American Language Supplement 2 (154 page)

4
Peter Tamony says in the San Francisco
News-Letter and Wasp
, Feb. 24, 1939, that in that city they are called
B-girls
, and derives the term from
to buzz
or
to put the bee on
, both meaning to wheedle money.

1
The Alexandria (Mo.)
Commercial
, June 22, 1876, reported the hanging of Bill Lee for the murder of Jessie McCarty, one of the crew of a Mississippi
gun-boat
. I am indebted for this to Mr. Franklin J. Meine, editor of Nelson’s Encyclopedia.

2
I take most of these from The Language of the Lots, in Hey, Rube, by Bert J. Chipman; Hollywood (Calif.), 1933, pp. 193–97.

3
Carnival Cant; a Glossary of Circus and Carnival Slang,
American Speech
, June, 1931, pp. 327–37.

4
Circus Words,
American Mercury
, Nov., 1931, pp. 351–54.

5
A Circus List,
American Speech
, Feb., 1926, pp. 282–283; More About the Language of the Lot, the same, June, 1928, pp. 413–15.

6
Carnival Slang,
American Speech
, Feb., 1928, pp. 253–54.

7
Masters of the Midway,
New Yorker
, Aug. 12, 1939, pp. 21–25.

8
Circus Slang, Pittsburgh
Courier
, March 20 and 27, 1943.

9
Lefty’s Notebook,
Variety
, April 7, 1943.

10
Mysteries of the Carnival Language,
American Mercury
, June, 1936, pp. 227–31.

1
Apparently from
chandelier
.

2
The origin of this term still puzzles etymologists. For some of their guesses see AL4, p. 188. In
American Speech
, Oct., 1945, pp. 184–86, Atcheson L. Hench suggested that it might come from a sea term meaning a small West Indian craft of odd rig, apparently a loan from the Carib through the Spanish. But the connection between this
ballyhoo
and the circus
ballyhoo
remains to be established. For the following I am indebted to Mr. Edw. J. Kavanagh, of New York: “In the 40s and 50s many of the traveling tent-shows were conducted by roving Irishmen who spoke both Gaelic and English. In those days the barker had two duties: to talk up the show and to pass the hat. The Gaelic word for
collect
is
bailinghadh
, pronounced
ballyoo
(dissyllable) by Munster speakers and
bállyoo
by Connacht speakers. At intervals in the show would be heard the cry,
Bailinghadh anois
(Collection now).” Other notes on
ballyhoo
are in
American Speech
, Feb., 1936, pp. 101 and 102.

3
“
Ringmaster
,” says Milburn, “is unknown to circus parlance. The stilted phraseology of the press-agent has influenced circus speech, and high-sounding words are often used in preference to simple ones.”

1
The English showmen have an entirely different vocabulary. Specimens of it are given in Circus Slang, by Pegasus,
World’s Fair
(London), April 3, 1937, and What is an
Auguste?
, London
Observer
, Dec. 15, 1935. The technical vocabulary of tumblers is given in School for Tumblers,
New Yorker
, Feb. 26, 1938, pp. 16–17. That of the roller-skating rinks is in They’re Taking the Kinks Out of Rinks, by Pete Martin,
Saturday Evening Post
, May 13, 1944, p. 89.

1
I am indebted here to Mr. William J. Sachs (Bill Baker), who conducts the Pipes for Pitchmen department in the
Billboard
. Many pitchmen’s terms are given in Something for Nothing, by John J. Flynn,
Collier’s
, Oct. 8, 1932, pp. 15–48; The
Billboard:
Miscellaneous Entertainment, by Alva Johnston,
New Yorker
, Sept. 12, 1936, pp. 31–36; Alagazam, by N. T. Oliver (Nevada Ned), as told to Wesley Winans Stout,
Saturday Evening Post
, Oct. 19, 1929, pp. 26–80; About Carnivals and Pitchmen, by Irving Baltimore,
Editor
, Dec. 2, 1916, p. 518; Pitchmen, by Maurice Zolotow,
Saturday Evening Post
, Sept. 25, 1943, pp. 12–13 and 37–39; Pitchmen Find Business Terrible,
Life
, July 31, 1939, p. 24; Step Closer, Gents, by William D. O’Brien, New York
World-Telegram
, July 6, 1936, and Pitchman’s Cant, by Ruth Mulvey,
American Speech
, April, 1942, pp. 89–93. The last is not without errors. The English pitchmen, who call themselves
grafters
, have a quite different vocabulary. Many of its terms are in The Grafters’ Corner, by Semi-Detached (Arthur Pearson),
World’s Fair
, Jan. 17, 1942, and some are reprinted in the
Billboard
, June 26, 1943, pp. 59–60.

