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Want to brush up on your 1920s slang? Think that English has deteriorated since then? Then read page 1 of The Lima News of March 2, 1922: FLAPPERS GUARDED AGAINST EMERGENCY WITH MAD MONEY (By CARL VICTOR LITTLE) CHICAGO — (United Press) . . .Flapperanto — the dialect of the modern girl — has made English a dead language. . . .English-speaking intruders on the campus of Northwestern or Chicago Universities probably would have this same experience: . . ."Oh," flapperantoed the co-ed, "I lost my mad money." . . ."Lost wh-h-at?" . . ."My mad money. I had it squirreled in my locket." . . ."Meaning which?" . . .After resorting to every mode of expression from Sanscrit to the sign language, it was discovered the 1922 girl always 'squirrels' or hides, a few dollar bills known as "mad" money. Thus the independent need not walk home in case she becomes angry with her escort at a dance. She just takes her mad money, calls a taxi and leaves Apollo flat on the wax. . . .Noah Webster, if he visited Flapperland, could get enough words — synonyms and antonyms included — to compile a $25 dictionary. . . .Abridged edition of flapperanto follows: Button shining — close dancing or achieving the same effect without music. Mugging match — a petting engagement; to spark; to spoon. Necking party — a mugging match. Pash stuff — emotional torridity. Jewelers — flappers who measure college success by the number of fraternity pins they collect. Monogs — taken from the old English 'monogamist,' referring to the male or female student who plays with but one person of the opposite sex. Seraph — girl who likes to be kissed — but not violently. Owl — flapper who cuts classes and is only secn at night at dances and parties — usually wise enough to get high grades in academic work. Swift's premium — clumsy flapper; wall flower; a ham. Feature — to see; eg— "I can't feature him for the darkness"— anon. Punching the bag — act of a man who chats with a girl — and keeps on chatting: gymnasium term perhaps referring to the social finesse of a dumb bell. Holiholy — flapper who won't indulge in mugging match; obsolescent Holaholy — male of a holiholy; obsolete. Dudd — profound student of books—not flappers. Ground gripper — female form of dudd. Baby grand — corn-fed co-ed. Pocket twister — girl who eats, dances and drinks up all of a man's spare change. Struggle — a dance. A pill — professor. G. G.— refers to a man; coded form of the English expression, gullible goof, which speaks for itself — but he doesn't. | ||
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The Ubyssey Issued Weekly by the Publications Board of the University of British Columbia Volume IV March 16, 1922 Number 19
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