»Perhaps you’d get through your _Little-go_ in the course of the next few
years.» (They And I. 7. 21.)
_Conversation between a young lady and her brother, who is a
student._
At _Cambridge_, _Little-go_ is the common name for the public examination
which candidates for an »ordinary degree» have to pass in the second year
of residence.
Cf. _Great-go_: the final examination for the B. A.
nurse
»I had been ‘_nursing_’ her, as we say in the political world, for
years.» (The Prude’s Progress 67. 20.)
_A young author._
_Political slang_: used of a candidate for Parliament who seeks to
ingratiate himself with the electors by paying them attentions and giving
them things they like with a view to securing their votes when the
election takes place. Here used of trying to prepare a young lady’s mind
to accept a proposal of marriage when the moment comes to make it.
pater, mater
»I say to myself I’ll do a thing, but _the mater_ talks and talks,
and——.» (Sketches 41. 12.)
_A young gentleman._
»I promised _the Mater_ I would, and I did.» (Sketches 80. 30.)
_The same._
»_The Mater_ gave me half-a-crown a week for pocket-money.» (Sketches 81.
9.)
_The same._
»_The pater_ came to the conclusion that it was time he laid down a dog.»
(Novel Notes 48. 18.)
_The same._
The commonest familiar names for the parents on the lips of the average
public schoolboy.
plough
«You have been _ploughed_ then?» (Prude’s Progress).
_Schoolboy slang_ for _to be rejected in an examination_.
Cf. the synonymous _to be plucked_ and _to be spun_.
ratty
»Against one such [a portraiture to the living original], evidently
an attempt to help Dick see himself in his true colours, I find this
marginal note in pencil: ‘Better not’. _Might make him ratty._» (They And
I. 258. 1.)
_A schoolgirl._
The expression is, I think, _schoolboy slang_ for _waxy_, _annoyed_.
(Cf. Swed. «gnafven».)
shoot
»They’re all of ’em in the parlour, the whole blooming _shoot_.» (P.
Kelver II. 66. 2.)
_Uneducated young man._
_Carters’ slang_ for _mob_, _medley_, _rabble_, _miscellaneous horde_.
The exact meaning is probably: the whole mass of them as «_shot_» in
one indiscriminate «_shoot_» from a tipping-cart or waggon into a place
marked «Rubbish may be shot here» (afstjälpningsplats).
(Cf. Swed.: «hela skoffan».)
slack, swot
»To ‘_slack_’ in this term, with the full determination of ‘_swotting_’
in the next.» (Tommy And Co. 94. 14.)
_The author._
To _sweat_ or _swot_ is _schoolboy slang_ for _drudge_, _study hard_. _To
slack_ means the contrary.
The term «_swot_» originated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in
the broad Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one of the Professors, of
the word _sweat_.
Cf. »He used to despise _a swot_, as we used to call a lad with a taste
for literature». (PERCY WHITE: Mr. Bailey-Martin. I.) »That’s the worst
of clever little _swots_» (RUDYARD KIPLING, Stalky & Co.)
spin
»You have been ploughed then?»
»Oh, come, you mustn’t despair. You’ve only been »_spun_», as you
fellows call it, for a few months.» (The Prude’s Progr. 52. 15. 35.)
_To be spun_: to be rejected in an examination = _to be plucked_ and _to
be ploughed_.
BAUMANN and FARMER-HENLEY call it military slang (Royal Military
Academy), but here it occurs during a conversation between two medical
students and their civil friends.
swag
»His ‘_swag_’ generally consists of an overcoat and a pair of boots.»
(Novel Notes 176. 15.)
_The author._
»A policeman found them afterwards, sitting on a doorstep, the ‘_swag_’
behind them in a carpet bag.» (Sketches 147. 22.)
_A gentleman._
_Thieves’ slang_ for _booty_, _stolen things_; not used outside thieves’
language—except, of course, as a conscious quotation.