Part 38
~Wooden spoon~, the last junior optime who takes a University degree; denoting one who is only fit to stay at home, and stir porridge.—_Cambridge._ The expression is also parliamentary slang, and is applied to the member of the ministry whose name appears in the division lists least frequently. At the ministerial dinner annually held at Greenwich, such member sometimes has a wooden spoon presented to him.
~Wooden surtout~, a coffin, generally spoken of as a WOODEN SURTOUT with nails for buttons.
~Wooden wedge~, the last name in the classical honours’ list at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours had long been known as the WOODEN SPOON; but when the classical Tripos was instituted in 1824, it was debated among the undergraduates what sobriquet should be given to the last on the examination list. Curiously enough, the name that year which happened to be last was WEDGEWOOD (a distinguished Wrangler). Hence the title.
~Wool~, courage, pluck; “you are not half-WOOLED,” term of reproach from one thief to another.
~Wool~, bravery, pluck. Term much in use among pugilists and their admirers. The highest praise that can be bestowed on a man of courage in lower-class circles is that which characterizes him as being “a reg’lar wooled un,” or “a rare WOOL-TOPPED UN.” Derived from the great pluck and perseverance shown by many pugilists of whole or partial colour, from Molyneux down to Bob Travers.
~Woolbird~, a lamb; “wing of a WOOLBIRD,” a shoulder of lamb.
~Wool-gathering~, said of any person’s wits when they are wandering, or in a reverie.
~Wool-hole~, the workhouse.
~Woolly~, out of temper.
~Woolly~, a blanket.
~Work~, to plan, or lay down and execute any course of action, to perform anything; “to WORK the bulls,” _i.e._, to get rid of false crown pieces; “to work the oracle,” to succeed by manœuvring, to concert a wily plan, to victimize,—a possible reference to the stratagems and bribes used to corrupt the Delphic oracle, and cause it to deliver a favourable response. “To WORK a street or neighbourhood,” to try at each house to sell all one can, or to bawl so that every housewife may know what is to be sold. The general plan is to drive a donkey-barrow a short distance, and then stop and cry. The term implies thoroughness; to “WORK a street well” is a common saying with a coster. “To WORK a benefit” is to canvass among one’s friends and acquaintances.
~Worm.~ _See_ PUMP.
~Worm~, a policeman.
~Worming~, removing the beard of an oyster or mussel.
~W. P.~, or WARMING-PAN. A clergyman who holds a living _pro tempore_, under a bond of resignation, is styled a W. P., or WARMING-PAN rector, because he keeps the place warm for his successor. WARMING-PAN was a term first popularly applied to a substitute in the reign of James II.
~Wrinkle~, an idea, or a fancy; an additional piece of knowledge.
~Write~, as “to WRITE one’s name on a joint,” to leave the impression of one’s handiwork thereon, to have the first cut at anything; to leave visible traces of one’s presence anywhere.
~Wylo~, be off.—_Anglo-Chinese._
~X.~, or LETTER X, a method of arrest used by policemen with desperate ruffians,—by getting a firm grasp on the collar, and drawing the captive’s hand over the holding arm, and pressing the fingers down in a peculiar way—the captured person’s arm in this way can be more easily broken than extricated.
~Yack~, a watch; to “church a YACK,” to take it out of its case to avoid detection, otherwise to “christen a YACK.”
~Yaffle~, to eat.—_Old English._
~Yahoo~, a person of coarse or degraded habits. Derived from the use of the word by Swift.
~Yam~, to eat. This word is used by the lowest class all over the world; by the Wapping sailor, West Indian negro, or Chinese coolie. When the fort, called the Dutch Folly, near Canton, was in course of erection by the Hollanders, under the pretence of being intended for an hospital, the Chinese observed a box containing muskets among the alleged hospital stores. “Hy-aw!” exclaimed John Chinaman, “How can sick man YAM gun?” The Dutch were surprised and massacred the same night.
~Yappy~, soft, foolish; mostly applied to an over-generous person, from the fact that it originally meant one who paid for everything. YAP is back slang for pay, and often when a man is asked to pay more than he considers correct, he says, “Do you think I’m YAPPY?” do you think I’m paying mad? Thus slang begets slang.
~Yard of clay~, a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe; also called a churchwarden.
~Yarmouth capon~, a bloater, or red herring.
~Yarmouth mittens~, bruised hands.—_Sea._
~Yarn~, a long story, or tale; “a tough YARN,” a tale hard to be believed; “spin a YARN,” to tell a tale.—_Sea._
~Yay-nay~, “a poor YAY-NAY” fellow, one who has no conversational power, and can only answer YEA or NAY to a question.
