Colloquialisms and language

One of the things I truly love about Victorian literature and writing is the rich turn of phrase and use of language employed by authors. Nineteenth century literature and culture is full of colourful jargon, short-hand, insults, and slang. In 1909 James Redding Ware published Passing English an unusual dictionary of language found to be in ‘common’ use, primarily, in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Here I will share some a collection of, what might seem to us now, baffling precise words that he collected, along with others that I discover during my reading. 

• Maungo (N.Country, 1869). Shoddy. This word is said to come from the term 'it maun go' - that is to say it must sell from its cheapness.

• Claim (Ang.-Amer.). To recognise in travelling. In a railway carriage one may frequently hear the enquiry - ‘Surely I claim you - we met at Suez?’

• Henri Clark (Drury Lane, 1883). Flatter. From the flattering stage-mode of a singer of this name.

• Otamies (Lower Peoples’). Surgical operations of all kinds. Probable corruption of anatomies.
  And now, poor man, he is among the otamies, at Surgeon’s Hall. - Gay, Beggars’ Opera.

• Chuckaways (London). Lucifer matches - graphic description of the act of rejection after the match is done with. Bill - "I want a light - got any chuckaways?"

• Possle (Low. Class). Earnest advocate. Corruption of apostle. Used satirically.

• God-forbids (Rhyming). Kids - a cynical mode of describing children, by poor men who dread a long family.

• Death-promoter (Amer., about 1880). An ominous synonym for alcoholic drink. This phrase is a very fine instance of the etymological landmarks sometimes - perhaps often - afforded by passing English. Here is seen subterfugal conviction of the danger of alcoholic indulgence, even taking possession of the intelligence of the very patron of whiskey himself. Throughout history there is no period before the end of the 19th century where alcohol is associated with death - if we except L'assommoir, a cudgel, and used in France to describe a drinking bar.

• Dennis (Sailors'). Nothing except below contempt; e.g., 'Hullo, Dennis!' 'Oh, Dennis, am I?' Sailors always call the 'pig' Dennis. This may have reference to a certain sister isle - and it may not.

• Par-leader (Press, 1875). A short commentating article, in which no break occurs. A little essay of perhaps a score of sentences, but all in one paragraph.

• Penny loaf (Thieves'). Cur - one afraid to steal; a man who would rather live on a penny loaf than steal good beef.

• Squeeze-box (Navy). The ship harmonium - used in the hasty Sunday service. From the action of the feet.

• Ululation (Press, about 1875). First night condemnation by all the gallery and the back of the pit.

• Drum (Thieves'). A cell - precisely because a drum is an enclosure.

• Catch-penny (Street). Gutter Ballads. The origin of the phrase 'catch-penny' is that after the execution in London of Thurtell for the murder of Weare (1824), a publisher named Catchpin printed a penny ballad entitled: We are Alive Again. When cried on the street it sold to the extent of 2,500,000 copies, the persons buying supposing from the sound that the ballad had reference to Weare. It came, therefore, to be spoken of as a 'Catch-penny affair'.

• Daverdy (Devon.) Careless. Probably from an individual notoriously untidy - possibly David Day.

• Flash (Street.) Grand, splendid. Evidently derived from strong flash of lightening. "They're so flash that it's a blooming wonder they know themselves". - Cutting, 1883.

• Chuckaboo (Peoples'). A name given familiarly to a favourite chum. No meaning; but probablt the 'chuck' is a conversion of 'duck'.

• Lally-gagging (American Peoples’). Flirting – origin probably Dutch. “You see, Pa has been in a habit lately of going to the store a good deal and lally-gagging with the girl clerks.” – Bad Boy, 1883.

• Skilamalink (L. London). Secret, shady, doubtful. If not brought in by Robson, it was reintroduced by him at the Olympic theatre, and in a burlesque. 
  
  
• Keeping Dovercourt (E. Anglia). Making a great noise. Dovercourt (Essex) was once celebrated for its scolds. – this we have on the authority of Halliwell. On the other hand the term may come from the great noise made by a local insect called the Dovercourt beetle. 

• Nice thin job (Peoples’, 1895). Mean evasion of a promise. ‘Thin’ – to be seen through, comes from America – and in England antithetically suggested thick – now very prevalent for ill-usage and misbehaviour in general.
  
  
• Mawwormy (Peoples’). Fault-finding, dismally anticipating wretchedness. From the character Mawworm: “Augustus Harris insisting on Carl Rosa accepting the wreath thrown on stage last Saturday night was a delicious and touching spectatcle. Here is a glorious subject for one of our figure-painters. Without being mawwormy, I fail to see why a wreath should be presented to any man who makes a business of giving opera” - Entr’acte, 6^th June 1885.  

•  Argol-bargol. To have a row. May be argue turned into argol, from the old term ‘argil’ (see the Gravedigger in Hamlet), corrupted from ‘ergo’. The ‘bargol’ is a rhymed invention following a common habit. The whole term, however, is pervaded apparently by depreciation: “Well-well-d’yer want ter argol-bargol?”

• Dimber-damber (street). Smart, active, adroit. One of the alliterative phrases with no absolute meaning - a false onomatope. Namby-pamby and nimmeny-pimmeny are on similar lines: "He is a bit dimber-damber, and up to everything on the carpet" Newspaper Cutting.