HISTORY IN SLANG

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 27, Issue 21, 27 May 1909, Page 837

HISTORY IN SLANG

Even slang phrases may have their uses, for many of them preserve history that otherwise might he forgotten or disputed. Take, for instance, the expression, ' He's a brick/ which had its origin in the reply of a king of Sparta, who, when asked concerning the walls of his city, answered : ' Walls? I have walls that cannot be torn down. I have fifty thousand soldiers, and every one is a brick.' In France, many years ago, there existed a singular method of informing a guest that he was outstaying his welcome. Instead of the hot meats, he was offered a slice of a cold shoulder of mutton; and it was a dull visitor who did not take the hint when the ' cold shoulder ' was tendered. In Puritan times, when the Sunday dinner was always prepared the day before,' there was a man named Hezikiah Morton, who used to bake a long row of apple pies on Saturday, and pin on them various labels which indicated the day each one was to be eaten. From thss eccentric habit we have the expression, ' In apple-pie order.' When you are presented with a complimenary ticket to a lecture or other entertainment, you are what is known as a 'dead-head.' In ancient Pompeii various tokens' were used for admission to the theatre. Those persons who were entitled to enter free had as a check for their admission a little ivory skull, and were called ' dead-heads,' just as they are to-day. We say of anyone who has achieved a triumph, 'Ho has a feather in his cap.' This is a relic of the time when the Hungarians were" at war with the Turks.' For each Turk they killed they were entitled to wear an additional feather in their caps. -