American Language Supplement 2 (146 page)
Read American Language Supplement 2 Online
Authors: H.L. Mencken
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Apple-knocker. A club used to loosen fruit from the boughs; also, a fast apple-picker.
Dope. Any, spray used in an orchard.
Drops, or ground stuff. Fallen apples.
Facers. The apples packed at the top of the box.
Goose walk. An over-abundance of packers applying for work.
Marbles. Extremely small apples.
Skyscraper. A tree which requires an extra long ladder.
Sting. An apple with wormholes.
Push. The boss.
Worm-chaser. An inspector.
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Bird seed. Dotting or hatching on plans.
Calque,
v
. To make a tracing.
3
Cheater. A reducing glass.
Garbage. Ornamentation.
Nigger,
v
. To fill in details of a design.
Pencil-pusher. A draftsman.
Pig. A brush used to sweep off drawings.
Sky-hooks. Plans showing insufficient structural support.
Slip-sticks. A slide rule.
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Bottomer. One who places the hulls of pies in plates before baking.
Cracker-breaker. One who knocks off individual crackers from the long strips in which they are baked.
Dumper, shaker, or hot-stuff man. One who removes pies, etc., from pans.
Pan-catcher. One who stacks empty pie pans.
Pie-washer. One who paints pies with a fluid designed to give them a golden-brown color when baked.
Pinner, or sticker. One who impales cookies on the pins of a wire rack preparatory to dipping them in icing.
Pretzel-twister. One who fashions thin strips of dough into the form of pretzels.
Sandwich girl. A girl who spreads filling between the two halves of double-deck crackers or cookies.
Acre-and-a-half. A fat-faced man.
Barbed-wire, or squirrel. A tough beard.
Bath. A shampoo.
Box. An angular, craggy-faced man.
Dragger. A non-tipping customer.
Gopher. A man who has not had a haircut in a long time.
Hob, or hook. A razor.
Jista. A customer who asks for a shave only.
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Mop. A lather brush; also, a heavy head of hair.
Panther-water, or squaw-water. Hair tonic.
Scratcher. An electric head-rubbing apparatus.
Steamer. A hot towel.
Tear,
v
. To cut or nick.
Workhouse. A barber-shop.
2
Barman. A euphemistic term for bartender.
3
Cage. A service bar.
Comb. The scraper used to remove suds from a freshly-drawn glass of beer.
Cop’s bottle. A bottle of the cheapest whiskey.
Fast house. A bar where most of the trade is in mixed drinks.
Flat. A very small beer.
Fruit salad. An old-fashioned cocktail.
Gas-drinker. A drinker of ginger-ale.
Germ-killer. Benedictine and brandy.
Headache, or auctioneer. A garrulous customer.
Landlord. A steady customer.
Light. An honest glass without a false bottom.
Mickey Finn. A drink containing a quick purgative, given to a drunk to get rid of him.
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Pop-skull. An empty whiskey glass.
Sham. A glass with a false bottom.
Shell. A small beer-glass.
Squirt-gun. A seltzer siphon.
Stick. The handle of a beer spigot.
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Trance. A customer far gone in liquor.
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Apple, cantaloupe, onion, potato, or tomato. The ball.
Aspirin, or pea. A ball pitched so fast that the batter can barely see it.
Banana stalk. A bat of inferior wood.
Barker, or yodeler. A coacher.
Bean ball, duster, or Gillette. A ball thrown at a player’s head.
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Biff,
v
. To bat a ball hard.
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Bleachers. The uncovered seats at a ball park.
3
Blind Tom, guesser, Jesse James, robber, empire, or His Honor. An umpire.
Blue darter, or clothesliner. A low, hard liner.
4
Bunt. A hit made with an almost motionless bat, causing the ball to fall between home-plate and pitcher’s box.
5
Can o’corn. A fly that is easy to catch.
Charley horse. Muscular soreness in a player’s leg.
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Chucker, fogger, fooler, or tosser. A pitcher.
Cigar-box, or flea-box. A very small ball-park.
Clinker, boat, or kick. An error.
Collar, or horse-collar. A time at bat without a hit.
County fair, Fancy Dan, or show-boat. A show-off.
Cup of coffee. A brief try-out in the big leagues.
Cushion, hassock, or pillow. A base.
Deer. A fast runner.
Dick Smith, or loner. An unsociable player.
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Dipsy-doo. A slow tantalizing curve.
