{"id":5872,"date":"2015-03-23T08:22:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T12:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=5872"},"modified":"2015-03-20T15:08:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-20T19:08:42","slug":"dictionary-tidbits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/03\/23\/dictionary-tidbits\/","title":{"rendered":"Dictionary tidbits"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s something about Clement Skitt<\/a> that you probably don’t know because he hasn’t shown evidence of it yet: he is obsessed with slang.\u00a0 And, since he time travels wherever he wants, he’s picked up some pretty obscure and outdated vocabulary.\u00a0 Writing a character like this means I’ve returned to one of my favorite childhood pastimes of reading dictionaries.\u00a0 It’s amazing to find slang from the 1800s that is common usage today and also to see how it evolves over time.\u00a0 For instance, in 1811 England ‘games’ were “thin, ill-shaped legs:\u00a0 a corruption of the French word jambes”\u00a0 (Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue) by the 1920’s, ‘gams’ were simply ‘women’s legs.’<\/p>\n

Another thing you might get from reading the dictionary is historical tidbits.\u00a0 Like this from\u00a0 the 1891 American Slang Dictionary<\/a> by James Maitland:<\/p>\n

\"Danites\"<\/p>\n

Silly me, I knew the Mormons had faced opposition in a few of the states they attempted to set up shop, but I didn’t know about the killing.\u00a0 In addition to above, the Danites<\/a>, were not approved of by Joseph Smith, Mormon founder, but may have evolved from the militia he created known as the “Armies of Israel.”\u00a0 They were most active during the Missouri Mormon War of 1838<\/a>.\u00a0 Seems they had a war in just about every state they tried to settle:\u00a0 See the Utah War<\/a> and the ‘lesser known’ Illinois Mormon War.<\/a>\u00a0 Though the Danites are thought to have ended after the Missouri Mormon War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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he is obsessed with slang.\u00a0 And, since he time travels wherever he wants, he’s picked up some pretty obscure and outdated vocabulary.\u00a0 Writing a character like this means I’ve returned to one of my favorite childhood pastimes… Continue reading Dictionary tidbits<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[199,123],"class_list":["post-5872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-history","tag-research"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10258,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2022\/08\/31\/slang-at-the-internet-archive\/","url_meta":{"origin":5872,"position":0},"title":"Slang at the Internet Archive","author":"leems","date":"August 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5844,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/08\/28\/clement-skitts-word-of-the-day-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":5872,"position":1},"title":"Clement Skitt’s word of the day","author":"leems","date":"August 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ClementSkitt010a","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ClementSkitt010a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7569,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2019\/03\/30\/clement-skitts-word-of-the-day-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":5872,"position":2},"title":"Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day","author":"leems","date":"March 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"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.\u00a0 I was all glimflashy!\u00a0 But, I didn't want to go waking snakes so I cheesed it before starting a bobbery.\" What was that now?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"clementskitt069","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ClementSkitt069-248x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5839,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/04\/08\/clement-skitts-word-of-the-day-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5872,"position":3},"title":"Clement Skitt’s word of the day","author":"leems","date":"April 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\"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:\u00a0 Cockney slang meaning look.\u00a0 Cockney slang, or rhyming slang, was most prevalent in the East End of London.\u00a0 It consists of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ClementSkitt010b","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ClementSkitt010b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6416,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/05\/04\/clement-skitts-word-of-the-day-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":5872,"position":4},"title":"Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day","author":"leems","date":"May 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"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.\u00a0\u00a0 (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland) Draw his fogle: pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief.\u00a0 (1891 American Slang Dictionary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ClementSkittsays005","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/ClementSkittsays005-527x600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6414,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/10\/06\/clement-skitts-word-of-the-day-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":5872,"position":5},"title":"Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day","author":"leems","date":"October 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"I'll collar a vertical care-grinder come Saint Geoffrey's Day.\" Let's dissect: collar (v)\u00a0to get, to obtain, to comprehend. Ex. \"I gotta collar me some food\", \"Do you collar this jive?\" (Cab Calloway's\u00a0Cat-ologue 1939) Vertical Care-Grinder: a slang term for the treadmill (The slang dictionary: or, the vulgar words, street phrases\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ClementSkittsays006","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/ClementSkittsays006-517x600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5872"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5889,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5872\/revisions\/5889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}