~Yellow-belly~, a native of the fens of Lincolnshire, or the Isle of Ely—in allusion to the frogs and yellow-bellied eels caught there.
~Yellow-boy~, a sovereign, or any gold coin.
~Yellow-gloak~, a jealous man.
~Yellow-Jack~, the yellow fever prevalent in the West Indies.
~Yellow-man~, a yellow silk handkerchief.
~Yellows~, a term of reproach applied to Bluecoat and other charity school boys.
~Yid~, or YIT, a Jew. YIDDEN, the Jewish people. The Jews use these terms very frequently.
~Yokel~, a countryman. Probably from yoke, representative of his occupation. Some fancy, however, that the word was originally YOWKEL, in imitation of the broad tones of country labourers.
~Yokuff~, a chest, or large box.
~Yorkshire~, “to YORKSHIRE,” or “come YORKSHIRE over any person,” to cheat or cozen him. The proverbial over-reaching of the rustics of this county has given rise to the phrase, which is sometimes pronounced Yorshar. To put Yorshar to a man, is to trick or deceive him. This latter is from a work in the Lancashire dialect, 1757.
~Yorkshire compliment~, a gift of something useless to the giver. Sometimes called a North-country compliment.
~Yorkshire estates;~ “I will do it when I come into my YORKSHIRE ESTATES,”—meaning if I ever have the money or the means.
~Yorkshire reckoning~, a reckoning in which every one pays his own share.
~Younker~, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general use amongst costermongers, cabmen, and old-fashioned people. Barnefield’s _Affectionate Shepherd_, 1594, has the phrase, “a seemelie YOUNKER.” _Danish_ and _Friesic_, JONKER. In the navy, a naval cadet is usually termed a YOUNKER.
~Your nibs~, yourself. _See_ NIBS.
~Yoxter~, a convict returned from transportation before his time.
~Ziff~, a juvenile thief.
~Ziph~, LANGUAGE OF, a way of disguising English in use among the students at Winchester College. Compare MEDICAL GREEK. De Quincey, in his _Autobiographic Sketches_, says that he acquired this language as a boy, from a Dr. Mapleton, who had three sons at Winchester who had imported it from thence as their sole accomplishment, and that after the lapse of fifty years he could, and did with Lord Westport, converse in it with ease and rapidity. It was communicated at Winchester to new-comers for a fixed fee of half a guinea. The secret is this,—repeat the vowel or diphthong of every syllable, prefixing to the vowel so repeated the letter G, and placing the accent on the intercalated syllable. Thus, for example, “Shall we go away in an hour?” “Shagall wege gogo agawagay igin agan hougour?” “Three hours we have already stayed,” “Threegee hougours wege hagave agalreageadygy stagayed.” De Quincey could hardly have been considered complimentary to his own memory if he supposed that he, or for the matter of that any one possessed of brains, could forget anything so simple; or that, if forgotten until suddenly recalled, it could not be mastered by any sensible person in a minute. The language of ZIPH is far inferior to any of the slangs manufactured by the lower classes. Evidently any consonant will answer the purpose; F or L would be softer, and so far better. This ZIPH system is not confined to Winchester College, as it is recorded and described amongst many other modes of cryptical communication, oral and visual, spoken, written, and symbolic, in an _Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophic Language_ (founded on or suggested by a treatise published just before, by Geo. Dalgarne), by John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, published by order of the Royal Society, fol. 1668, and as the bishop does not speak of it as a recent invention, it may probably at that time have been regarded as an antique device for conducting a conversation in secrecy amongst bystanders—which says very little for either the designers or the bystanders.
~Zounds!~ a sudden exclamation—abbreviation of “God’s wounds!”
FOOTNOTES:
[57] Since the first edition of this work a great alteration has taken place in this respect. Though topical ballads are now often sung, the singers confine themselves to low neighbourhoods, and as soon as a policeman approaches, if ever he does, they make themselves scarce. The practice is singular. One man gets as far through a line as he can, and when his voice cracks his companion takes up. For this reason the business is as a rule conducted by a man and woman, or sometimes by a woman and child. The writing of these ditties is generally work of a character for which even 7_s._ 6_d._ would be a high rate of pay.—ED.
[58] Eurasian is not a child of mixed race, but one born of European parents in an Asiatic clime. A similar error exists with regard to the word creole, which is generally supposed to mean a man or woman in whom white and black strains are mixed. I need not say how wrong this is, but the vulgar error is none the less current.—ED.
