»_Garn!_ They’d run out of ’eads when they was making you.» (P. Kelver I.
93. 9.)
_A London gutter child._
_Garn_, a corruption of _go on_, is vulgar London language. It is used in
the same way as the French _Va! Allez!_
governor
A man, slouching under the trees, paused as I overtook him.
»You couldn’t oblige me with a light, could you, _guv’nor_?» he said.
(Novel Notes 110. 16.)
_Governor_ stands here as a vulgar mode of address, quite corresponding
to the French _bourgeois_. In Swedish we should say simply: _han_ or
_Herrn_.
In the sense of _father_ or _master_, _employer_ (The governor:
»gubben»), the word is now in everyday colloquial use.
grub
»You give me my _grub_ and a shake-down, and I’ll grumble less than’ most
of ’em». (Tommy and Co. 15. 15.)
_Uneducated Young man._
One of the commonest of the numerous vulgar paraphrases of _food_
(Farmer-Henley’s Dict. of Slang and Coll. Engl. mentions about a score of
them.)
to lam
»The Lord will help us. Hold him fast, and—_Lam into him_». (Novel Notes
163. 9.)
_A tract-distributor._
»She _lammed in tracts at him_ full of the most awful language».
(Sketches 200. 25.)
_Old woman of the working class._
_Lamb_ (vulgarized: _lam_) is sometimes ironically used to indicate
a rough, cruel, or merciless person, and thence specifically applied
to bludgeon men at elections. To this word we must refer, I suppose,
the vulgar verb _to lamb_ or _to lam_ = to beat, to strike frequently.
(Figurally or literally.)
The sense of the two above expressions is:
(1) _go at him_ (figurally);
(2) _she aimed mental blows at him by means of tracts._
let on
»Don’t _let on_ to any of the chaps that I am a member of that blessed
waxwork show». (Novel Notes 203. 20.)
_Uncultivated young man._
_Let on_: vulgar for _confess_, _inform_, _reveal the secret_.
matey
»You must have forgot yourself, _matey_.» (Sketches 193. 20.)
_A workman._
A vulgar diminutive form of _mate_.
mug
»Do you take me for a _mug_?» (Tommy And Co. 46. 20.)
_A London brat of the working class._
He »took to» me, he said, because I was »so jolly green»—»such a rummy
little _mug_.»
_A schoolboy._
»Are you the rich _mug_ Vane’s been representing you to be?» (P. Kelver
II. 224. 28.)
_An actress._
»Keep your _mug_ shut about Oxford.» (Novel Notes 203. 26.)
_Uncultivated young man._
_Mug_ in the first three quotations is a _vulgarism_ and means
_simpleton_, _greenhorn_; in the last, it is another word (_thieves’
cant_) for _mouth_ or _face_.
nab
»The chap who _was nabbed_ at B. last week.» (T. T. T. 163. 7.)
_A waiter._
= _caught_, _arrested_.
Originally _thieves’ cant_. Cf. the Swed. _nappa_: to grasp.
nob
»The _nobs_ should be made to acknowledge it»! (P. Kelver II. 259 7.)
_A businessman, former Whitechapel butcher._
_Nob_, abbreviation of _nobility_, as _mob_ of _mobility_, stands on the
same level as _toff_, both of them meaning _person of distinction_.
office
»I give her _the office_ the next time I see her.» (T. T. T. 144. 3.)
_A waiter._
= _the hint_, _the signal_.
_To give_ or _tip the office_: to give a hint, a private information.
_To take the office_ is to understand and profit by the hint given.
peg out
»The little beggar, at the end of the time mentioned, ‘pegged out’, to
use Jimmy’s word». (Novel Notes 85. 25.)
_Young Londoner of the working class._
= _to die_.
Vulgar synonyms: _to hop off_, _to hop the twig_, _to kick the bucket_.
phiz
»Underneath my sneering _phiz_ I’m a blooming ’Arry.» (Novel Notes 204.
4.)
_Uneducated Londoner._
_Phiz_, probably an abbreviation of _physiognomy_, is a vulgarism for
_face_, _countenance_.
put away
»You don’t often see anybody _put it away_ like that girl did.» (T. T. T.
126. 9.)
_An elderly waiter._
= _to dispose of by eating_.
Compare W. S. Gilbert, Bab Ballads:
»And when, as cads would say,
He had _put it_ all _away_.»
Cf. _stow away_.
to queer a pitch
»Business is business; and I ain’t going _to queer ’er pitch_ for ’er.»
(T. T. T. 137. 7.)
_Uneducated young Londoner._
_To queer a pitch_ is to spoil a chance of business.
_Pitch_ (vulgar) is a place of sale or entertainment. »He had fixed his
_pitch_ outside.» (T. T. T. 124. 10.) Germ. _Stand_, _Bude_.
Cf. _To queer_ = to spoil, to outwit.
_To queer the stifler_: to cheat the hangman; _to queer fate_: to get the
better of the inevitable.
rocky
»She is a bit _rocky_.»—
»A bit rocky?»—
»_Upset_, ma’am, _excited_.» (Miss Hobbs 4. 8.)
_A servant._
In this sense the expression is vulgar, whereas, in the sense of _broken_
(by drink, illness, poverty, etc.) or _difficult_, _dubious_, it may be
considered as verging towards colloquial.
(The term is, of course, derived from the verb _rock_.)
rorty
He entreated me to hold »Smith», the _rorty_ ’Arry, a secret from the
acquaintance of »Smythe», the superior person. (Novel Notes 203. 26.)
_Young Londoner._
The phrase means: _he was an ’Arry out and out_.
_Rorty_ (or _Raughty_) = of the very best.
Cf. _rorty-toff_: an out and out swell; _rorty-dasher_: a fine fellow;
_rorty-boys_: jolly chaps.
The etymology is doubtful; possibly a corruption of _right_ > _righty_?
savey
»When I comes into your shop to order refreshments, I’m boss. _Savey?_»
(T. T. T. 126. 3.)
_Uneducated Londoner._
»Me out of it—everything’s simple. _Savey?_» (T. T. T. 54. 13.)
_The same._
»_Upon my sivvy_, blessed if I see ’ow to do it.» (P. Kelver II. 54. 13.)
_Young London clerk._
_Savey_ (_savvy_) is a common vulgarism for _knowing_, _knowledge_; as
verb: _to know_, _to understand_.
_Do you savey?_ = Do you know, do you understand? _He had plenty of
savey_ = of savoir faire, or savoir vivre.
»_Upon my sivvy_» stands probably for »upon my affy», a common vulgarized
form of »upon my solemn affidavit» (upon my sworn testimony.)
The term is no doubt derived from some Romanic language, perhaps a
corruption of the French _vous savez_ or _savez-vous_.