Ramblings and webcomics from LeEMS
Resurrection pie – a pie made of scraps or leavings (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland) For Example: Spaghetti Pie: 1. mix left over spaghetti and sauce with additional mozzarella cheese and an egg; 2. You can also add spinach and additional meat if you like or put it in a pie shell; 3.… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day
“I’ve gotta wrinkle that’ll turn your Friday face to a giggle-mug” What was that now? WRINKLE: an idea, or fancy: an additional piece of knowledge which is supposed to be made by a wrinkle a posteriori (Cab Calloway’s Hepster’s Dictionary) FRIDAY-FACE. A dismal countenance. Before, and even long after the Reformation, Friday was a… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day
“I was out to get a sinker for nooning and some Big Six shambles in front of me without so much as a mind the grease. I was all glimflashy! But, I didn’t want to go waking snakes so I cheesed it before starting a bobbery.” What was that now? Sinker – a doughnut (… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day
“When I get my fams on the cunning shaver who left me with this fakement, I’ll annoint him with the oil of gladness.” OR: ‘When I get my hands on the cheat who left me with this forgery, I will beat him to a pulp.’ Let’s break it down: FAMS: Hands. Famble cheats; rings or… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day
“His mother’s loll, the lollpoop, lolloped.” Let’s dissect: LOLL: Mother’s loll; a favourite child, the mother’s darling, LOLLPOOP: A lazy, idle drone… TO LOLLOP: To lean with one’s elbows on a table. -all from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
“I’ll collar a vertical care-grinder come Saint Geoffrey’s Day.” Let’s dissect: collar (v) to get, to obtain, to comprehend. Ex. “I gotta collar me some food”, “Do you collar this jive?” (Cab Calloway’s Cat-ologue 1939) Vertical Care-Grinder: a slang term for the treadmill (The slang dictionary: or, the vulgar words, street phrases and fast expressions of high… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day
“The swell was flash, so I could not draw his fogle.” Let’s dissect: Swell: gentleman (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose) Flash: Knowing. Understanding another’s meaning. (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland) Draw his fogle: pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief. (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland) In other… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day
“I set about kittle pitchering any tom long with a circumbendibus chestnut as soon as I see ’em.” Let’s dissect: KITTLE PITCHERING. A jocular method of hobbling or bothering a troublesome teller of long stories: this is done by contradicting some very immaterial circumstance at the beginning of the narration, the objections to which being… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s word of the day
Seeing it was mizzling, the lallycooler inkslinger decided to stay in and have resurrection pie for his nooning. Let’s dissect: Mizzling – drizzling rain (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland) Lallycooler – one who is pre-eminently successful in his line (daisy, dandy, darling, lullu) (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland) Inkslinger – a… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s word of the day
“He’s real blowed-in-the-glass, you’d never smoke he’d go caterwauling and end up in monkey and parrot time.” Let’s dissect: Blowed-in-the-glass: a genuine, trustworthy individual (Wikipedia: Hobo Expressions used through 1940s) Monkey and parrot time: a lady left her favorite bird in company with a monkey and during her absence the two animals had a… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s word of the day
“I wanted to have a butcher’s so I took a Dublin packet and slapdash, a bracket-faced seven sided animal gave me a dub o’ th’ hick.” Let’s dissect: butchers: Cockney slang meaning look. Cockney slang, or rhyming slang, was most prevalent in the East End of London. It consists of replacing a word with the… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s word of the day
Introducing Clement Skitt’s word of the day. You may recognize Clement from Levi Levi and the Time Machine. He and his sister have since peeped into many different times and Clement has developed a healthy fascination with outdated slang. Today’s slang: SEVEN-SIDED ANIMAL: a one-eyed man or woman, described as such because each has a… Continue reading Clement Skitt’s word of the day
It has been a little while since Clement Skitt showed up on the bean, but you may have gleaned from Clement Skitt’s word of the day that I have a bit of an affinity for vintage slang. I gave that affinity a place to live by making it a love of Clement Skitt, a comic… Continue reading Slang at the Internet Archive
There’s something about Clement Skitt that you probably don’t know because he hasn’t shown evidence of it yet: he is obsessed with slang. And, since he time travels wherever he wants, he’s picked up some pretty obscure and outdated vocabulary. Writing a character like this means I’ve returned to one of my favorite childhood pastimes… Continue reading Dictionary tidbits
I may have been uhtceare this morning, but it didn’t become dysania. Perhaps it may have been if I was also grufeling. There are apropos words to bring back and Buzzfeed can tell you all about it: 19 Long-Lost Historical Words You Absolutely Need In Your Life