[59] There is something so extremely humorous and far-fetched about this explanation, that though it is utterly unworthy of its place in a dictionary, I, finding it there, have not the heart to cut it out.—ED.
[60] Of course by those who don’t know the scientific way used in “canine exhibitions” and dog-fights—of biting their tails till they turn round to bite the biter.—ED.
SOME ACCOUNT
OF
THE BACK SLANG.
The costermongers of London number between thirty and forty thousand. Like other low tribes, they boast a language, or secret tongue, by which they hide their designs, movements, and other private affairs. This costers’ speech offers no new fact, or approach to a fact, for philologists; it is not very remarkable for originality of construction, neither is it spiced with low humour, as other cant. But the costermongers boast that it is known only to themselves; that it is far beyond the Irish, and puzzles the Jews. This is, however, but a poor fiction; for, as will be seen, the slang current among them is of the crudest conception, and only difficult to the most ignorant. Any one of the smallest pretensions to ability could learn back slang—could, in fact, create it for himself—as far as the costers’ vocabulary extends, in a couple of hours. Since the early editions of this work were published back slang has become very common; and is now mostly spoken, mixed however, with various other kinds of slang, in the public markets—the new dead-meat market being, perhaps, strongest in the way of pure—if the term may be used—back slang.
The main principle of this language is spelling the words backwards—or rather, pronouncing them rudely backwards. Sometimes, for the sake of harmony, an extra syllable is prefixed or annexed; and occasionally the word receives quite a different turn, in rendering it backwards, from what an uninitiated person would have expected. One coster told Mayhew that he often gave the end of a word “a new turn, just as if he chorused it with a tol-de-rol.” But then costermongers, and more especially those who confided their joys and sorrows to the gentleman just named, are not to be relied on. The coster has, of course, his own idea of the proper way of spelling words, and is not to be convinced but by an overwhelming show of learning,—and frequently not then, for he is a very headstrong fellow. By the time a coster has spelt an ordinary word of two or three syllables in the proper way, and then spelt it backwards, it has become a tangled knot that no etymologist could unravel. The word “generalize,” for instance, is considered to be “shilling” spelt backwards, while “genitraf” is supposed to represent farthing. Sometimes slang and cant words are introduced, and even these, when imagined to be tolerably well known, are pronounced backwards. Very often, instead of a word being spelt backwards right through, the syllables retain their original order; the initial _h_ is pronounced as though _c_ were before it, “tatch” being back slang for hat, and “flatch” the word supposed to represent half. Again, the full words are shortened, as “gen” for “generalize,” a shilling; and various other artifices are resorted to, in the hope of adding to the natural difficulties of back slang.
This back language, back slang, or “kacab genals,” as it is called by the costermongers themselves, is supposed to be regarded by the rising generation of street-sellers as a distinct and regular mode of intercommunication. People who hear this slang for the first time never refer words, by inverting them, to their originals; and the “yanneps,” “esclops,” and “nammows,” are looked upon as secret terms. Those who practise the slang soon obtain a considerable stock vocabulary, so that they converse rather from the memory than the understanding. Amongst the senior costermongers, and those who pride themselves on their proficiency in back slang, a conversation is often sustained for a whole evening—that is, the chief words are in the back slang—especially if any “flats” are present whom they wish to astonish or confuse.
The addition of an _s_ invariably forms the plural, so that this is another source of complication. For instance, woman in the back slang is “nammow,” and “nammows” is “women.” The explorer, then, in undoing the back slang, and turning the word once more into English, would have a novel and very extraordinary rendering of women. Where a word is refractory in submitting to a back rendering, as in the case of “pound,” letters are made to change positions for the sake of harmony; thus we have “dunop,” a pound, instead of “dnuop,” which nobody could pleasantly pronounce. Also all words of one syllable which end with two consonants—such, for instance, as cold, drunk—become dissyllables when read backwards, the vowel e being imagined between the then first and second consonants, as “deloc,” “kennurd.” Others take the vowel as an initial, girl being pronounced “elrig.” This arrangement, as a modification to suit circumstances, may remind the reader of the Jews’ “Old clo’! old clo’!” instead of “Old clothes! old clothes!” which it is supposed would tire the patience of even a Jew to repeat all day.
