Author: Bob Hinton
Monday, 23 September 2002 - 05:32 am |        |
Dear Everyone,
One thing that always helps in interpeting documents etc is a knowledge of the type of speech used at the time. For example a future researcher reading the word 'gay' in a pre war document would be unwise to interpret it using a late 20th century meaning.
To kick off here are some words and phrases that were in use at the time:
D's or Dees Detectives
Coppers Policemen - from the old Anglo
Saxon word 'cop' meaning to grab
or to hold, restrain.
Flats Uniformed Policemen
drag three months imprisonment
snaps handcuffs
cracks burlgaries
bass bag (carrying)
'using garden
stuff' giving information to the police.
Bob Hinton |
Author: Graham Jay
Monday, 23 September 2002 - 11:41 am | |
| I always thought "copper" came from the French word "cappere" ie to capture. |
Author: Bob Hinton
Monday, 23 September 2002 - 03:01 pm | |
Dear Graham,
Dont forget there is a great similarity between Anglo Saxon French and German words, so both words probably had a generic ancestor.
Bob |
Author: Leanne Perry
Tuesday, 24 September 2002 - 03:27 am | |
G'day,
I believe I found some more '19th Century British Slang' words:
"ABBES" - Female brothel keeper.
"BARKERS" - Guns.
"BLAG" - To steal.
"CRUSHER" - A Policeman.
"PIG" - Policeman.
"CASH CARRIER" - A pimp.
"CRIB" - A gaol (jail).
"DEUCE HOG" - 2 shillings.
"DIPPER" - Pickpocket.
"FINE WIRER" - A skilled pickpocket.
"FLIMP" - A snatch pickpocket.
"HAMMERING FOR LIFE" - Married.
"HAYBAG" - A woman.
"JUDY" - A Prostitute.
"LADYBIRD" - A prostitute.
"TAIL" - Prostitute.
"KINGSMAN" A black handkerchief.
"DOLLYMOP" - A prostitute.
Correct me if I'm wrong!
Leanne! |
Author: LeatherApron
Tuesday, 24 September 2002 - 06:54 pm | |
Hahahaaaaa! These are great. Cheers to Bob and Leanne 
Reminds me of a Middle Ages skit on The Benny Hill Show about a jousting tournament between the Black Knight and the Crusher...
"Those tournaments are all fixed. I saw the same one last week in Leicester. First the Knight sticks his pike up the Crusher's queer-ass, doesn't he? Then the Crusher kicks him in the cog-piece." |
Author: Timsta
Tuesday, 24 September 2002 - 07:17 pm | |
Hi all.
Arthur Morrison's "A Child of the Jago" - apart from being what I consider required reading for any Ripperologist - has a "Glossary of Slang and Criminal Terms" in the back of it. Here's a few:
Benjamin: coat
Boat, in the: sentenced to penal servitude
Broads: playing cards
Chancery, in: in an awkward situation
Clock, red: gold watch
Daisies: boots (rhyming slang - daisy roots)
Dipper: pick-pocket
Fag: pick-pocket
Flimp: to rob
Gonoph: thief, esp. skilled pick-pocket
Hook: pick-pocket
Kicksies: trousers
Lob-crawling: till-robbing
Lucky, to cut one's: to make a getaway
Mazzard: head, face
Milling: boxing
Nobby: smart, stylish
Peter: box, bag, trunk
Pogue: purse
Prop: tie-pin, brooch
Rorty: dashing, lively
Slang: watch chain
Smug: to arrest
Snide: counterfeit
Stramash: rough-and-tumble
Toke: bread
Toy: watch
Toy getter: watch stealer
Twirl: skeleton key:
Uxter: money
Yannups: money
Regards
Timsta |
Author: LeatherApron
Thursday, 26 September 2002 - 01:17 pm | |
Timsta,
"Fag" was slang for pickpocket? (no rude comments folks) 
What is "till-robbing"?
Cheers.
Regards,
Jack |
Author: Timsta
Thursday, 26 September 2002 - 02:59 pm | |
Jack:
"Fag" in modern British usage is slang for "cigarette" (often trips up my English friends and family). I don't know when this latter usage became current.
"Till-robbing" is, to the best of my knowledge, stealing from cash registers.
Regards
Timsta |
Author: Warwick Parminter
Thursday, 26 September 2002 - 06:21 pm | |
| Timsta, cigarettes during the first world war were known as fags. I've always called them fags, but I think todays generation would be more inclined to call them cigs. Rick |
Author: Leanne Perry
Friday, 27 September 2002 - 09:17 am | |
G'day everyone,
If someone calls a man a "FAG!!" here in Australia, it's an insult to his sexual preferences!!!
LEANNE! |
Author: Jim Leen
Friday, 27 September 2002 - 10:50 am | |
Hello Everybody,
Fags were also, and possibly still are, boarding school first formers adopted and generally bullied about by older boys.
The nuances of English can be quite embarrassing. It is often said that Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language. But regional complications can also arise.
In London I once went into a shop in Kings Cross and, in posh Glasgow patios, asked for a guide book. I was dispatched to a top shelf bearing magazines of musclebound men with titles such as "Big Boy Weekly," and "Moustaches and Abs". Oh how the shopkeep and I laughed when it was ascertained I wanted a guide book and not a gay book.
Thanking you.
Jim Leen |
Author: Monty
Friday, 27 September 2002 - 12:45 pm | |
Leanne,
Sssssh...I am having a fag !!
Monty
 |
Author: Michael Raney
Friday, 04 October 2002 - 04:27 pm | |
Monty, is he cute?
Mikey |
Author: Monty
Saturday, 05 October 2002 - 07:52 am | |
Mikey from Boyzone,
A week late that !!
Whats your job...aaaahhh, that would explain it !
Monty, who loves you too, but only in the brotherly way you understand !
|
Author: Saucy Jacky
Monday, 25 November 2002 - 11:41 am | |
| I for one use 19th century slang in my everyday speech. Now if I could only figure out why they call me eccentric... |
Author: Neil K. MacMillan
Saturday, 01 February 2003 - 08:34 pm | |
| Being a "Colonial" (American) might I respectfully submit that the word "Gonoph' in the post above by Timsta should be spelled "Goniff" and is a Yiddish word meaning thief. The misspelling may have, however been prevalent in 1888. All in all though, an interesting lesson in the slang of the time. kindest regards, Neil |
Author: chris scott
Sunday, 02 February 2003 - 06:26 pm | |
Hi all
Interesting thread - one of the reference books I have (and use a fair bit) is the "Dictionary of the Underworld" by Eric Partridge which I think is pretty hard to get hold of now. If you have any slang (especially criminal slang) that is puzzling you, post it here and I'll see if it's mentioned
Regards
Chris S |
Author: Monty
Monday, 03 February 2003 - 11:22 am | |
Mikey,
I just seen your piccy on your profile.
Do you get alot of static around your way ?
Monty
|
Author: Michael Raney
Monday, 03 February 2003 - 11:59 am | |
LOL.......actually, that pic was one taken to be used in the Lobby when I was doing a play last year. Law Enforcement is my second career. I have very flexible hours so I can perform at night. Personally, I like my hair "spikey" and so does my partner.
Love ya,
Mikey |
