Category: Random Posts

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

Calibogus

A slightly strange name for a drink, this word is defined by the dictionary as a “rum and spruce beer, an American beverage”. The word dates to the seventeenth century and it usually also contains molasses and it was also common in parts of Canada, where it was known as Callibogus.

For anyone who wants to make it, and I don’t think that I’ll be rushing out to get the ingredients (and where on earth would I get Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur or spruce beer from anyway?), here’s a recipe from https://kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/calibogus-smugglers-cove.

1 1⁄4 oz Añejo rum (blend of column and pot still)
3⁄4 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur
3⁄4 oz Molasses syrup
1⁄4 oz Lime juice
1 dr Spruce Beer (extract)
3 oz Seltzer water

I wouldn’t say that the words are much used, but they haven’t gone out of usage entirely.

As for how the word evolved, none of the three dictionaries I looked at had any idea at all……

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

Calves Head Club

I’m not sure this is much of a definition as it’s more of an historic tale, but the dictionary notes this is “a club instituted by the Independents and Presbyterians, to commemorate the decapitation of King Charles I. Their chief fare was calves heads; and they drank their wine and ale out of calves skulls”.

The club allegedly met every 30 January, the date of the execution of the King, becoming something of a Bullingdon Club arrangement. This kept going until 1734, when they went too far at an event at the Golden Eagle pub, on Suffolk Street in London, with an account reporting:

“Thursday in the evening a disorder of a very particular nature happened in Suffolk-street: ’Tis said that several young gentlemen of distinction having met at a house there, call’d themselves the Calf’s-Head Club; and about seven o’clock a bonfire being lit up before the door, just when it was in the height, they brought a calf’s-head to the window dress’d in a napkin-cap, and after some Huzza’s, threw it into the fire: The mob were entertained with strong-beer, and for some time halloo’d as well as the best; but taking a disgust at some healths which were proposed, grew so outrageous, that they broke all the windows, forc’d themselves into the house, and would probably have pull’d it down, had not the Guards been sent for to prevent further mischief. The damage done within and without the house, is computed at some hundred pounds. The Guards were posted all night in the street, for the security of the neighbourhood.”

A little too raucous for me.

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

Cagg Maggs

Defined by the dictionary as “Old Lincolnshire geese, which having been plucked ten or twelve years, are sent up to London to feast the cockneys”. There’s not much to add to this precisely worded definition, but I like the slight north-south divide being hinted at here, send the old and scraggy meat down to London rather than keep it up north…. That assumes that Lincolnshire is in the north, which is perhaps pushing it though.

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

Buzman

The dictionary defines this as a criminal’s word for a pickpocket. The interesting element about this is that some people think that this is the origin of the phrase “busman’s holiday”, which dates back to at least the 1880s. It would be that the pickpocket was always working even when they’re on holiday, such would be the nature of their ‘trade’. I’m not sure that this is the actual origin, but I do prefer this version.

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

Butter Box

This phrase is defined by the dictionary as “a Dutchman, from the great quantity of butter eaten by the people of that country”. I’m not quite sure if this is offensive or not, but I guess there could be worse, although I don’t think I’ll use the phrase the next time that I’m in the Netherlands. It was certainly initially meant to be offensive, it dates to the mid-seventeenth century when sailors used it in a derogatory manner during the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

It has also been suggested that the phrase derives from when the Dutch flag looked like this, which was in the seventeenth century, as apparently it looks like a butter box. I must admit, it doesn’t look at all like a butter box to me, so I’m going with the Dutch people binge eating butter.

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

Bundling

There’s quite a long definition for this in the dictionary, which is:

“A man and woman sleeping in the same bed, he with his small clothes, and she with her petticoats on; an expedient practised in America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such an occasion, husbands and parents frequently permitted travellers to bundle with their wives and daughters. This custom is now abolished. See Duke of Rochefoucalt’s Travels in America”.

Theodore Zeldin wrote about this in An Intimate History Of Humanity, noting that it was actually a more common practice than the dictionary suggested, as it was practised in England, Wales, the Netherlands (where it was known as kweesten) and even Afghanistan. There’s a Wikipedia page on the subject, and a book entitled Little Known Facts about Bundling in the New World was published in the United States.

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

Bull Beggar or Bully Beggar

This is defined by the dictionary as “an imaginary being with which children are threatened by servants and nurses, like raw head and bloody bones”. Being a child in the late eighteenth century does sound a little bit of a nightmare….. The phrase is still in occasional use today and there’s a pub in North Carolina called the “Bull and Beggar”. It dates all the way back to at least the fifteenth century and it might derive from Wales and the old Welsh word ‘bwbach’ which is a scarecrow or goblin.

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

Bulk and File

Defined by the dictionary as “two pickpockets; the bulk jostles the party to be robbed, and the file does the business”, a reminder of how long distraction robbery has gone on for. The phrase was being used as early as the seventeenth century and its origins are unclear. The bulk likely means the ‘main part’, in the same way that a bulky person could push someone around. The word ‘bulk-monger’ also dates from this period, meaning a prostitute who converses with pickpockets.

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

Buffle-Headed

Well, that’s day 50 of this virus thing reached, and I haven’t yet got bored of these words from the dictionary, although I’m surprised that I’m still on the letter B. Anyway, this is one of my favourite phrases so far, the dictionary defines it as “confused or stupid”, so I feel that I can get this into conversation a lot. The word ‘buffle’ used to be an alternate word for buffalo (it’s still the French word), but it also means “to be puzzled”. I can’t find any dictionary link this to the word ‘baffle’, but it’s hard to see that it isn’t linked, given that it means the same.

There’s not much use of the word buffle-headed today, with the exception of it being used in reference to a bird. The Bufflehead is a small sea duck, and it takes its name as its head looks like a buffalo. Well, I don’t think its head looks anything like a bloody buffalo, but that’s what the OED says. Sadly, it’s now an archaic term, but any word that means “dull, stupid or blundering” should be brought back into use, as we don’t have enough words for that.