2
In The Origin of
Phoney, American Speech
, April, 1937, pp. 108–110, Peter Tamony offers strong evidence that it came originally from
fawney
, traced in England to 1781, but the dictionaries continue to mark it “origin uncertain.”
Fawney
seems to be derived from Gaelic
fáinne
, a ring. In Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, third ed., 1796,
fawney rig
(not
ring
) is defined as: “A common fraud, thus practised: A fellow drops a brass ring, double gilt, which he picks up before the party meant to be cheated, and to whom he disposes of it for less than its supposed, and ten times more than its real value.” Partridge says that the use of
fawney
or
phoney
in the general sense of fraudulent originated in the United States, and was naturalized in England
c
. 1920. In The American Tramp,
Contemporary Review
, Aug., 1891, p. 253, Josiah Flynt listed
fawney man
as a seller of bogus jewelry. I am indebted here to Mr. Edgar Gahan, of Westmount, Quebec. For other proposed etymologies see AL4, p. 187. Also, see Supplement I, p. 511, n. 1;
Phoney
, London
Times Literary Supplement
, Jan. 6 and 20, 1940, pp. 7 and 31, and Origin of
Phoney
, London
Observer
, April 7, 1940.

1
Jewelry Auction Jargon, June, pp. 375–76.

2
The late Dr. William Rosenau of Baltimore, a distinguished Hebrew scholar, told me that
mahula
should be spelled
mechuleh
. It is derived from the Hebrew verb
kala
, signifying to finish and is commonly used for to go bankrupt.

3
Probably a corruption of the German
mensch
.

4
According to Dr. Rosenau
misch-cowain
(in which the second
c
should be
k
) is derived from the Hebrew verb
schokaw
, to lie down. The noun formed from it is
mischkov
, a bed. “Consequently,” said Dr. Rosenau, “
mischkowain
in its dual plural form with the
-aim
ending has reference to two persons lying down together and indulging in cohabitation.”

5
The correct form is
metziah
. It signifies a find or bargain, and is from the Hebrew verb
motzoh
, a find.

6
Dr. Louise Pound showed in
Peter Funk, American Speech
, Feb., 1929, pp. 183–86, that this curious term was in use in New York so early as 1834. It was also used by Walt Whitman in the New Orleans
Crescent
, March 13, 1848.

7
Also,
to yentz
. Witman says: “It also has another meaning, but because of postal regulations I shall omit it.” See Supplement I, p. 435.

1
See Supplement I, pp. 337–38.

2
In an article in the
Billboard
, Dec. 22, pp. 8 and 9. It was reprinted as The Vocabulary of the Show Business in his Principles of Playmaking; New York, 1919, pp. 251–64.

3
In compiling it I have made use of Trouper Talk, by Gretchen Lee,
American Speech
, Oct., 1925, pp. 36 and 37; Stage Terms, by Percy W. White, the same, May, 1926, pp. 436–37; Theatrical Lingo, by Ottille Amend, the same, Oct., 1927, pp. 21–23; Jewels From a Box-Office: The Language of Show Business, by Arnold Moss, the same, Oct., 1936, pp. 219–22; Speech of the Theatre, by W. P. Daggett,
Quarterly Journal of Speech Education
, April, 1923, pp. 154–62; Show Talk and Stage Slang, by Joseph Arnold,
Bookman
, June, 1929, pp. 33–64; A Glossary of Stage Terms and Parlance, in A Handbook For the Amateur Actor, by Van H. Cartmell; New York, 1936, pp. 85–98; A Stageland Dictionary, by Walter J. Kingsley and Loney Haskell, New York
Times
, Oct. 14, 1923, section 8, p. 4; Broadway Glossary, in So You Want To Go Into the Theatre?, by Shepard Traube; Boston, 1936, pp. 243–47; and Theatrical Workers’ Slang and Jargon, in Lexicon of Trade Jargon, Vol. III, compiled by the Federal Writers’ Project in New York. The argot of the English stage is in A Dictionary of Stage Terms, in Theatre and Stage, edited by Harold Downs; London, 1934, pp. 91–104; English Theatrical Terms and Their American Equivalents, by Henry J. Heck,
American Speech
, Aug., 1930, p. 468, and English Show Slang,
Billboard
, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 193. It is also discussed in
Notes and Queries
, Oct. 24 and Nov. 21, 1942. A bibliography of books and articles on both American and English theatrical argot is in Burke’s Literature of Slang, pp. 119 and 120.

