Category: Books

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Hedge

This term, which is now a multi-trillion industry in the form of hedge funds, was defined by the dictionary as “to make a hedge; to secure a bet, or wager, laid on one side, by taking the odds on the other, so that, let what will happen, a certain gain secured, or hedged in, by the person who takes this precaution; who is then said to be on velvet”.

The word hedge is from the old English ‘hegg’, similar to the Dutch word ‘heg’ and the German word ‘hecke’, with the financial version just meaning to be on both sides of a hedge.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Hangman’s Wages

Another cheery definition from Grose’s dictionary, this is explained as “thirteen pence halfpenny; which, according to the vulgar tradition, was this allotted: one shilling for the executioners, and three halfpence for the rope, – NB this refers to former times; the hangmen of the present day having, like other artificers, raised their prices. The true state of this matter is, that a Scottish mark was the fee allowed for an execution, and the value of that piece was settled by a proclamation of James I at thirteen pence halfpenny”.

Being an executioner was not an ideal job during the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, when this dictionary was published. There were many people capable of performing the execution, but it wasn’t a job role which was held in respect and was sometimes performed by prisoners hoping that their own sentences might be commuted. Things were to change though and, although referring to the mid-Victorian period, the comprehensive Capital Punishment web-site mentions:

“The post of hangman became much sought after in the mid 19th century and remained so until capital punishment was abolished in 1964 with large numbers, including women, applying for each vacancy. When William Calcraft retired, the post of hangman for London and Middlesex ceased to be a salaried position. His successors were paid a fee for each execution they carried out and these fees remained static at £10 for the hangman and 3 guineas for the assistant from the 1880’s to the late 1940’s, when the hangman’s remuneration was increased to £15. The cost of rail travel was also reimbursed. The fees were paid half at the time and the balance two weeks later. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that most of those who held the post of executioner did it not for financial gain but for other, more personal reasons.”

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Half Seas Over

A short definition from the dictionary, this phrase simply means “almost drunk”. It’s perhaps a similar derivative to the word ‘sloshed’, but might just be a matter of being half-way towards a destination and so there’s less of a nautical theme. The phrase was used from around the sixteenth century, but declined in the nineteenth century and is now pretty archaic.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Grimalkin

This is defined by the dictionary as “a cat: mawkin signifies a hare in Scotland”. A ‘grimalkin’, or ‘greymalkin’, is an archaic word for a cat and this sounds a much more appropriate word for the animal. The ‘malkin’ bit of the word was used in a derogatory manner to describe an uncultured woman and it’s also where the name Matilda came from. The Grimalkin was used to describe cats and old women, being a reasonably common word in the nineteenth century before going out of usage.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Gotch-Gutted

I felt the need to mention this word in the dictionary as there is a Norfolk link and it’s defined as “pot bellied: a gotch in Norfolk signifying a pitcher, or large round jug”. A gotch jug was once often used for carrying beer or water, usually having two handles. This photo shows visually how it was used to denote someone who was pot-bellied, it’s quite a poetic phrase.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Goose Riding

As a prior warning, this is completely horrific and thank goodness that this is in the distant past. The dictionary defines it as “a goose, who neck is greased, being suspended by the legs to a cord tied to two trees or high posts, a number of men on horseback, riding full speed, attempt to pull off the head: which if they effect, the goose is their prize. This has been practised in Derbyshire within the memory of persons now living”.

Although the dictionary mentions Derbyshire, this was a tradition in numerous parts of Europe and more humane versions are still practised today. Better known as goose pulling, it’s thought that it originated in twelfth-century Spain before being spread further afield. The practice had pretty much died out in England by the later part of the eighteenth century, but it was spread to the United States where it persisted until the later part of the nineteenth century.

The practice did though carry on into the twentieth century in the Netherlands, although live birds were substituted for dead birds by the 1920s. It is in only in the last couple of years that the use of dead birds is now also thought to be inappropriate, so non-animal replacements are used.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Gold Droppers

There’s a relatively long definition for this phrase, a reminder that confidence tricks have been taking place for centuries. The dictionary notes “sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey”.

This phrase, or a version of it, dates back to the mid-seventeenth century and this particular terminology for the technique lingered on until the late nineteenth century. Although the phrase might have fallen out of usage, the confidence trick is still performed today on the unwary.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…. And I’ve now caught up after getting behind last weekend when on a camping expedition.

Gog and Magog

The dictionary defines this as “two giants, whose effigies stand on each side of the clock on Guildhall, London; of whom there is a tradition, that, when they hear the clock strike one, on the first of April, they will walk down from their places”. I’m relying on Wikipedia to tell me that “in Ezekiel 38, Gog is an individual and Magog is his land; in Genesis 10 Magog is a man, but no Gog is mentioned; and centuries later Jewish tradition changed Ezekiel’s ‘Gog from Magog’ into ‘Gog and Magog’”.

There were carved depictions of Gog and Magog at London’s Guildhall from the medieval period, with the legend saying that they were originally giants who were chained by Brutus to the gates of the building. The carvings were unfortunately destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666, but replacements were installed in 1708, designed by Captain Richard Saunders. It is these that Grose refers to in his dictionary, but, sadly, these too were destroyed when fire damaged the building in the 1940s during the Blitz. New replacements were installed in 1953, carved by David Evans and these remain there today, but have yet to walk down from their places.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Gluepot

This is quite a charming word, defined by the dictionary as “a parson: from joining men and women together in matrimony”. The word wasn’t in usage much, from the late eighteenth-century into the mid-nineteenth century. What I prefer though is that in the United States, and some other countries, this same word evolved in the twentieth-century to mean a pub. The logic here was that it’s a place that people would want to get stuck in. Now, I very much like that and I will do what I can to use this in reference to my favourite pubs…..

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Gilly Gaupus

This phrase is defined by the dictionary as “a Scotch term for a tall awkward fellow” and it’s also spelled as one word, so gillygaupus. As Grose notes, this was mostly a Scottish term of insult, with the Gilly just emphasising the ‘gaupus’ or ‘gawpus’ section, which in itself means someone vacant or not quite with it. I can’t unfortunately add much to this definition, the phrase was so rarely used it doesn’t come up on Google Ngram, but it has a certain ring to it…