shocking slang

I stumbled across an article written in 1915, entitled A Modern Language.  The writer was astonished and amused by the language used by a brother and sister at a family weekend camp.  He described it as ‘weirdly strange’.

 Here is the sample he provided:

‘Hello, where’s Muth?  Gonner get cossy.’

‘Goin’ in? What’s the surf like?’

‘It’s blith. Bosker big curlers. You had your tea?’

‘No chance. What yer got here? Steak- a de oyst?’

‘I don’t think.  Steak-a de un (onions)’.

 I do like steak-a de oyst and steak-a de un.   This joke at the expense of the Italians with their imperfect grasp of English seems to have been common in the 1920s. The response ‘I don’t think’ seems quite modern. Our kind of modern.

 It seems that in 1915 it was cool to say ‘Meet me corner King and George’ instead of ‘Meet me at the corner of King and George’.  The writer finds this bordering on a shocking use of the English language.

 He comments on the use of contractions such as Muth for Mother, and this arter for this afternoon, and cossy for costume.  His theory is that this is a trick learned from Italian fishmongers, which is interesting. 

 While he notes that ‘purists will stare and gasp’ when confronted by such slang, he admits to rather liking it himself, and then launches into a defence of the ability of the English language to adapt itself to every corner of the world and every social level to reflect the nature of the different communities. It makes for variety and individuality.  He goes a little bit too far in claiming that only the English can do this.  The French all speak the same.   Hmm.

 I am going to use this in talks as a good example of the power of slang to shock an older generation.