Read American Language Supplement 2 Online
Authors: H.L. Mencken
American Language Supplement 2 (147 page)
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Bull’s eye. A placard bearing a circle with a red, white and blue field, announcing the date and place of a coming chautauqua.
Bureau. The management.
Celebrity, or platform giant. Any speaker notorious enough to bring in a crowd.
Chautauqua salute. Waving a handkerchief.
Crew tent, or pup tent. A small tent at the rear of the main tent, used by the crew as living quarters.
Diplomat, or dip. An advance-agent.
Docott. Ropes and pulleys used to keep the tent taut.
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Endorser, grantor, or signer. A guarantor.
Fives. Circuits with five-day programmes.
Hickey. The operation of tightening the tent.
Junk. The chautauqua equipment.
Kitchen. The section of the tent covering the stage and dressing-rooms.
Message. The theme of a lecture.
Morning-hour girl. One who kept the customers’ children entertained of a morning.
Sevens. Circuits with seven-day programmes.
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Binder. The thin leaf under the
wrapper
, holding the
filler
together.
Blow,
v
. To
case
tobacco by taking water into the mouth and then blowing it out in a fine spray.
Book. A pad of
wrappers
.
Buckeye. A small shop in which cigars made in the back room are retailed in front.
2
Bunch.
Filler
surrounded by a
binder
.
3
Casing. Dampening tobacco to make it pliable enough to work.
Cheroot. A cigar, usually of cheap materials, trimmed at both ends.
Cigarmakers’ heaven. Philadelphia.
Cuttings. The pieces trimmed from the
tuck
of a cigar, later used as
filler
for a cheaper cigar.
Filler. The tobacco inside the
binder
and
wrapper
of a cigar.
Hand. A group of tobacco leaves, tied at the stem end.
Head. The pointed end of a cigar.
Noodle-twister. A cigarmaker.
Plug. A cigar too tightly made to be smokable.
Skipper. A cigar in which there is a gap between adjoining sections of
wrapper
.
Sprig. A small piece of
filler
.
Stogy. A cigar of cheap materials, loosely made and with a twist at one end.
4
Tuck. The trimmed end of a cigar.
Wrapper. The thin leaf on the outside of a cigar.
5
6
Box (Catholics). A confessional.
Buck, crow, or Galway (Protestants). A Catholic priest.
Church school, or baby church (Protestant Episcopalians). A Sunday-school.
1
Episcopate (Colored Methodists). A bishop.
2
Go-to-Hell collar (Catholics). An ordinary men’s collar, sometimes worn by priests on holiday.
Hell-and-damnation fathers (Catholics). Redemptorists.
3
Kingdom work (Evangelical Protestants). Raising money for church enterprises.
Novitiate (Catholics). A novice.
4
On the altar (Catholics). Serving at the altar.
Pastorium (Evangelical Protestants). The pastor’s house.
5
Plant (Methodists and Baptists). The church building, including the church itself, the pastorium, and the various meeting-halls, bowling-alleys, refreshment rooms, etc.
Plate (colored Protestants). A collection.
Sawdust trail (Evangelical Protestants). The path of a convert to the mourners’ bench.
6
Southpaw, or left-footer (Catholics). A Protestant.
Stewardship (Evangelical Protestants). The layman’s duty to provide whatever money is needed by the clergy.
Turk (Catholics). An Irish-born priest.
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8
Billing, or pecking. Teasing cocks before a fight to arouse them to ferocity.
Blinked. Blinded.
Buckle,
v
. To fly above the opposing cock.
Cocker. A connoisseur of cock-fighting.
Coupled. Said of a cock whose hip has been dislocated.
Dunghill. A cock which runs from a fight.
Gaff, or heel. A steel spur.
Hang, or to be in. For a cock to jab his spur so far into another that he can’t withdraw it.
Kick,
v
. To spur.
Lunged. Gaffed through both lungs.
Main. A series of fights, always odd in number, between the birds of two cockers.
Muffs, or boxing-gloves. Protective pads put over the natural spurs of a cock when in training.
Pitchfork. A very long spur.
Shingle-nail. A short spur.
Shuffle,
v
. To strike with both spurs.
Sick. Nearly dead.
1
Bra, breast-shield, or breast-form. A brassière.
Derrière. A backside, usually meaning a massive one.
