»_Honest Injun_—confound those children and their slang—I mean
positively.» (They And I. 171. 18.)
_The author._
The term is originally an _Americanism_ = »_Honest Indian_»—a kind of
mock oath, with some allusion to the supposed unusualness of honesty
among the Indians.
hump, humpy
»_I’ve got the hump_ to-night.» (P. Kelver II. 166. 27.)
_A business man, former Whitechapel butcher._
»Harris said it would be _humpy_.» (Three Men In A Boat 8. 4.)
»He criticised it as the _humpiest_ funeral he had ever known.» (Tommy
And Co. 74. 4.)
_An undertaker._
»That ain’t the sort of thing to be _humpy_ about.» (T. T. T. 156. 20.)
_A waiter._
A person, who is disagreeable or in low spirits may be presumed to go
with his shoulders _humped_. Thence we have probably got the term _humpy_
= despondent, hurt, put out[7], or of things: dull, miserable. _To
get (to have) the humps_ is probably a later formation and means about
the same: to be despondent, to feel melancholy. It is rather common
now-a-days in vulgar > coll. language.
look
»Joe sits down and stares at the old gent, and the old gent _looks him
back_.» (T. T. T. 174. 15.)
_A waiter._
= gives him a look back.
The missis, the missus.
»Just as you or me would swear at _the missus_.» (T. T. T. 128. 15.)
_A waiter._
»He came to be pretty friendly with _my missus_ later on.» (T. T. T. 216.
8.)
_The same._
»_My missis_ kept up a sort of friendship with her.» (T. T. T. 221. 20.)
_The same._
»_My missis_ never see you till just this minute.» (Three Men In A Boat
81. 26.)
_Uneducated countryman._
»She has come for _the Missus’_ night things.» (Miss Hobbs 19. 4.)
_A groom._
»_Missus_ will be out to-morrow.» (Miss Hobbs 21. 30.)
_A servant girl._
The usual expression for »my wife» among the working class; also used by
servants in speaking of their mistress (vocative _ma’am_, _mum_), and
frequently adopted with humorous intent by the ‘better’ classes. »The
missus» is especially used to imply—with serio-comic resignation that the
wife usually has her own way in the end.
»The missus», »my missis» in quotations 1-4 means »my wife».
rantan
»A quite rational person: _When not on the rantan._» (They And I. 258. 9.)
_A schoolgirl._
_On the rantan_ (or _randan_) means the same as »_on the spree_»—which
does not directly imply tipsiness, but a degree of exhilaration
practically unattainable without considerable indulgence in alcohol.
The expression is probably derived from the verb _rant_: to talk big,
high, to boast much.
Cf. _to go on the rantan_: to go on a round of debauchery.
rocky
»Well, my spelling is a bit _rocky_.» (Tommy And Co. 45. 10.)
_A London brat of the working class._
= _difficult_, _dubious_, _debateable_; more expressive than »shaky».
The term is originally a sort of pothouse slang: _rocky_ = broken by
drink.
same as
»They’ve got their feelings—_same as_ I’ve got mine.» (T. T. T. 145. 7.)
_A waiter._
»Husbands have their troubles _same as_ wives.» (T. T. T. 206. 10.)
_The same._
= _just as_, _in the same way that_.
stone-broke
»Next week we shall be _stone-broke_.» (Miss Hobbs 37. 22.)
_Easy conversation between ladies and gentlemen. The speaker is
a young man._
= _penniless_, _hard up_. Cf. _stoney_ (the same sense).