Friday, June 09, 2006

The vulgar tongue.

From Project Gutenberg we have a slang dictionary from 1811. Along with many terms that still exist today, we find lovely phrases no longer in use. Delightful examples abound.

BANG UP: Quite the thing, hellish fine. Well done. Compleat. Dashing. In a handsome stile. "The swell's rattler and prads are bang up prime." (The gentleman sports an elegant carriage and fine horses.)

BREASTS: bubbies, heavers, kettledrums, bushel bubby, cat-heads, chicken-breasted, dairy, diddeys, dugs.

ROUND MOUTH: The fundament. "Brother round mouth, speaks. (He has let a fart.)

TESTICLES: ballocks, bawbles, nutmegs, tallywags, thingumbobs, twiddle-diddles, whirlygigs.

WHORE: star gazer. (my favorite of many)

Apparently you can buy this book from Amazon for $34.95 if you don't want to download it for free (it's long past any copyright issues).

1 comment:

Trundling Grunt said...

The star gazer is a good one. I rather like

CRIBBAGE-FACED. Marked with the small pox, the pits bearing a kind of resemblance to the holes in a cribbage-board.

Very visual!