
>     > obviously couldn't fathom it, otherwise he'd have glossed it himself. He
>     > glosses many more-transparent items in the lyric.
>     >
>     > Farmer's source in Musa Pedestris is cited as: "The Rhyme of the Rusher
>     > //
>     > 1892
>     > // By Doss Chiderdoss in Sporting Times, 29 Oct. In Appropriate Rhyming
>     > Slanguage," but it's possible that this is reprinted from Guy Fawkes,
>     > Esq.,
>     > performed at the Gaiety Theatre in 1890, with Lyrics by Doss
>     > Childerdoss:
>     >
>     > J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1890-1899: A Calendar of Productions,
>     > Performers, and Personnel, p. 32
>     > https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nF8pAgAAQBAJ
>     >
>     > But appearance of "Doss Childerdoss" in Guy Fawkes may itself be a
>     > reference to
>     > the Sporting Times. This snippet from google books:
>     >
>     > "The hey-day of rhyming slang was probably just before the turn of the
>     > century.
>     > Then the Sporting Times--the world famous Pink 'Un used to regularly
>     > feature
>     > examples of verse in rhyming slang by 'Doss Childerdoss' ..."
>     >
>     > https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WulJAAAAIAAJ&q=%22sporting+times%22+
>     > Childerdoss&dq=%22sporting+times%22+Childerdoss&hl=en&sa=
>     > X&ved=0ahUKEwjJi52C-dDRAhWBDMAKHcFLB4EQ6AEIJDAA
>     >
>     > Robin Hamilton
>     >
>     > >
>     > > On 20 January 2017 at 02:13 ADSGarson O'Toole <
>     > adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>     > > 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://books.google.com/books?id=_zM1AQAAIAAJ&q=
>     > promenade#v=snippet&
>     > >
>     > > 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 <
>     > gcohen at mst.edu>
>     > > 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
>     > > >
>     > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>     > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>     > >
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>     > >
>     >
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>     >
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