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Fan. An enthusiast.
3
Fireplug. A short, stocky player.
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Fireworks. A batting rally.
Fungo. A ball batted in practise; also, the bat used in batting such balls.
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Glass arm. A sore throwing or pitching arm.
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Grazer, gardener, or pasture-man. An outfielder.
Gun, wing, or soup-bone. A pitcher’s arm.
High pockets. A very tall player.
Hind snatcher, or backstop. A catcher.
Hot corner. Third base.
Jockey. A player who bedevils (rides) an opposing player (usually a pitcher) or team.
Jug, jug-handle, hook, mackerel, fish, number two, or snake. A curve.
Lamb, or cousin. A pitcher easy to hit.
Leather player. A good fielder who can’t hit.
Lumber, bludgeon, shillelah, or willow. A bat.
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Maggot. A club owner.
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Manicurist. A ground-keeper.
Muff. To fumble a ball and so miss a play.
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Papier mache, or pretty. A player who is easily hurt.
Pay-station. The home plate.
Peg. A throw.
1
Pool-table. A smooth infield.
Rhubarb. An altercation on the field.
2
Rooter. An enthusiastic supporter of a team.
3
Rubber, or platter. The home plate.
Seventh-inning stretch. The interval after the first half of the seventh inning.
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Shotgun, or slingshot. A strong throwing arm.
5
Shut-out. A game in which one side fails to score.
6
Southpaw, side-wheeler, cockeye, corkscrew-arm, or twirly-thumb. A left-handed pitcher.
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Strawberry. An abrasion caused by sliding for a base.
Teacher, or skipper. A manager.
Texas Leaguer, nubber, blooper, sinker, banjo, bleeder, stinker, pooper, punker, plunker, drooper, humpie, humpback, or squib. A pop fly which nevertheless takes the batter to first base.
Walk. A base on balls.
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Wolves. Hostile spectators.
Wood player. A good hitter who can’t field.
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Bag, or bitch. An elderly fat woman.
Blizzard. A customer who is always in a hurry.
Clinic. A beauty-parlor.
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Cocktail. A light facial which freshens the customer for the evening.
Coffee. A mud-pack.
Cosmetology. The care of the skin.
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Crepy. Wrinkled.
Daisy. A freckle.
Decision. A woman who has her hair dyed.
Dowager’s hump. A deposit of fat at the back of the neck.
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Fire-drill. A henna rinse.
Hair-do. A style of dressing the hair.
4
Hamburger. A “food” cream.
Hand-out. A shampoo.
Harvest. A plucking of the eyebrows.
Hitch-hike. A finger wave.
Joe. A customer who does not tip.
Kitty. Tips.
Meat-grinder. A constant talker.
Pan-handler. A beauty-shop girl.
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Perm. A permanent wave.
Pickle. A customer with a forbidding face.
Queen Elizabeth. A haughty customer.
Rainbow. An eye-shadow of a color to harmonize with the complexion.
Retouch,
v
. To dye or bleach hair.
Santa Claus. A customer who appears only at long intervals.
Scratch. An appointment-book.
Screech. A complaining customer.
Skunk bob. Dyed gray hair.
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Smear. A bleaching lotion.
Spaniel. A woman who wears her hair in a long bob, suggesting a spaniel’s ears.
Sponge. A customer willing to try all the treatments and lotions suggested.
Springtime. An old woman who yearns to be young again, and beautiful.
Tint,
v
. To dye.
Whiskers. Artificial eyelashes.
White henna. A bleach.
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Guck. The gilt stamping on a book.
Interior decorator. A dealer who specializes in sets.
Kangaroo. A shoplifter with capacious pockets.
Looker, or reader. One who haunts bookshops, but never buys.
Plug. A good book that no one wants.
Point. A feature which distinguishes the first issue from other issues of a book.
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Ausbrenner. A device for burning old pitch off the inner surface of kegs before applying a new coat.
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Beer-schiessen. Beer-time for the workers.
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Beer-shooter. The man or boy who dispenses beer to the workers at set times.
Bull-work. Heavy labor.
Cooperage. Draft beer containers, whether of wood or metal.
High-kraeusen. A heavy formation of foam on the fermenting beer.
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Kaiser’s geburtstag, or saltag. Pay day.
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Kuehlschift. A cooling tank.
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Lauter-tub. A clarifying vat.