Drooper, or super-drooper. A pendant bust.
Grapefruit. A medium-sized bust.
Hammock. A large bust.
Teacup. A small bust.
2
3
Ada from Decatur. A throw of eight.
4
Big Dick. A ten.
5
Big Natural. An eleven.
6
Box-cars. A twelve.
Caroline nine. A nine.
7
Craps. A three.
8
Johnny Hicks. A six.
1
Little Joe. A four.
2
Little Natural. A seven.
Phoebe. A five.
3
Snake-eyes. Two aces.
Viggerish. The cut of the house.
4
5
Blue John. Skimmed milk.
Cow salve. Butter.
Eskimo. One who works in a cold-storage room.
Floaters. Oversize rubber shoes worn by dairy workers.
Moo juice. Milk.
Slop. Buttermilk.
Teat-puller. A dairy farmer.
6
Bat. A watchful store official.
Blow air, or puff up,
v
. To rearrange the merchandise displayed on a counter.
Counter-stretcher. An imaginary instrument for lengthening an overcrowded counter.
Dreck. A garment badly made of inferior materials.
7
Go-giver. An unusually attentive saleswoman.
J. L.,
8
or lemon. A woman who examines many articles but buys nothing.
Mooch. A finicky customer, alert for real bargains.
9
Pawing. Handling merchandise on display.
Pick-up. The day’s receipts of a given counter.
Post-mortem. An article that is out of fashion.
Red circles. Staple goods that must always be in stock.
10
Schlag.
11
A badly made skirt.
Wrap-up. A customer easily pleased. Also, an inferior article palmed off on such a customer.
1
Angel teat. A mellowed whiskey of good bouquet.
Beer. The fermented mash, ready for distilling.
Bug juice. Whiskey of low quality.
Bulldozer. An iron used to stamp barrel-heads.
Drop a cook,
v
. To run mash from a boiler into a fermenting vat.
Goose. A dephlegmater,
i.e.
, a device for purifying spirit coming from a still.
Low wine, or heads. The first product to come off in distilling beer.
Mash. The cooked grain.
Scroll water. Steam curling off the coil of the still.
Set a tub,
v
. To fill a fermenting vat with yeasted beer.
Slop, or off-falls. The waste remaining after beer is distilled.
Spirit runner. The operator of a still.
Tale-box. A glass-enclosed meter which registers the proof and rate of flow of whiskey coming from a still.
Thief. A metal tube for withdrawing samples from barrels.
Well. A fermenting vat.
Butterfly nose. A dog whose nose is speckled with flesh-colored spots.
Button ear. An ear that falls forward, with the point toward the eye.
Daredevil. An Irish terrier.
Diehard. A Scottish terrier.
Flag. The tail of a setter.
French. A dog whose front feet turn slightly outward.
Merle. A mottled blue color in collies and sheep-dogs.
Snipy. A muzzle that is too pointed.
Weedy. Deficient in muscle and bone.
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3
Badger, gopher, snake, snake-killer, crackerjack, go-devil, go-dig, or two-row eli. A corn-cultivator that cultivates two or more rows at a time.
Bunch, or dump. A pile of hay.
Bushwhacker. A scythe.
Buster. A plow.
Cluck. A setting hen.
Cob-roller. A small, pudgy pig.
Crap-shooter. A manure-spreader.
Crow bait, skate, skinflint, or plug. A worn-out horse.
Cut, change, or alter,
v
. To castrate.
Drag. A harrow.
Feathered. Potatoes with part of the skin rubbed off.
Finished. Cattle fat enough for market.
Fired. Corn dried out by drought.
Hatrack, or shell, or canner, or nellie. An old cow.
Hog-lot. An enclosure for hogs.
1
Juicing. Milking cows.
Lister. A plow used to make a ditch or furrow for planting corn.
2
Rig. A threshing outfit.
Round-house. A silo.
Spike-pitcher. One who feeds a threshing-machine with bundles of grain.
Springer. A cow about to calve.
Three-titter. A cow that has lost one teat.
Volunteer. Grain which comes up after a field has been cut.
3
Apparatus. The generic name for fire-engine, hook-and-ladder, etc.
Bag. A uniform.
Bagger. Used to designate the numerical order of an alarm,
e.g.
, two-
bagger
(or
deuce
), three-
bagger
, etc.
Big stick. A large ladder.
