»It was an odd question to put to a waiter, but coming from _a gent_ there was nothing to be alarmed about.» (T. T. T. 188. 9.) _The same._ »if you don’t want to waste your time on a rabbit-skin coat and a paste ring, and give the burnt sole to the real _gent_.» (T. T. T. 216. 2.) _The same._ A common vulgar corruption of _gentleman_; esp. _the old gent_. gone on »That he was regular _gone on_ her anyone could see with half an eye.» (T. T. T. 128. 5.) _An elderly waiter._ = _in love with_, _fond of_. Originally vulgar, but much used with humorous intent in mid-Victorian middle-class English. Cf. _spoony on_, _mashed on_. Honest Injun »_Honest Injun_—confound those children and their slang—I mean positively.» (They And I. 171. 18.) _The author._ The term is originally an _Americanism_ = »_Honest Indian_»—a kind of mock oath, with some allusion to the supposed unusualness of honesty among the Indians. hump, humpy »_I’ve got the hump_ to-night.» (P. Kelver II. 166. 27.) _A business man, former Whitechapel butcher._ »Harris said it would be _humpy_.» (Three Men In A Boat 8. 4.) »He criticised it as the _humpiest_ funeral he had ever known.» (Tommy And Co. 74. 4.) _An undertaker._ »That ain’t the sort of thing to be _humpy_ about.» (T. T. T. 156. 20.) _A waiter._ A person, who is disagreeable or in low spirits may be presumed to go with his shoulders _humped_. Thence we have probably got the term _humpy_ = despondent, hurt, put out[7], or of things: dull, miserable. _To get (to have) the humps_ is probably a later formation and means about the same: to be despondent, to feel melancholy. It is rather common now-a-days in vulgar > coll. language. look »Joe sits down and stares at the old gent, and the old gent _looks him back_.» (T. T. T. 174. 15.) _A waiter._ = gives him a look back. The missis, the missus. »Just as you or me would swear at _the missus_.» (T. T. T. 128. 15.) _A waiter._ »He came to be pretty friendly with _my missus_ later on.» (T. T. T. 216. 8.) _The same._ »_My missis_ kept up a sort of friendship with her.» (T. T. T. 221. 20.) _The same._ »_My missis_ never see you till just this minute.» (Three Men In A Boat 81. 26.) _Uneducated countryman._ »She has come for _the Missus’_ night things.» (Miss Hobbs 19. 4.) _A groom._ »_Missus_ will be out to-morrow.» (Miss Hobbs 21. 30.) _A servant girl._ The usual expression for »my wife» among the working class; also used by servants in speaking of their mistress (vocative _ma’am_, _mum_), and frequently adopted with humorous intent by the ‘better’ classes. »The missus» is especially used to imply—with serio-comic resignation that the wife usually has her own way in the end. »The missus», »my missis» in quotations 1-4 means »my wife». rantan »A quite rational person: _When not on the rantan._» (They And I. 258. 9.) _A schoolgirl._