DOI issue:
June 4, 1859
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16623#0239
June 4, 1859.] PUNCH, CR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 231
SLANG AND SANSCRIT.
lang is the fashion at the
present moment, and there
seems a fair prospect that the
language in which Addison
and Gibbon wrote, and in
which Lord Macau lay and
Mr. Buckle still continue to
write, which was spoken by
Burke and Sheridan, and
in which Mr. Gladstone and
Mr. Bright are still able to
express their sentiments, will
soon be overwhelmed by a
torrent of extraneous expres-
sions, coming we know not
whence, and hurrying us we
know not whither.
Every day the Genius of
Slang embraces a wider area
beneath its extending wings.
Its influence is no longer
confined to the male youth of
There is nothing at first sight in the idea of being " up a tree " which
conveys anything particularly unpleasant to the imagination. In a
warm summer day it would be rather a pleasant place than otherwise;
and, as a general rule, if the climbing experiences of our youth are
recalled, it is much easier to come down than to get up. But if to our
condition "on the tree top" we introduce the element of a tiger
walking round and round and waiting for us at the bottom, the case
becomes quite altered; and certainly some supposition of this kind is
necessary to give the expression the mournful signification it usually
bears.
Whilst the allegory of slang is Oriental, it must be admitted that
the form of words it takes is occasionally decidedly European. For
instance, "getting a pull," an expression redolent of advantage to
English ears, if construed literally, would be the last thing in the
world that, under any circumstances, a Turk would wish to have.
On the other hand, there are some Turkish words which have been
engrafted bodily on the English language. There is one, whose innate
force and beauty the slangographer is reluctantly compelled to admit.
It is the only word which seems a proper appellation for a great deal
which we are obliged to hear and to read every day of our life. It
will be scarcely necessary to mention that that word is " Bosh."
An eminent historian* has recently advanced a theory, that the
inhabitants of climates subject to violent convulsions of nature become
more imaginative than those who dwell in lands where there is little
v ,• i •- v alteration in the ordinary course of things. If this theory is adopted,
the nation, the class in wnom it may be fairly concluded that the violent epithets which slang applies
we may expect to una the to everything and everybody are exotics; and they would be only
Athenian element developed, exCusable in those whose life is passed amidst the roar of cataracts,
ever searching alter novelty, the roll of thunders, the rumbling of volcanos, and the crash of earth-
or receiving it with open arms qua-kes_ gut the singie thunderstorm of an English summer is not a
■ t °S? vUCe penetrated sufficient excuse for calling a pair of peculiarly-tinted trousers "howl-
. .? he- -torYm' and now we ing.bagsor denominating a graceful girl, with blue eyes and £Vr
meet it in the Senate, and even the pulpit itseli is no longer tree Irom hair « a crusher;" or even for stating that she is "awfully" pretty,
its intrusion. . , | It has been suggested that there is no novelty in the existence of
It greets us from the lips of beauty. The fair sex have even dropped i « slang.» that in all countries and in all times there has been an
the faint pretence of apology, which at first they were wont to add to
a highly flavoured sentence: "as Henry or Adolphus would say,"
unfairly endeavouring to transfer the guilt of their phraseology to an
unfortunate brother or cousin. Probably some young ladies who were
unable to resist the fascinations of the new dialect were not blessed
with male relations, so even this faint admission of impropriety has
gradually become extinct. These ladies have much to answer for, for
their utterance gives a fair stamp to the base metal, which must
necessarily increase its circulation, and as far as they are individually
concerned, the habit is dangerous. There have been many courtships
which have ultimately ended happily, in whose course the suitor has
met with occasional rebuffs ; but we can scarcely imagine the lover
whose courage would be sufficient to enable him to return to the charge,
when his first advances had been checked by a simple suggestion to
" Shut up ! " But the blame does not rest with _the_ younger ladies
alone, even the British matron on whose fair brow sit dignity and grace
enthroned, does not always escape contagion, for she has been known
to observe with regret that the youthful hope of the family looked
"seedy" at the morning breakfast-table.