Blue shirt, or smoke-eater. A fireman.
Bop, probie, or skut. A probationer.
Buff. A fire fan.
4
Committee work. Cleaning up.
Cork. A short nap.
Dash. A quick opening and shutting of the nozzle to douse a small blaze.
Hit the floor,
v
. To slide down the pole in a firehouse.
Hitting in. The sounding of an alarm in a firehouse.
Kink-chaser. A laggard who says that he was straightening the kinks out
of the line when questioned by his company commander, who has missed his presence in a blazing building.
Looie, or luke. A lieutenant.
Patrolie. A member of a privately-paid fire patrol.
Platform. The fire-alarm dispatcher at headquarters.
Potsy. A fireman’s badge.
1
Ripe, or snotty. Smoky.
Roast. The body of a person burned to death.
Rolling out. Leaving quarters for a fire.
Siamese. A connection for amalgamating two lines of hose.
Spaghetti. Hose.
Squib. A small fire.
Stretch in,
v
. To lead lines of hose into a building on fire.
Syringe. A water-tower.
Touch-off. An incendiary fire.
Turnouts. Trousers kept beside the bed of a fireman on night duty, designed for quick dressing.
2
White-coat. An officer above the rank of captain.
Worker. A bad fire.
3
4
Balloon. A round inflated rubber bag used to float a net.
Bank, or banks. Any shoal water.
Blink. An undersized mackerel.
Break water,
v
. To arise from bed.
Bug. A lobster below the legal minimum in weight; on the Gulf coast, any shrimp.
Chance. A job.
Chum,
v
. To vomit over the side.
Clinkers. The engine-room crew.
Coloring. Tattooing.
Doctor. The crew cook.
Down. North along the coast.
Gurry. The entrails and other wastes of fish.
Hubbly. A rough sea.
Ile-suit. Clothes made waterproof by oiling.
Lay. The manner of dividing the catch between the crew and the owner.
Mammy-daddy,
v
. To row with one oar, and then the other.
Monkey. A green hand.
Nippers. Lice.
Outside. At sea.
Redjacks. Waterproof leather boots.
Skunk. An approaching squall.
Soup-barrel. A water-cask.
Stemwinder. One who fishes for sport alone.
Trip. The amount of fish brought to market on one voyage.
1
2
Acid. Vinegar.
Adam and Eve on a raft. Poached eggs on toast.
Alive (of oysters). Raw.
Arizona. Buttermilk.
3
Baby, or Sweet Alice. A glass of milk.
Bellywash, or splash. Soup.
Bib. A napkin.
Bird-seed. A cereal.
Blood, hemorrhage, paint, or red lead. Ketchup.
Boiled leaves. Tea.
Bossy in a bowl. Beef stew.
Breath. An onion.
Bullets, Saturday nights, or whistleberries. Baked beans.
Bun pup. A hot dog.
Chocker hole, or submarine. A doughnut.
Chopper. A table knife.
Clean up the kitchen. Hash.
Clinker. A biscuit.
Coney Island bloodhound. A frankfurter.
Cow feed. A salad.
Creep. Draft beer.
Curb-hopper, curbie, or car-hop. A waitress serving automobilists at the curb.
1
Dog-biscuit. A cracker.
Dog-soup, or one on the city. A glass of water.
Echo. Please repeat the order.
Eve. Apple pie.
Fly-cake, or roach-cake. Raisin-cake.
Fly-pie. Huckleberry-pie.
Grass, or leaves. Lettuce.
Gravel-train. A sugar-bowl.
Graveyard stew. Milk-toast.
Hasher. A counterman.
Irish turkey. Corned beef and cabbage
2
Looseners. Prunes.
Lumber. A toothpick.
Midnight. A cup of black coffee.
Mike and Ike. Salt and pepper shakers.
Moo. A steak.
Mud, or murk. Coffee.
Pair of drawers. Two cups of coffee.
Raft. A slice of toast.
Salve, or skid-grease. Butter.
Scoop. A spoon.
Sea-dust. Salt.
Shimmy. Gelatine.
Soup. Gravy.
Spear. A fork.
Spla. Whipped cream.
Sport. A liberal tipper.
Stiff, or George Eddie. A patron who does not tip.
White bread. The manager.
Wreath. Cabbage.
Yum-yum. Sugar.
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