Tag: Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

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…

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….

Gill

The dictionary defines this as “the abbreviation of Gillian, figuratively used for woman. Every jack has his gill; ie every jack has his gillian, or female mate”. The phrase of ‘every jack has his gill’ was used by Shakespeare and so is at least from the sixteenth century. It’s also where the nursery rhyme comes from, which was initially:

“Jack and Gill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down
And broke his crown,
And Gill came tumbling after.”

The changing of Gill into Jill came later, probably around the middle of the nineteenth century. The word ‘gill’ is also used to describe a female ferret, but quite why this name was chosen I’m not sure is known, perhaps it just fits in with Jack quite well.

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….

Garret Election

This was an event very much of its time, popular in the middle of the eighteenth century, but falling out of favour by the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was defined by the dictionary as:

“A ludicrous ceremony, practiced every new parliament: it consists of a mock election of two members to represent the borough of Garret (a few straggling cottages, near Wandsworth, in Surry [sic]); the qualification of a voter is, having enjoyed a woman in the open air within that district: the candidates are commonly fellows of low humour, who dress themselves up in a ridiculous manner. As this brings a prodigious concourse of people to Wandsworth, the publicans of that place jointly contribute to the expense, which is sometimes considerable.”

Francis Grose, not for the first time, made a spelling error in the dictionary, as it should really be a ‘Garrat election’ as it takes its name from the village of Garrat, in Wandsworth, London. Evidence of this area is still evident in Wandsworth, not least with the Garratt Tavern and Garratt Lane.

The whole thing came about when there was a real election to elect an individual to preside over the town’s small commons area. It seems some people took this a little too seriously, so others decided to mock that process with their own election. This evolved into an election that wasn’t taken at all seriously and was designed to elect an idiot. Perhaps there are modern elections that still do that, but I won’t verge into politics here.

These mock elections caused much merriment and I can imagine the entire disappointment that must have been felt by the serious local politicians in the area. There were numerous candidates for this fake post, in one year there were nine, with various random promises being made to the electors. The Globe newspaper noted that one individual elected was Sir John Dunstan, although the knighthood was fake, who “had at his command a great fund of vulgar wit, and was of an extremely grotesque and peculiar appearance”.

For a while, these elections drew thousands of people out from the centre of London to watch proceedings, which were likely drunken affairs. This is perhaps evident by the fact that inn-keepers paid some of the costs of the event, although the popularity started to wane and later attempts in the 1830s to revive the tradition failed.

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….

Gapeseed

This sounds like a word that has recently been made up, a beautiful term which is defined by the dictionary as “sights; any thing to feed the eye. I am come [sic] abroad for a little gapeseed”. More widely, it’s something which is worth seeing, something of note, or indeed, someone who is looking at such an interesting thing.

The word was first used in the late sixteenth century, combining the two words ‘gape’ and ‘seed’. ‘Gape’ is actually from the Norse word ‘gapa’ meaning a wide opening, and of a similar derivation to the word ‘gap’, which evolved into something like ‘an open-mouthed stare’ and ‘seed’ is from the Germanic word ‘saed’ meaning to sow.

It is though another word seemingly lost to the English language, now fallen out of usage.