The allegory which pervades the conversation of all Eastern nations
is the foundation of Western slang; and the increased number of
students of the Oriental languages, especially since Sanscrit and Arabic
have been made subjects for the Indian Civil Service Examinations,
may have contributed to supply the English language _ with a large
portion of its new dialect. While, however, the spirit of allegory
comes from the East, there is so great a difference between the brevity
of Western expression, and the cumbrous diction of the Oriental, that
the origin of a phrase becomes difficult to trace. Thus, for instance,
whilst the Turkish merchant might address his friend somewhat as
follows:—" That which seems good to my father is to his servant as
the perfumed breath of the west wind in the calm night of the Arabian
summer;" the Western negotiator observes more briefly, "All serene !"
The compliment which one friend is understood to pay another
when he states emphatically that he is "a bean," is evidently of
Oriental origin; since, to give it the weight which it actually possesses,
we must consider the bean (or some similar pulse for which the word
bean has been substituted) as forming a much more important article
of food than either broad beans or scarlet runners do in this country.
The expression has not the authority of Gulliver, though we can
understand the importance it would possess as an appellation if it had
been current among the Houhynhms.*
"Brick" must be allowed to be an exception, its Greek derivation
being universally admitted, corresponding so exactly as it does in its
rectangular form and compactness to the perfection of manhood, accord-
ing to the views of Plato and Simonides ; t but any deviation from the
simple expression in which locality is indicated,—as, for instance,
"a genuine Bath,"—decidedly breathes the Oriental spirit.
* a similar argument will apply to the expression "the cheese" when used to
denote perfection. It may be fairly surmised that this mode of compliment has
come to us from the Arabs ; as it forms an important part of the hospitality they
display towards strangers. t Plato, Protagoras, cap. 29.
unwritten language, as well as an unwritten law; but it cannot be
denied that the English language, during the last few years, has
been planted too assiduously with these flowers of speeeh. It wiil
be found, too, that many of the older slang expressions were used
euphemistically; as, for example, the variety of forms in which
allusion was made to inebriety,—"half seas over," "three sheets
in the wind," or a suggestion that the individual had been "in
the sun," or was a little cut,"—for all these there was an excuse, as
they avoided the painful simplicity of the word " drunk ;" or, as our
German neighbours might put it, the memory-of-the-Police-Court-
recalling-epithet, intoxicated. A similar amnesty might perhaps be
extended to modern variations used for the same purpose, whether
they partake of the brief and business-like or the Johnsonian phrase-
ology ; whether the votary of Bacchus is described as the " screwed "
or the " materially altered."
Let these pass. When deformity is hidden, if only by a mask of
words, a momentary advantage may be gained. But who can defend
the clothing beauty with the garb of ugliness ? What can be said in
favour of a dialect from whose repertory the beautiful woman, the
eloquent statesman, the brave soldier, the stirring preacher, and the
successful prize-fighter, may be all comprehended under the denomi-
nation " stunner ? " t
Can the slangographer venture to suggest a remedy ? If a know-
ledge of Arabic and Sanscrit is necessary to the future administration
of the British Empire in India, patriotism would forbid the suggestion
that those studies should be curtailed.
From wheresoever the Slang plant draws its sap,—from the East
or from the West, or from suckers indigenous to the British soil,—it is
a rank weed, and the sooner it is rooted up the better.
* Mr. Buckle.
f The phrases that have been examined are but a few out of hundreds. We have
lauded on the islands and out-lying territories, and endeavoured to gauge their soil,
but the great continent of Slang lies still unexplored before us.
LATEST BETTING ON THE POLITICAL COURSE.
THE DERBY EVENT.
against Lord Derby's Majority (taken).
,, John Russell's Succession (" wanted").
,, Mr. Disraeli's War Income-tax and Fleabite, coupled.
„ Lord Malmesbury's Sagacity.
„ Lord Chelmsford's Nepotism.
,, John Bright's Reform Bill (offered).
,, Cardinal Wiseman's Irish Boy (if ridden by Priestcraft).
„ Sir Jamie Graham's Blarney.
„ Mr. Whiteside's Bluster.
,, Lord John and the Bottleholder being coupled.
,, The Dizzy Lot and Office, coupled.
THE COUNTRY STAKES.
Rifleman the favourite at 999 to 1.
Austrian Eagle and Court Influence continue without backers.