4
Free-list
is marked an Americanism by the DAE and traced to 1845, but Sir St. Vincent Troubridge, in Notes on DAE,
American Speech
, Dec., 1946, p. 276, gives an English example dated 1806.

5
In England
to go backstage
is
to go round
. In
American Speech
, Oct., 1942, p. 203, Dwight L. Bolinger shows that
back-stage
has come into general use in the sense of under-cover, not claiming attention.

1
The expedient of hiring professional acclaimers has never been in general use on the American stage. Its home is Paris, where the
claque
has been an institution for years. It has produced many terms of its own,
e.g., rieur
, or
rigolard
, one who laughs,
pleureur
, a weeper;
bisseur
, one who cries
bis! (i.e., encore); chevaliers du lustre
(knights of the chandelier);
chatouilleur
(tickler), a
claqueur
who devotes himself to one performer. For the Vienna opera
claque
see My Life in the Claque, by Joseph Wechsberg,
New Yorker
, Feb. 19, 1944, pp. 22–25.

2
Called
floats
in England.

3
From the name of Charles Frohman (1860–1915), the most celebrated New York manager of the 1900 era. Now obsolescent.

4
In America it is
out front;
in England,
in front
.

5
See Who is
George Spelvin?
, by Gilbert Swan,
American Mercury
, Nov., 1943. Mr. Swan says that
Spelvin
was invented by Edward Abeles. During one period of three years he appeared in 20,000 performances of 210 different parts.

6
In England it is the
stage-cloth
.

7
Possibly from
Hamlet
, a part that all the old-time bad actors either aspired to play or claimed to have played. But the Lexicon of Trade Argot prefers to derive it from the fact that actors formerly used hamfat instead of cold cream to remove their make-up, and this is supported by a variant form,
hamfatter
. The term is not listed by Partridge, but it is known in England, and the well-known critic and dramatist, St. John Ervine, used it in the title of an article,
Ham
Acting, in the London
Observer
, Feb. 9, 1936. On July 26, 1938, Stephen Williams, dramatic critic of the London
Evening Standard
, printed in his paper an article (Shakespeare as She is Spoke, p. 7) in which he said: “We hear a great deal about
ham
acting nowadays. As far as I can judge,
ham
acting is the habit of rolling sonorous speeches round the tongue and delivering them with extravagant relish to the gallery. Well, why not? Recent performances of Shakespeare have convinced me that the decay of
ham
acting is a deplorable thing.” Ervine, in the article mentioned, quoted Harcourt Williams as saying, in Four Years of the Old Vic; London, 1936: “I suppose it is an abbreviation of what used to be called
hambone
.” In the
Stage
(London), June 1, 1944, Edgar T. Hayes said that
hambone
meant an amateur.
Ham
is also used to designate an amateur radio operator. In this sense it originated in the United States, but Partridge says that it was adopted in England,
c
. 1936. It is used likewise in the United States to signify any inept and amateurish workman or other person.

1
Now obsolete. So called because the prompter, now extinct save in stock companies, was stationed there.

2
In England any place outside London is the
provinces
, and
on the road
is
on tour
.

1
The article is usually dropped. Thyra Samter Winslow’s
Show Business
(a book) was published in 1926. Some analogues have appeared,
e.g., shipping business
without the article:
Congressional Record
, Dec. 6, 1945, p. 11724, col. 2.

2
See The
Straw Hat
Theatre, by Joseph Corré,
American Notes & Queries
, July and Aug., 1945, pp. 51–54 and 67–69.

3
“It consists of nothing but a railroad water-tank.” In recent years
filling-station
is substituted.

4
From the name of the critic of the New York
Tribune
(1836–1917). Now obsolete. In compiling this list I have had the experienced aid of my old colleague, George Jean Nathan. Some of the terms come from England. The NED traces
house
to 1662–63,
business
to 1671,
drop
to 1779,
heavy
to 1826 and
ghost
to 1853, but it marks
grip
U.S. and traces it to 1886.