| Show KINGS C WE JAY BO UP teer TALKED THAT me AH IRON FW IVE GOT WAY m THE DAY ID DRAG MY FRILL TO A FAT THAT APPLE OF THE GOOD SHINDIG IS NO GO WITH TO GET PICKLED A 1 i iw ali jk tjan by ELMO SCOTT WATSON are the sling words of iet erday gone inott of them back into alie aulty from which they came and then into oblivion ainne of them amy sur e for a few ve ki or lew before they disappear still will for year or more then lanil their nay ito new editions of our dictionaries ut they will be labeled alius clims slims r for the kings 1 Is a us lie 1 nallah king to in that of our language an guage and no word need aply for admission unless it can show ouie kind of to justify its into ord society even balli of course it may appear in blue look without the oa of slang or colloq attached 0 it but the of probation is visually a long out and thus are new cords born who the favorite slang lords or expressions of ten years ago ir the curs or even a sear ago low long lus it been since ou tod i friend to or exclaimed oil you hid or declined ired that your lans has gone 7 or tor that how recently have you retorted so s your old man to eay that ash lons in slang change as rapidly is fashions in dress Is an in adequate id equate statement of the speed with which we americans add to the bright it of auth and then discard the new extravaganza as worn out and trite aliat liat applies of course to the ma loiety of atie current elang phrases ahey are atie ones which can offer no ancestry to justify their existence but for such a word na oatle which the lexicographer la bels british soldiers slang and which can point back to the ancient meaning body or to the urdu an obscure eastern dl elect lect meaning icib there la a good charce hit it will become un word in feord and regular bt anding lue same Is true of hootch a word of aliskan origin which caine efrom n drink made by the indians of that territory and savvy which has a double ancas try the trench savoir dalre meaning ability or skill and alie sabe meaning understand 1 hy do we use slang anyway phere are at least three good reasons according to one scholar who has made a special study of the subject athe first Is for relief from monotony and no matter haw lacking in reil meaning the slang word or phrase Is tt offers a nekoline from the stole customary words of our everyday speech the second motle Is usually humorous intent and bits of slang contain some element of hu mor hive more chance to persist alian others an example Is the word ehver was coined less than fifteen ears ago but which seems to and to bo gaining general acceptance cep tance as a word in common usage which leads to good usage and to ev eugual incorporation in the language because it la intrinsically an amusing word alie third motive for use of slang according to this scholar Is to avoid clumsy words and a short one KI liable word even though it Is slangy becomes u recognized synonym for a longer two or three syllable word to many persons it Is easier to say bean bone or plunk than to say dollar and to refer to a crazy person as a nut rather than as n lunatic but elang at its best la exemplified in the coining of a new word or the adaptation of an old one to utter a striking picturesque characterization and the slang word often provides the exact shade of meaning which the more proper word would utterly fall to do A pioneer expression for an inefficient and useless person was hes a do less fellow modern slang has am proved upon that could there be any more apt and to abe characterization of an ineffectual individual than to borrow two words from alie realm of and say that he Is a flat tire isn t that about the ultimate in expressing the acme of use less nesa it la traditional that american slang should be troublesome to england the home of the mother tongue and with the increasing interchange of american and literature and drama the hive become more and more concerned about it an american play in london has been n fabj ure because there was so much american slang in it and in issuing some of our novels publish ers have found it necessary to print a glossary of american slina sl ina so that readers can understand them this however leads to some amusing blunders na witness the explanations given in the edition of lewis babbitt here the reader Is that heck in by heck Is alie familiar for a ew I 1 angland delav n Is one who business or information u hoodlum la a crank a once over Is n trial and n freshman hop Is 11 college dannug club but the fo are valiantly trying to understand us an english society alies P E society for preservation of english or society tor purity of perhaps has secured the of an american professor td help them get hep to our lingo prof fred ewton scott of the versley of michigan an authority oo 00 rhetoric has compiled a dictionary ot american aclang phrases which ba been published as S P EL tract no to aid readers who are struggling with american novels here are the first 33 ot the expressions thero are approximately more but these will give us some idea of the sort of which has our british cousins puzzled all in exhausted applesauce noun or interjection one of the latest pieces of la this country it has two gulte als 1 non and 2 flattery it Is commonly used as a term of jocular contempt in reply to effusive but unjustifiable flattery from baby talk tor that i a boyl fine bravo balled up stalled confused contused cont used and so unable to BO on bat bare good time bat round hava a good time go from place to place in queaa of plea ure bawl out to rebuke sharply scold violently transitive verb bean head bean to hit on the head beat it so set beat the living tar out of alv good drubbing to believe ma sometimes expanded to believe you me take my word tor it bellhop a page in a hotel thata the berries that a just right blaa blah blunder foolish talk blab mouth indiscreetly person blowhard boaster not unknown blow in spend blow to a dinner give a dinner to blurb a noun Is a term applied to any publishers announcement espe dally to passages of fulsome laudation on the jackets of newly published books the word Is now used broadly to cover the orlef summaries analyses and appreciations usually in smaller type that often precede magazine stories and articles admirable word indispensable bo from hobo friend pal bone dollar bonehead Bone hrad stupid person boob dunce one easily misled boost to promote to push to laud booster promoter bootlegger one who smug gift strong drink now well known booze booze hoisting drinking liquor bring home the bacon secure r aults buck oppose buck dollar bulldoze to compel by k show ol 01 force to bully |
