Canticon

David Langford · 01 Jul 1997, 12:39 · from whorl-v0006.mbox · original

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From: ansible at cix.compulink.co.uk (David Langford)
Subject: Re: (whorl) Canticon
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 97 12:39 BST-1
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[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

In-Reply-To: <199707010049.RAA29891 at lists1.best.com>

Mantis wrote:

> Talon compiled a list of cant terms
> used in THE BOOK OF THE LONG SUN and I'm still working my way through
> it using the OED, which so far has nearly all of them.  But I'm
> always happy to take up an offer for help, so here's a few I haven't
> been able to find in the OED:

Here's some stuff from Eric Partridge's =3DA Dictionary of Historical=20
Slang=3D (abridged 1972), with addenda from =3D1811 Dictionary of the Vulga=
r=20
Tongue: A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket=20
Eloquence=3D or [1811] for short ... the latter was reprinted and=20
extensively remaindered in the 1970s and 80s.
=20
> Abram
A malingerer: C.19-20 nautical; ob. 2, As adj., c.: mad, C.16-17, C.17-18=20
... // abram, v. To feign sickness: ?ca 1840-90 ... // Abra(ha)m-cove or=20
-man. A pseudo-madman seeking alms; a genuine lunatic allowed on certain=20
days to leave Bethlehem Hospital ... ca 1550-1700. 2. Also, in late=20
C.18-19, a mendicant pretending to be an old naval rating cast on the=20
streets. // [1811] gives "naked" as primary meaning -- also allowed by=20
Partridge -- and agrees on Abram Men, pretended mad men.

> iron (you're for ~)
[1811] Money in general. To polish the king's iron with one's eyebrows;=20
to look out of grated or prison windows ... Iron doublet; a prison.

> kate ["lockpick"]
A master or skeleton key: c. of late C.17-mid-19. cf JENNY; JIMMY: esp.=20
BETTY. 2. Hence, a picklock: C18-mid-19. 3. (Also katy, Katy.) A wanton:=20
(mainly Scots) coll: C.16-early 19. // [1811] agrees: A picklock (cant).

> larger ["more importantly"]
large, adj. gen. used as adv. Excessively: (low) coll: from ca 1850.=20
Thus, dress large, i.e. showily; go large, i.e. noisily; play large, i.e.=20
for high stakes; i.e. boastfully. cf. FINE AND LARGE.

> nanny nipper
nanny. A whore: late C.17-C-19: coll. Ex Nanny, the female name. Mostly=20
in combination: see, e.g., NANNY-HOUSE. // nipper. A thief, esp. a=20
cut-purse or a pickpocket: c.: ca. 1580-1830. // nipper, v. To catch; to=20
arrest: ca. 1820-1850. // [1811] confirms: Nanny House. A brothel. //=20
Nip. A cheat. Bung nipper; a cutpurse.


By the way, no one on this learned list will have missed the upfront joke=20
that Tick the catachrest speaks in catachresis ... but is there an echo=20
there, too, of another communicative pet in James H. Schmitz's well-loved=20
sf story "Novice" (incorporated into =3DThe Universe Against Her=3D, 1964):=
 a=20
"crest cat" called Tick-Tock?

Dave


David Langford
ansible at cix.co.uk

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