A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words: Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. — John Shaqi
A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words: Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.Hotten, John Camden
General
A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words: Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.
Hotten, John Camden
Cambridge (England) -- Languages -- Dictionaries; Cant -- Dictionaries; Cant -- England -- London -- Dictionaries; English language -- Dialects -- England -- London -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.; English language -- England -- London -- Slang -- Dictionaries; London (England) -- Languages -- Dic
the same Essay, the religious Slang terms for the two great divisions
of the Established Church, receive some explanation. The old-fashioned
High Church party, rich and “stagnant,” noted for its “sluggish
mediocrity, hatred of zeal, dread of innovation, abuse of dissent,
blundering and languid utterance,” is called the HIGH AND DRY; whilst
the corresponding division, known as the Low Church, equally stagnant
with the former, but poorer, and more lazily inclined (from absence
of education), to dissent, receives the nickname of the LOW AND SLOW.
Already have these terms become so familiar that they are shortened, in
ordinary conversation, to the DRY and the SLOW. The so-called “Broad
Church,” I should remark, is often spoken of as the BROAD AND SHALLOW.
What can be more objectionable than the irreverent and offensive
manner in which many of the dissenting ministers continually pronounce
the names of the Deity, God and Lord. God, instead of pronouncing in
the plain and beautifully simple old English way, G-O-D, they drawl
out into GORDE or GAUDE; and Lord, instead of speaking in the proper
way, they desecrate into LOARD or LOERD,—lingering on the _u_, or
the _r_, as the case may be, until an honest hearer feels disgusted,
and almost inclined to run the gauntlet of beadles and deacons, and
pull the vulgar preacher from his pulpit. I have observed that many
young preachers strive hard to acquire this peculiar pronunciation,
in imitation of the older ministers. What can more properly, then, be
called Slang, or, indeed, the most objectionable of Slang, than this
studious endeavour to pronounce the most sacred names in a uniformly
vulgar and unbecoming manner. If the old-fashioned preacher whistled
Cant through his nose, the modern vulgar reverend whines Slang from
the more natural organ. These vagaries of speech will, perhaps, by
an apologist, he termed “pulpit peculiarities,” and the writer dared
to intermeddle with a subject that is or should be removed from his
criticisms. The terms used by the mob towards the Church, however
illiberal and satirically vulgar, are within his province in such an
inquiry as the present. A clergyman, in vulgar language, is spoken of
as a CHOKER, a CUSHION THUMPER, a DOMINE, an EARWIG, a GOSPEL GRINDER,
a GRAY COAT PARSON—if he is a lessee of the great tithes, ONE IN TEN,
PADRE—if spoken of by an Anglo-Indian, a ROOK, a SPOUTER, a WHITE
CHOKER, or a WARMING PAN RECTOR, if he only holds the living _pro
tempore_, or is simply keeping the place warm for his successor. If a
Tractarian, his outer garment is rudely spoken of as a PYGOSTOLE, or
M.B. (MARK OF THE BEAST) COAT. His profession is termed THE CLOTH, and
his practice TUB THUMPING. Should he belong to the dissenting body,
he is probably styled a PANTILER, or a PSALM SMITER, or, perhaps, a
SWADDLER. His chapel, too, is spoken of as a SCHISM SHOP. A Roman
Catholic, I may remark, is coarsely named a BRISKET BEATER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account