Long odds against Neutrality, if Government remaius in the Tory stabltia
2
to
1
3
to
2
10
to
1
16
to
1
20
to
1
25
to
5
30
to
1
40 to
I
50
to
1
100
to
1
1000
to
1
SLANG AND SANSCRIT.
lang is the fashion at the
present moment, and there
seems a fair prospect that the
language in which Addison
and Gibbon wrote, and in
which Lord Macau lay and
Mr. Buckle still continue to
write, which was spoken by
Burke and Sheridan, and
in which Mr. Gladstone and
Mr. Bright are still able to
express their sentiments, will
soon be overwhelmed by a
torrent of extraneous expres-
sions, coming we know not
whence, and hurrying us we
know not whither.
Every day the Genius of
Slang embraces a wider area
beneath its extending wings.
Its influence is no longer
confined to the male youth of
There is nothing at first sight in the idea of being " up a tree " which
conveys anything particularly unpleasant to the imagination. In a
warm summer day it would be rather a pleasant place than otherwise;
and, as a general rule, if the climbing experiences of our youth are
recalled, it is much easier to come down than to get up. But if to our
condition "on the tree top" we introduce the element of a tiger
walking round and round and waiting for us at the bottom, the case
becomes quite altered; and certainly some supposition of this kind is
necessary to give the expression the mournful signification it usually
bears.
Whilst the allegory of slang is Oriental, it must be admitted that
the form of words it takes is occasionally decidedly European. For
instance, "getting a pull," an expression redolent of advantage to
English ears, if construed literally, would be the last thing in the
world that, under any circumstances, a Turk would wish to have.
On the other hand, there are some Turkish words which have been
engrafted bodily on the English language. There is one, whose innate
force and beauty the slangographer is reluctantly compelled to admit.
It is the only word which seems a proper appellation for a great deal
which we are obliged to hear and to read every day of our life. It
will be scarcely necessary to mention that that word is " Bosh."
An eminent historian* has recently advanced a theory, that the
inhabitants of climates subject to violent convulsions of nature become
more imaginative than those who dwell in lands where there is little
v ,• i •- v alteration in the ordinary course of things. If this theory is adopted,
the nation, the class in wnom it may be fairly concluded that the violent epithets which slang applies
we may expect to una the to everything and everybody are exotics; and they would be only
Athenian element developed, exCusable in those whose life is passed amidst the roar of cataracts,
ever searching alter novelty, the roll of thunders, the rumbling of volcanos, and the crash of earth-
or receiving it with open arms qua-kes_ gut the singie thunderstorm of an English summer is not a
■ t °S? vUCe penetrated sufficient excuse for calling a pair of peculiarly-tinted trousers "howl-
. .? he- -torYm' and now we ing.bagsor denominating a graceful girl, with blue eyes and £Vr
meet it in the Senate, and even the pulpit itseli is no longer tree Irom hair « a crusher;" or even for stating that she is "awfully" pretty,
its intrusion. . , | It has been suggested that there is no novelty in the existence of
It greets us from the lips of beauty. The fair sex have even dropped i « slang.» that in all countries and in all times there has been an
the faint pretence of apology, which at first they were wont to add to
a highly flavoured sentence: "as Henry or Adolphus would say,"
unfairly endeavouring to transfer the guilt of their phraseology to an
unfortunate brother or cousin. Probably some young ladies who were
unable to resist the fascinations of the new dialect were not blessed
with male relations, so even this faint admission of impropriety has
gradually become extinct. These ladies have much to answer for, for
their utterance gives a fair stamp to the base metal, which must
necessarily increase its circulation, and as far as they are individually
concerned, the habit is dangerous. There have been many courtships
which have ultimately ended happily, in whose course the suitor has
met with occasional rebuffs ; but we can scarcely imagine the lover
whose courage would be sufficient to enable him to return to the charge,
when his first advances had been checked by a simple suggestion to
" Shut up ! " But the blame does not rest with _the_ younger ladies
alone, even the British matron on whose fair brow sit dignity and grace
enthroned, does not always escape contagion, for she has been known
to observe with regret that the youthful hope of the family looked
"seedy" at the morning breakfast-table.
