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SLANG TODAY AND YESTERDAY SLANG TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY WITH A SHORT HISTORICAL SKETCH AND VOCABULARIES OF ENGLISH, AMERICAN, AND AUSTRALIAN SLANG. BY ERIC PARTRIDGE LONDON ROUTLEDGE KEGAN PAUL LTD BROADWAY HOUSE 68-74 CARTER LANE, E. C-4 For my old and loyal friend ALAN STEELE CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE PREFACE ……. ix PART I GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS I. SLANG DEFINITION, ETYMOLOGY, SYNONYMS, RANGE i II. ORIGIN, USES, REASONS FOR . jJggj ATTITUDES TOWARDS SLANG 4 III. ARA nnS IN-RELATION TO LANGUAGE IN GENERAL 10 IV. THE ESSENCE OF SLANG 33 PART II A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH SLANG I. INTRODUCTORY 37 II. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 43 III. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY . . . .51 IV. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY …. 64 V. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY …. 80 VI. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ar jog VII. SOME TENDENCIES OF THE PRESENT . . . 121 PART III PARTICULAR ASPECTS I. THE AFFILIATIONS OF SLANG . . . .129 II. THE STANDARD AND NORM OF SLANG . . . 143 III. KINDS OF SLANG OTHER THAN THE STANDARD . 148 A. Cockney 149 B. Public House. 159 C. Workmen. 161 D. Tradesmen. 163 E. Commerce. 167 F. Publicity. 172 G. Journalism. 173 viii CONTENTS H. Literary Criticism. 175 I. Publishing and Printing. 179 J. The Law. 184 K. Medicine. 188 L. The Church. 195 M. Parliament and Politics. 198 N. Public Schools and Universities. 202 O. Society. 214 P. Art. 221 Q. The Theatre. 223 R. Sports and Games. 231 S. The Turf. 238 Epsoms Attic Salt. 241 T. Circus Life. 247 U. Sailors. 249 V. Soldiers. 252 W. Yiddish. 264 – Cant, 26. Y. Miscellaneous. 270 IV. ODDITIES …… . 273 Rhyming, Back, Centre Slang Gibberish and Ziph Spoonerisms Blends. V. A GLANCE AT COLONIAL SLANG …. 282 India, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada PART IV AMERICAN SLANG I. INTRODUCTORY ……. 295 II. AFFILIATIONS. ……. 305 III. CHAACTERISTICS …… JJJQ . . . . ….. . . . . . 321 PART V VOCABULARIES I. ENGLISH. II. AUSTRALIAN V. PRACTITIONERS ……. 329 2 ……. . 42 INDEX OF THEORISTS, EXPONENTS, AND THEMES . 469 PREFACE A FRIEND, when I told him that I was writing a book on dang, looked at me with surprise and exclaimed Splendid But what the devil can you find to say about it Well, I would like it to be plainly understood that 1 The historical sections, both the English and especially the American, are the merest sketches, and that as I couldnt keep saying X used little, Y much slang , I have here confined myself, in the main, to examples. To set forth the history of English or American slang would be to write the history of the language and the literature and the social development and the cultural development and . . . and . . . 2 The General Considerations are meant not to be exhaustive, but to give only the principal features of slang. 3 In the Particular Aspects I have laboured to be brief if anyone complains that I have dealt far, far too briefly with his pet subject, all I can say is that I would have liked to treat of every single aspect far more fully than I have here done. There are limits to every book, however interesting its author may find it. 4 I do not claim to be an expert on American slang, nor have I met anyone rash enough to make such a claim. I am, however, something more than a dabbler how little more, I leave to American critics. 5 I shall be disappointed if a single person is satisfied with even one of the three vocabularies, 6 And I do not pretend to have read every contribution to the subject of slang. I would even assert that, providing one has consulted the chief sources, one has no need to trouble with the non-valuable contributions nor do I, to give the book an appearance of erudition, cite every such writer on the subject still less every such author that has used slang as I have happened to read. Acknowledgments are made in the course of the book. If I have failed to admit absolutely every debt it is through inadvertence, and not because I wish to appear original where perchance I was merely derivative. ERIC PARTRIDGE. Postscript to Second Edition…
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