The back slang has been in vogue for many years. It is, as before stated, very easily acquired, and is principally used by the costermongers and others who practise it (as the specimen Glossary will show) for communicating the secrets of their street tradings, the cost of and profit on goods, and for keeping their natural enemies, the police, in the dark. “Cool the esclop” (look at the police) is often said among them, when one of the constabulary makes his appearance. It is only fair to assume, however, that the police know as much or more about the back slang than do the costers; and every child in a “shy” neighbourhood knows the meaning of the phrase just quoted. Those who regard the London costermonger as a fearful being are very much mistaken,—he is singularly simple-minded and innocent, and has, indeed, very little to conceal; but he certainly does like to wrap himself up as in a garment of mystery, and sometimes believes that the few words of slang he knows, mixed as they are, and troublesome as they have been to him, form an impenetrable barrier between him and the rest of the world. He is fond of exhibiting what knowledge he possesses, and so talks slang in public much more than in private; but at most the slang words used bear not forty per cent. proportion to the rest of his conversational structure, even when he exerts himself to the uttermost limits of his ability and education, and even when he is a leader in his walk of life.
Perhaps on no subject is the costermonger so silent as on his money affairs. All costs and profits, he thinks, should be kept profoundly secret. The back slang, therefore, gives the various small amounts very minutely, but, as has been before remarked, these words are known wherever common folk most do congregate, and are peculiar only for their variations from the original in the way of pronunciation:—
~Flatch~, halfpenny. ~Yannep~, penny. ~Owt-yanneps~, twopence. ~Erth-yanneps~, threepence. ~Roaf-yanneps~, fourpence. ~Evif, or ewif-yanneps~, fivepence. ~Exis-yanneps~, sixpence. ~Nevis-yanneps~, sevenpence. ~Teaich, or theg-yanneps~, eightpence. ~Enin-yanneps~, ninepence. ~Net-yanneps~, tenpence. ~Nevelé-yanneps~, elevenpence. ~Evlénet-yanneps~, twelvepence. ~Generalize~, one shilling. ~Yannep-flatch~, three-halfpence. ~Owt-yannep-flatch~, twopence-halfpenny. The word “flatch” represents the odd halfpenny when added to any number of “yanneps.” ~Gen, or eno-gen~, one shilling. “Gen” is a contraction of “generalize.” ~Owt-gens~, two shillings. ~Erth-gens~, three shillings.
The “gens” continue in the same sequence as the “yanneps” above; but, as a rule, the _s_ is left out, and “owt” or “erth gen” represents the quantity. This is, however, matter of individual taste; and any reader who is anxious to become proficient need not be afraid of committing a solecism—that’s a good word for back slanging—by giving vent to any peculiarity that may strike him. Variety is the charm of nature, we are told; and in this particular, if in no other, back slang and nature approach each other. So do extremes meet.
~Yenork~, a crown piece, or five shillings. ~Flatch-yenork~, half-a-crown. This is generally slurred into “flatch-a-nock.” The crown in full rarely receives the title “yenork” nowadays,—it is usually a “wheel” or “evif gen.” ~Flatch a dunop~, ten shillings, _i.e._, half a pound.
Beyond this amount the slangist reckons after an intricate and complicated mode. Fifteen shillings would be “erth-evif-gen,” or, literally, three times 5_s._; seventeen and sixpence would be “erth-yenork-flatch,” or three crowns and a half; or, by another mode of reckoning, “erth-evif-gen flatch-yenork,” _i.e._, three times 5_s._, and half-a-crown.
~Dunop~, a pound. Varied by “Dick,” back slang for “quid.”
Further than which the costermonger seldom goes in money reckoning.
In the following Glossary only those words are given which are continually used,—the terms connected with street traffic, the names of the different coins, vegetables, fruit, and fish, technicalities of police courts, &c. The reader might naturally think that a system of speech so simple as the back slang would require no Glossary; but he will quickly perceive, from the specimens given, that a great many words in frequent use in a “back” sense, have become so twisted as to require a little glossarial explanation.
This kind of slang, formed by reversing and transposing the letters of a word, is not peculiar to the London costermongers. Instances of an exactly similar secret dialect are found in the Spanish “Germania” and French “Argot.” Thus:—
_Spanish._ _Germania._ _English._
PLATO. TAPLO. PLATE. DEMIA. MEDIA. STOCKINGS.
_French._ _Argot._ _English._
F’OL. LOFFE. FOOLISH. LORCEFE. LA FORCE. LA FORCE, the prison of that name.
The Bazeegars, a wandering tribe of jugglers in India, form a back slang, on the basis of the Hindustanee, in the following manner:—
_Hindustanee._ _Bazeegar._ _English._
AG. GA. FIRE. LAMBA. BALUM. LONG. DUM. MUDU. BREATH.
GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANG.
~Birk~, a “crib,”—a house.
~Cool~, to look.
~Cool him~, look at him. A phrase frequently used when one costermonger warns another of the approach of a policeman, or when any person worthy of notice passes by. When any old lady has been bargaining with a costermonger, and leaves his barrow without purchasing, the proprietor of the barrow will call out to the rest, “COOL the delo nammow,” which, though it means literally nothing beyond “Look at the old woman,” conveys to them an intimation that she is, from their point of view, a nuisance, and should be treated as such.
~Dab~, bad.
~Dab tros~, a bad sort.
~Dabheno~, a bad one, sometimes a bad market. _See_ DOOGHENO.
~Da-erb~, bread.
~Deb~, or DAB, a bed; “I’m off to the DEB,” I’m going to bed.
~Delo nammow~, an old woman.
~Delog~, gold.
~Doog~, good.
~Doogheno~, literally “good-one,” but implying generally a good market, a good man, &c.
~Doogheno hit~, one good hit. A coster remarks to a mate, “Jack made a DOOGHENO HIT this morning,” implying that he did well at market, or sold out with good profit. Actually a good hit only is intended, but redundancy has its charms in the back slang as well as in more pretentious literary efforts.
~Dunop~, a pound.
~Edgabac~, cabbage.
~Edgenaro~, an orange.
~E-fink~, a knife.
~Ekame~, a “make,” or swindle.
~Ekom~, a “moke,” or donkey.
~Elrig~, a girl.
~Emag~, game, “I know your little EMAG.”
~Enif~, fine.
~Enin gen~, nine shillings.
~Enin yanneps~, ninepence.
~Eno~, one.
~Erif~, fire.
~Erth~, three.
~Erth gen~, three shillings.
~Erth-pu~, three-up, a street game, played with three halfpence.
~Erth sith-noms~, three months,—a term of imprisonment unfortunately very familiar to the lower orders. Generally known as a “drag.”
~Erth yanneps~, threepence.
~Esclop~, police, now used to signify a constable only. ESCLOP is pronounced “slop” simply, but the _c_ was never sounded. A policeman is now and then called, by some purist or stickler for etiquette, an “esclopnam.”
~Es-roch~, a horse.
~Esuch~, a house.
~Evif-gen~, a crown, or five shillings.
~Evif-yanneps~, fivepence.
~Evlenet-gen~, twelve shillings.
~Evlenet sith-noms~, twelve months. Generally known as a “stretch.”
~Exis-evif-gen~, six times five shillings, _i.e._, 30_s._ All moneys may be reckoned in this manner, either with YANNEPS or GENS. It is, however, rarely or never done.
~Exis-evif-yanneps~, elevenpence,—literally, “sixpence and fivepence = elevenpence.” This mode of reckoning, distinct from the preceding, is only made by special arrangement amongst slangites, who wish to confound their intimates.
~Exis gen~, six shillings.
~Exis sith-noms~, six months.
~Exis yanneps~, sixpence.
~Fi-heath~, a thief.
~Flatch~, half, or a halfpenny.
~Flatch kennurd~, half drunk.
~Flatch-yenork~, half-a-crown. _See_ preceding remarks.
~Flatchyannep~, a halfpenny.
~Gen~, twelvepence, or one shilling. Formerly imagined to be an abbreviation of argent, cant term for silver.
~Generalize~, a shilling, almost invariably shortened to GEN.
~Genitraf~, a farthing.
~Gen-net~, or NET GEN, ten shillings.
~Genol~, long.
~Hel-bat~, a table. } The aspirate is matter of taste.
~Helpa~, an apple. }
~Kanitseeno~, a stinking one. KANITS is a stink.
~Kennurd~, drunk.
~Kew~ (or more properly KEEU), a week.
~Kews~, SKEW, or SKEEU, weeks.
~Kirb~, a brick.
~Kool~, to look.
~Lawt~, tall.
~Ler-ac-am~, mackerel.
~Mottob~, bottom.
~Mur~, rum. A “nettock o’ MUR” is a quartern of rum.
~Nair~, rain.
~Nam~, a man.
~Nam esclop~, a policeman. _See_ ESCLOP.
~Nammow~, a woman; DELO NAMMOW, an old woman.
~Neel~, lean.
~Neergs~, greens.
~Net enin gen~, nineteen shillings.
~Net evif gen~, fifteen shillings.