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Civil War/Old West slang
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Nick1986 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Civil War/Old West slang
    Posted: 19-May-2011 at 10:10
The type of things old-timers like Gabby Hayes and Denver Pyle said in the movies were, at one time, in widespread use in the Old West. Here are a few useful phrases should you ever take a trip to Westworld

"Dagnabbit", "Consarn it", "Dadburnit": Euphemisms for Godammit
"Greybacks:" Confederate soldiers or lice
"Band-box soldiers:" The regular army (in their white gaiters, polished brass and blackened boots)
"Dogrobber:" Sutler
"Brain tablet:" Cigarette (cowboys believed smoking increased their intelligence)
"Crusher," "Flatfoot": Policeman
"Hooker": Prostitute (after General Hooker, a known womaniser)
"Limey": Englishman (the Royal Navy gave each sailor lime juice to prevent scurvy)
"Dutchman": Foreigner (usually a German)
"Gallows-fruit": The rotting corpses of hanged criminals
"Lead poisoning": Death by gunshot
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red clay View Drop Down
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Posts: 10226 		  Quote red clay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-May-2011 at 10:43
Slang can be a study all it's own.  The vernacular changes much faster and more dramatically than formal languge.  It's almost a record of changes within a relatively small anount of time.
 
                              
                               George F Hayes, aka "Gabby"
But Ol Gabby would have said "Diddly Dadburn it".  Big smile
"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
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Posts: 10226 		  Quote red clay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-May-2011 at 10:48
Slang can also become formalised as a language itself.  Nick, try looking up "Jive talking".
"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-May-2011 at 09:53
Fit to be tied - angry
Sheet iron - Army biscuits
Scaffold poles - French fries
Pard - Friend
Bully - Terrific
Arkansas toothpick - Bowie knife
Chicken guts - Officer's gold braid
Sardine boxes - Epaulettes
Grit - Courage
Contraband - Escaped slave
Old Horse - Salted beef
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Posts: 10226 		  Quote red clay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-May-2011 at 11:33
 Cab Calloway's Jive Dictionary-
 
 
 
 
"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30-May-2011 at 20:20
Interesting link Red. I may be wrong, but i'm sure accordions were referred to as squeeze boxes in a Sherlock Holmes story
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Posts: 4620 		  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-May-2011 at 14:31
I actually seem to remember Gabby Hayes actually say "dag nabbit!"

"thanks for the memories" (Bob Hope!)

Hard-Tac(k)! Ration bisquits!

W. C. Fields could not say "God-damn" in his movies so he said instead, "Godfrey Daniels!" LOL



Edited by opuslola - 31-May-2011 at 14:36
http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-May-2011 at 14:39
Squaw - Indian woman (from an obscene Native word for her reproductive organs)
Duckslicker - Oilskin coat
Here's your mule - Taunt intended to insult the cavalry
Wooden overcoat - Coffin
Yellow - Cowardly
Give him Jesse - To beat someone up
Copperhead - A Northerner who supports the south, a traitor
Buttermilk rangers - Cavalry troopers (because they supposedly pillaged civilian homesteads)
Floating coffin - Ironclad warship
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Posts: 4620 		  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-May-2011 at 14:52
Here is one that is rare;

A "Galvanized Yankee!"

I will give one Confederate dollar to the first person who can answer the above?

http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/
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Posts: 4620 		  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-May-2011 at 14:54
Now without looking, if one of you found this site;

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mscivilw/rowland/jdrowland.htm

Then you found one of my relatives!
http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-May-2011 at 19:59
Durn tootin' - Absolutly
Muleskinner - Sutler
Firewater - Whisky
Dead men - Empty bottles or bullets
Street Arab - Homeless orphan known for thievery
Wide Awakes - Republican activists who participated in torchlit processions
Jackrolling - Getting a man drunk then robbing him
Pepperbox - Four-barreled Sharps pocket pistol
Goober peas - Peanuts
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01-Jun-2011 at 19:29
Originally posted by opuslola

Here is one that is rare;

A "Galvanized Yankee!"

I will give one Confederate dollar to the first person who can answer the above?


I know what it is but will give someone else the chance to answer
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-Jun-2011 at 19:32
Greenbacks - US dollars
Necktie party - Public hanging
Texas tuxedo - Denim shirt and pants
Stirabout - A type of porridge made from army biscuits and water
Shitkickers - Boots worn by farmers (who would walk through cow dung)
Wetback - Highly offensive term for a Mexican (because immigrants swam across the Rio Grande)
Bread basket - Stomach
Skedaddle - Run away
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Jun-2011 at 19:38
Chitlins - Deep fried pig guts popular in the south before KFC was invented
Mighty - very
Bite the bullet - endure (soldiers would sometimes bite into lead bullets when undergoing amputation)
Jackanape - rogue
Ornery - Mean, cantankerous, evil-smelling
Lucifers - matches
Road agent - robber
Yellow dog - staff officer

Edited by Nick1986 - 16-Jun-2011 at 19:38
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jul-2011 at 20:18
It's chitlin' time!
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jul-2011 at 20:44
Ron, you owe me a Confederate dollar. A galvanised Yankee is a Southerner who fights for the north (usually a prisoner who agrees to change sides)
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jul-2011 at 20:29
Ace - The best
Seeing the elephant - Going into battle
French leave - Desertion, running away
Old soak - Drunkard
Deadbeat - Bum
Chuck-wagon - Mobile kitchen
Ho-down - Party
Pow-wow - Meeting (originally of Indians)
Dickens - Devil
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01-Aug-2011 at 19:27
High Lonesome - Drunk
Mullet-head - Stupid
Big Fifty - .50 Sharps cartridge
Caboose - Jail
Chiseller - Swindler
Goner - Dead
Bender - Drunk
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Aug-2011 at 21:52
Headcheese - A meat jelly made from the head and feet of pigs
Fresh Fish - New recruit
Sand - Courage
Horse Sense - Good judgement
Prairie Oysters - Deep fried bovine balls
Boneyard - Cemetery
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Aug-2011 at 14:23
Tennessee Quickstep - Bowel movement
Dude - City boy
Quack - Fraudster impersonating a doctor or healer
Spick - Mexican (because they couldn't "spick engleesh")
Beef - Kill
Fork out - Pay
Pig Sticker - Bayonet
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