_A waiter._
_I don’t care a curse_ = I don’t care in the slightest degree. (Ich frage
keinen Pfifferling danach; Je m’en fiche comme d’une guigne.)
The equivalent _I don’t care a hang_ is rather colloquial.
_Some euphemisms for_ damn, damned
»Why, _bless_ us, where’s your eyes.» (Three Men In A Boat 171. 13.)
_A lockkeeper._
»What’s the difference _blessed if_ I can see.» (Three Men In A Boat 201.
5.)
_An old woman of the lower classes._
»Though I’d been sitting in the shop the whole _blessed_ time.» (Tommy
And Co. 55. 20.)
_The same._
»An afternoon! _Bless_ the man, I want them for a month.» (The Prude’s
Progress 19. 6.)
_A jovial ex-actress._
»_Blowed_ if I don’t think they’ll be a chirpier lot in t’other place.»
(Sketches 201. 25.)
_Uncultivated Londoner._
»_Blow_ me if it ain’t me as ’as been cheated out of the fourpence.»
(Sketches 128. 6.)
_An omnibus conductor._
»_Blow me tight_ if ’ere ain’t a gentleman been looking for Wallingford
lock.» (Three Men In A Boat 115. 4.)
_A provincial »Arry»._
»_Blimy_ if I don’t believe ’e’s taking ’ome ’is washing up his back.»
(The Passing 10. 11.)
_Uncultivated young woman._
»Oh, _drat_ the man!» (Three Men In A Boat 233. 28.)
_A young lady._
»_Drat_ the boy!» (The Prude’s Progress 48. 4.)
_An elderly lady._
»I don’t see the _darned_ good of this part of the trick.» (Woodb. Farm
24. 30.)
_Young peasant girl._
»I always see his face when I look on the _darned_ things.» (Woodb. Farm
25. 38.)
_The same._
»The _blarmed_ tent is not up yet.» (Three Men In A Boat 19. 15.)
»That _blasted_ dog of yours.» (Novel Notes 52. 15.)
_A burglar._
»No, _dash it_, I can’t think of that line.» (Three Men In A Boat 92. 16.)
»_Danged_ if I see so much fun in it.» (Woodb. Farm. 57. 40.)
_Young peasant._
»The dog ought to know a _durned_ sight more about them.» (Novel Notes
152. 26.)
_A sailor._
All these expressions are, of course, vulgar, but not equally so.
_Darn_ and, to a less extent, _bless_ are euphemisms in common use in
polite circles. _Blow_ is a little coarser, but still usable by a lady
in quite private life. _Blast_ (Cockney _brast_) is a distinctly profane
word, generally implying ill-temper. _Drat_ is the usual word in the
language of the domestic servant. _Blime_ or _blimey_ (= blind me!) as
well as _blarmed_ (probably a corruption of _blamed_) is distinctly
vulgar. _Dang_ (esp. dang it!) is a mild form of _damn_; might be used
even by a clergyman.
the dismals
»I used to get _the fair dismals_ watching it.» (T. T. T. 129. 21.)
_A waiter._
= _to feel wretched, dejected._
The phrase is doubly vulgar: »fair» to express »complete», as in »a
fair (regular) swindle», »a fair old brute», »a fair knock out» (a fair
fight); »dismals»—adjective turned into a plural noun to express a state
of mind.
Cf. _rheumatics_ (rheumatism); _to have (to get) the blues_ = to feel
melancholy.
doorstep
»_Slices of bread and butter_—»_doorsteps_», as we used to call them.»
(T. T. T. 126. 14.)
_A waiter._
»_Door-steps_» at two a penny.» (Sketches 55. 5.)
_The author._
= _a thick slice of bread and butter._
fair
»I thought it only right to give it (the bicycle) a fair trial.»—»You
gave your family a _fair trial_ also; if you will allow me the use of
_slang_.» (Three Men On The Bummel. 47. 10.)
_A cultivated young man._
= _regular_, _real_, _thorough-going_.
Cf. a fair swindle, a fair old brute, a fair devil, etc.
fake
A ’alf-brother, who’s always got to be spry with some _fake_ about ’is
lineage. (T. T. T. 138. 22.)
_Uneducated Londoner._
»I ain’t the talent for the Don Juan _fake_.» (T. T. T. 143. 13.)
_The same._
_Fake_ (originally thieves’ cant?) is a proceeding or an affair of any
kind irrespective of morals or legality. In America: _a swindler_. As
verb: to do anything, to fabricate, cheat, steal, forge, etc.—a general
verb-of-all-work. _To fake up_: to paint one’s face, make up a character.
The etymology is very doubtful. Some authors have associated the word
with _feage_ (whiff away), derived perhaps from the German _fegen_. This
seems, however, to be rather a questionable construction.
fizzing
»Go to your lamented master, the _fizzing_ count.» (Woodb. Farm 55. 9.)
_A young farmer._
= _excellent_, _ripping_, _crack_.
fly
»I did help a chap to sell papers once: he said I was _fly_ at it.»
(Tommy And Co. 36. 22.)
_A London brat of the working class._
»I don’t take ’er on while I’m myself. I’m too jolly _fly_.» (Novel Notes
212. 20.)
_Uneducated young man._
= _knowing_, _cute_.
(Cf. DICKENS, _Bleak House_: »Do what I want, and I will pay you
well»—»I’m _fly_».)
In the 16th and 17th centuries it was held that familiar spirits, in
the guise of flies, fleas, etc., attended on witches, who for a price
professed to dispose of the Power for evil thus imparted. Thence a _fly_
meant _a familiar_ (spiritus familiaris). That is, I presume, the origin
of the above expression.
funk
»I’m in _a blue funk_ that one of these days she will oversleep herself.»
(They And I. 194. 6.)
_A student._
= _to be anxious, nervous about something_.
(_funk_: a state of fear; generally with an intensifying word, e. g. a
bloody, mortal, or blue funk.)