The allegory which pervades the conversation of all Eastern nations
is the foundation of Western slang; and the increased number of
students of the Oriental languages, especially since Sanscrit and Arabic
have been made subjects for the Indian Civil Service Examinations,
may have contributed to supply the English language _ with a large
portion of its new dialect. While, however, the spirit of allegory
comes from the East, there is so great a difference between the brevity
of Western expression, and the cumbrous diction of the Oriental, that
the origin of a phrase becomes difficult to trace. Thus, for instance,
whilst the Turkish merchant might address his friend somewhat as
follows:—" That which seems good to my father is to his servant as
the perfumed breath of the west wind in the calm night of the Arabian
summer;" the Western negotiator observes more briefly, "All serene !"
The compliment which one friend is understood to pay another
when he states emphatically that he is "a bean," is evidently of
Oriental origin; since, to give it the weight which it actually possesses,
we must consider the bean (or some similar pulse for which the word
bean has been substituted) as forming a much more important article
of food than either broad beans or scarlet runners do in this country.
The expression has not the authority of Gulliver, though we can
understand the importance it would possess as an appellation if it had
been current among the Houhynhms.*
"Brick" must be allowed to be an exception, its Greek derivation
being universally admitted, corresponding so exactly as it does in its
rectangular form and compactness to the perfection of manhood, accord-
ing to the views of Plato and Simonides ; t but any deviation from the
simple expression in which locality is indicated,—as, for instance,
"a genuine Bath,"—decidedly breathes the Oriental spirit.
* a similar argument will apply to the expression "the cheese" when used to
denote perfection. It may be fairly surmised that this mode of compliment has
come to us from the Arabs ; as it forms an important part of the hospitality they
display towards strangers. t Plato, Protagoras, cap. 29.
unwritten language, as well as an unwritten law; but it cannot be
denied that the English language, during the last few years, has
been planted too assiduously with these flowers of speeeh. It wiil
be found, too, that many of the older slang expressions were used
euphemistically; as, for example, the variety of forms in which
allusion was made to inebriety,—"half seas over," "three sheets
in the wind," or a suggestion that the individual had been "in
the sun," or was a little cut,"—for all these there was an excuse, as
they avoided the painful simplicity of the word " drunk ;" or, as our
German neighbours might put it, the memory-of-the-Police-Court-
recalling-epithet, intoxicated. A similar amnesty might perhaps be
extended to modern variations used for the same purpose, whether
they partake of the brief and business-like or the Johnsonian phrase-
ology ; whether the votary of Bacchus is described as the " screwed "
or the " materially altered."
Let these pass. When deformity is hidden, if only by a mask of
words, a momentary advantage may be gained. But who can defend
the clothing beauty with the garb of ugliness ? What can be said in
favour of a dialect from whose repertory the beautiful woman, the
eloquent statesman, the brave soldier, the stirring preacher, and the
successful prize-fighter, may be all comprehended under the denomi-
nation " stunner ? " t
Can the slangographer venture to suggest a remedy ? If a know-
ledge of Arabic and Sanscrit is necessary to the future administration
of the British Empire in India, patriotism would forbid the suggestion
that those studies should be curtailed.
From wheresoever the Slang plant draws its sap,—from the East
or from the West, or from suckers indigenous to the British soil,—it is
a rank weed, and the sooner it is rooted up the better.
* Mr. Buckle.
f The phrases that have been examined are but a few out of hundreds. We have
lauded on the islands and out-lying territories, and endeavoured to gauge their soil,
but the great continent of Slang lies still unexplored before us.
LATEST BETTING ON THE POLITICAL COURSE.
THE DERBY EVENT.
against Lord Derby's Majority (taken).
,, John Russell's Succession (" wanted").
,, Mr. Disraeli's War Income-tax and Fleabite, coupled.
„ Lord Malmesbury's Sagacity.
„ Lord Chelmsford's Nepotism.
,, John Bright's Reform Bill (offered).
,, Cardinal Wiseman's Irish Boy (if ridden by Priestcraft).
„ Sir Jamie Graham's Blarney.
„ Mr. Whiteside's Bluster.
,, Lord John and the Bottleholder being coupled.
,, The Dizzy Lot and Office, coupled.
THE COUNTRY STAKES.
Rifleman the favourite at 999 to 1.
Austrian Eagle and Court Influence continue without backers.
Long odds against Neutrality, if Government remaius in the Tory stabltia
2
to
1
3
to
2
10
to
1
16
to
1
20
to
1
25
to
5
30
to
1
40 to
I
50
to
1
100
to
1
1000
to
1