»Well, you know what I mean. What is the proper word? Give it me.» »I suppose you mean ‘cant’», I suggested. »No, I don’t. Cant is something that you don’t believe in yourself. It’s ‘_Tommy rot_’; there isn’t any other word.» The young lady who makes the above remark is quite right. There are many words in the English language that say _about_ the same, but there is not a single word in the ‘normal’, literary language, that tells us exactly what she wants to get said; not another word forming a concise expression of her thought, and giving us at the same time a clue to her character. Quite naturally, modern literature has made ample use of this »vulgar» language, and, at the same time, the philologists have striven to investigate its resources. Thus, France possesses about half a dozen _Dictionnaires d’Argot_, and the English-speaking world has at its disposal about the same number of modern _Slang_ and _Cant Dictionaries_. Linguistic studies and essays treating this subject are as yet rather few, but no doubt they will appear in greater number in the future. No other literature has been influenced by this language to such an extent as the English. In Great Britain, there have been no _Academy_, no »_salons littéraires_», fettering and regulating the literary language. Being allowed to develop itself in perfect liberty, it has gathered its method of expression from different ranges of language and society. Ever since the days of Shakespeare, English authors have made ample use of the easy every-day language of the lower classes; and, from the beginning of the 15th century, a rich, independent literature of slang and vulgar tongue has been developing[1]. Modern English realists have attained a real virtuosity in rendering with almost photographic, or rather phonographic, accuracy the talk of different classes and individuals. It may be truly said that it is impossible to acquire a thorough knowledge of English without being familiar with slang and vulgarism. Whoever is uninitiated into this special language will be at a loss to understand many of the masterpieces of English literature. Nay, without any knowledge of it, he will scarcely be able even to understand an English paper.