SLANG AND CANT IN JEROME K. JEROME’S WORKS A STUDY BY OLOF E. BOSSON [Illustration] CAMBRIDGE W. HEFFER & SONS, LTD. 1911 LUND 1911 PRINTED BY HÅKAN OHLSSON Contents. Preface 5 Bibliography: Chronological list of Jerome K. Jerome’s Works 8 Introduction 9 A Grammatical Survey 17 I. Phonetic Notes 19 II. Accidence 22 III. Syntax 26 Slang 31 Slang > Colloquial English 37 Vulgarism or Cant 45 Vulgarism > Colloquial English 67 Index 79 Preface. The object of this essay is to examine _vulgarism_ and _slang_ in the works of JEROME K. JEROME (b. 1859). JEROME gives us very good specimens of the ordinary language of the Victorian era. His style is not surprisingly original, but he shows a remarkable talent in rendering with perfect accuracy the characteristic talk of different classes of society. The persons he introduces to us need only utter a few words, before we are able to form a conception of their social position, their degree of culture, etc.; very often we get in this manner a clue also to their character. The author has led an exceptionally varied life—in his early years he was at different times a clerk, a teacher, an actor, a journalist. He had, accordingly, frequent opportunities of communicating with individuals of different social position and different culture, and of studying their language. He does not aim at grammatical peculiarities, elaborate phrases, or rare expressions; his language is the average language of his own time, acutely observed and faithfully rendered. Giving us thus a true and varied image of the talk of different classes and trades, his writings are specially suited to form the material for a study of _slang_ and _cant_.