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Ruh-cellar. A cellar where maturing beer is stored.
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Schlaucher. A workman who rinses empty vats with a hose.
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Totsäfer. A customer’s man.
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Barber, boot, or cobbler.
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A poor bricklayer.
Belly-whacker. One who lays bricks out of plumb.
Blade. A trowel.
Bull-header. A brick laid on edge.
Fly-blow. One who goes from job to job, borrowing money.
Hog. A difference in the number of courses of bricks in opposite corners to a given height.
Hopping-board. A scaffold.
Monkey. A hod; also, a hodcarrier.
Monkeyshines. Fancy brick work.
Mud. A call for mortar or cement; also, mortar that is too thick.
Slime, or soup. Inferior mortar.
Soldier. Brick laid on its head, as over a window.
Toother. A brick which projects from the end of a wall against which another will be built.
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Ball-rubber. A worker who seeks to ingratiate himself with the foreman.
Barn-paint. Catsup.
Chef. The man who runs the cooker.
Corn-snitcher. One who cuts bad places out of the ears before they are washed.
Eagle. The owner of a factory.
Eagle Eye. A Federal Pure Food inspector.
Grease-gun. One who oils the machinery.
Gummer. A label machine operator.
Kidney cleaner. Asparagus.
Peeler. One who shucks corn.
Pop-valve. An excitable foreman.
Puffer. A swelled can.
Sewer-trout. Pink salmon.
Snoop. A timekeeper.
Stuffer. A canning-machine operator.
Tail lights. Stuffed olives.
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Bone. Hard wood.
Bread and butter. A kit of tools.
Bullstaller. A poor carpenter.
Cellar. A small contractor’s shop.
Cheese. Soft wood.
Coffee-grinder. A breast drill.
Floor-logger. A floor-layer.
Freeze,
v
. To glue two pieces of wood together.
George Washington. A hatchet.
Ice cream, or scap. Overtime.
King’s eye. A level.
Knocker, or knocking iron. A hammer or hand ax.
Mutt. A water-carrier.
Nail-eater. A lather.
Peg. A nail.
Riding the air. Working high up.
Scuffing. Rough planing.
Slicer. A rip saw.
Sword. A saw.
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Toothpick. A 12 × 12 inch beam.
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Animal. A bull.
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Bite the dust,
v
. To be thrown from a horse; to die.
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Bronco, or bronc. An unbroken or half-broken horse.
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Bronc-peeler, or buster. A horse-breaker.
Buckaroo, cowhand, cowpoke, puncher, screw, rawhide, or waddie. A cowboy.
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Bull-dogger. One who leaps on, wrestles with and throws young steers.
Button. An apprentice cowboy.
Chaps. Leather leggins, hip high.
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Chili, or yellow-belly. A Mexican.
Chouse,
v
. To drive cattle roughly.
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Coil, string, flingline, whaleline, twine, or gutline. A lasso, or lariat.
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Corral. A pen for animals.
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Deacon. A young calf.
Dogie. A scrubby calf or other animal.
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Dude, or tenderfoot. A newcomer unaccustomed to ranch and range life.
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Fork,
v
. To straddle a horse.
Goosehair. A pillow.
Guteater, or bow-and-arrow. An Indian.
Hackamore. A halter made of rope or rawhide.
Hot roll. A cowboy’s bedding and other belongings.
Justins. Boots.
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Kack. A saddle.
Lamb licker, mutton puncher, or sheep-puncher. A sheepherder.
Leppy. A motherless calf.
Levis. Overalls.
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Loco. Crazy.
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Maverick. An unbranded stray animal.
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Mosshorn. An old steer; also, an old cowboy.
Nester, sod-buster, or soddie. A small farmer or stockman, usually suspected of stealing cattle.
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Pants rat, or seam squirrel. A louse.
Phildoodle. An imitation cowboy.
Powders. Orders from the boss.
Presidente. A ranch-owner.
Pull leather, or grab the apple,
v
. To hold on to the saddle horn with the hands while riding a bucking horse.
Rodeo. A round-up of cattle; also, a show staged by cowboys.
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Sidewinder. A rattlesnake.
Sougan. A quilt or comforter.
Squaw side. The right side of a horse.
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Stetson, or John B. The cowboy’s large hat.
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Stinker. A general term of contempt.
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Wishbook. A mail-order catalogue.
Wrangling. Rounding up, catching, saddling and riding range horses.
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