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 Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

Barrow Man

The dictionary defines this as “a man under sentence of transportation; alluding to the convicts at Woolwich, who are principally employed in wheeling barrows full of brick or dirt”. Another dictionary from the period defines this, as well as a wheelbarrow man, as being anyone sentenced to work maintaining the roads. I’m not sure why the definition seems limited to Woolwich, although there were prison ships, or hulks, that were moored there during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, so I imagine it’s that.

The surname Barrowman during the middle of the nineteenth century was nearly entirely limited to London and Essex (with the one exception being the Newcastle area), which might also explain the limited usage of the phrase outside of the capital.

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…..

Barker

The dictionary defines this word as “the shopman of a bow-wow shop, or dealer in second hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth Street, who walks before his master’s door, and deafens every passenger with his cries of ‘clothes, coats or gowns – what d’ye want gemmen? what d’ye buy?”.

The bow-wow shop is, according to the dictionary, a shop where the servant bites and the master barks, an interesting thought….

Monmouth Street in the eighteenth century was known for its clothes shops, later being lost and becoming Shaftesbury Avenue when that street was expanded. In a bid to bring back the name, Great St. Andrew Street was renamed as Monmouth Street in the 1930s.

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…..

Banyan Day

The dictionary defines this as “a sea term for those days on which no meat is allowed to the sailors. The term is borrowed from the Banyans in the East Indies, a cast that eat nothing that had life”. I’ve never heard of this phrase, but it was in common usage in the nineteenth century, and no doubt in the eighteenth century, and was sometimes used not just in naval terms but also for anyone not eating meat on a certain day. And apparently it’s still a phrase used today on ships, but it just refers to a general picnic.

An alternative usage of the phrase developed when sailors referred to meals being a Banyan Day when they were eating leftovers, as there was no meat left. That, in turn, led to the phrase being used to mean straitened times.

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…..

Bantling

The dictionary defines this as a “young child”, a word that it seems is still in usage today to at least a small degree.

The word has steadily fallen out of use over the last century, but it’s quite an affectionate term in many ways, although it hasn’t always been used like that and was sometimes defined more as a brat.

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…..

Bang Up

This phrase is defined by the dictionary as meaning “Quite the thing, hellish fine. Well done. Compleat. Dashing”, which is interesting perhaps as it’s almost the sort of term that could be used today in modern slang. Indeed, there are still references made to “bang up good”, although I’m not sure whether that’s a continuation of the older term or by chance it has been reintroduced. I like the idea that it’s a phrase that has been in use for centuries 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…..

Baker-Kneed

This is a phrase that seems relatively common during the seventeenth and early eighteenth century and it appears frequently in newspapers and books. The dictionary gives the definition as “one whose knees knock together in walking, as if kneading dough”, in what today would I guess more commonly be referred to at knock-kneed. The knock-kneed term seems to date only from the late eighteenth century so this is perhaps when the two phrases switched in common usage.

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…..

Baker’s Dozen

The book defines this as “fourteen, that number of rolls being allowed to the purchasers of a dozen”. This is instantly intriguing because of the fourteen rather than thirteen and usually I’ll tell myself that I need to get out more, but under the current climate, that isn’t happening.

The meaning of the phrase dates back to when bakers were under a legal duty, and wanted to avoid local humiliation of being put in the stocks or worse, to ensure that they sold the right weight of bread. So, it was easier to add something extra to ensure compliance, so when selling in a larger volume to wholesalers they’d put extra bread or rolls in. Buyers of something smaller would usually be given an extra piece of bread as well, along the same principle.

So the thirteen and fourteen are both logical, bakers would put one or two extra loaves in depending on their experience at ensuring that they were compliant. It appears that during the nineteenth century the Baker’s Dozen started to be defined more as thirteen rather than fourteen, perhaps for reasons of economy. But, it’s an interesting evolution of the phrase and how meaning can shift over time.

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…..

Badgers

The dictionary defines this as “a crew of desperate villains who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered”. Used as slang in the criminal fraternity, I can’t imagine that this was ever very common. It’s perhaps something which used to keep communities in fear as the books I’ve looked at suggest that the murder rate was relatively low in the eighteenth century. It’s an intriguing phrase 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…..

Autem

Not particularly a vulgar word, but this word was used between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries as a slang word, and rather informally and negatively, for a church. It’s not known, but the word may have been derived from Yiddish and the phrase ‘autem bawler’ is another word for a parson.

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…..

Avoir du Pois Lay

This is a pretty niche phrase, meaning “the stealing of brass weights off the counter of shops”. It’s so niche, it’s another phrase that must have been incredibly localised, as I can’t find any mention of this term in old newspapers or books, nor any logic to how it evolved. But I like that there’s a specific phrase for it, perhaps there should be one for stealing beer glasses from pubs…..