_On the rantan_ (or _randan_) means the same as »_on the spree_»—which does not directly imply tipsiness, but a degree of exhilaration practically unattainable without considerable indulgence in alcohol. The expression is probably derived from the verb _rant_: to talk big, high, to boast much. Cf. _to go on the rantan_: to go on a round of debauchery. rocky »Well, my spelling is a bit _rocky_.» (Tommy And Co. 45. 10.) _A London brat of the working class._ = _difficult_, _dubious_, _debateable_; more expressive than »shaky». The term is originally a sort of pothouse slang: _rocky_ = broken by drink. same as »They’ve got their feelings—_same as_ I’ve got mine.» (T. T. T. 145. 7.) _A waiter._ »Husbands have their troubles _same as_ wives.» (T. T. T. 206. 10.) _The same._ = _just as_, _in the same way that_. stone-broke »Next week we shall be _stone-broke_.» (Miss Hobbs 37. 22.) _Easy conversation between ladies and gentlemen. The speaker is a young man._ = _penniless_, _hard up_. Cf. _stoney_ (the same sense). Tommy rot »The wonderful songs that nobody ever sings, the wonderful pictures that nobody ever paints, and all the rest of it. It’s _Tommy rot_!» (P. Kelver II. 208. 14.) _A young lady with a special liking for spirited expressions._ »I’ll make a journalist of you.»— »Don’t talk _rot_.» (Tommy And Co. 36. 12.) _A London brat of the working class._ _Rot_ is the most usual word at present for _rubbish_, _nonsense_; »_rotten_» is still more modern and ‘stylish’. (_Tommy rot_: nonsense, bosh.) toss off »He _tossed off_ at one gulp what remained of the stranger’s Vermouth.» (P. Kelver II. 269. 22.) _The author._ = _to drink at a draught_, _to gulp_. tumble to She said she could never »_tumble to_» the district visiting. (Novel Notes 81. 15.) _An actress._ »I reckoned it the very thing she’d _tumble to_.» (T. T. T. 143. 4.) _Uneducated young man._ The meaning of the above quotations is: (1) she could never _get to care for_ the district visiting; (2) I considered it the very thing she would _accept_, _fall in with_. Another, rather common sense of the expression is: _to understand_. »I’m a copper and I know my book, You can _tumble_ by my saucy look.» (I am a constable and I know the tricks, as you can understand by my saucy look.) (A Street Ballad. 1900.) [Illustration] FOOTNOTES [1] The preface of BAUMANN’s Slang and Cant Vocabulary (_Londonismen_) gives us a good, chronologically arranged catalogue—often with specimens—of the principal representatives of this literature. [2] Such words are: _cad_ (formerly = a person performing menial offices, esp. omnibus conductor; now = an offensive or ill-bred person, irrespective of social position); _pal_; _row_; _chum_, _rum_ (formerly = splendid, magnificent, as in _Rom Vile_: the splendid city, London; now = odd, queer); _cheek_, etc.