Writing Blog Number 2

20240428 Some Nineteenth Century Slang

Some Nineteenth Century Slang

More trivia!

So… you want to write a story set in Victorian times (the era based on the reign of Queen Victoria of England, not the Australian state or Canadian island) or a little earlier, but are having problems getting the dialogue sounding authentic, and not just a Simpsons approximation of said language.

As such, here’s a couple of lists of words to help spice up your 1876 romance story between the lady of the manor and the groundskeeper (though maybe Lady Chatterley’s Lover got there first)…

Let’s start with British (or originally British) words or phrases:
bags o' mystery: sausages
balderdash: spoken nonsense
barking at a knot: a waste of time (think “flogging a dead horse”)
blazes: an expletive, related to “hell"
bow wow mutton bad tasting meat (nautical expression that was also found in port towns)
butter upon bacon: something that is extremely extravagant
chuckaboo: someone who is a good friend.
church bell: a woman who talks constantly and loudly and never stops
cop a mouse: get a black eye
dollymop: a woman who dabbled (only dabbled) in prostitution
dratted: equivalent of saying “damn” nowadays
fly rink: a bald head
foozler: someone who tends to mess things up, or is so clumsy things get damaged.
gigglemug: a person who always has a smile on their face.
grinning at the daisy roots: died and been buried
half rats: tipsy, slightly drunk
kill the canary: take a day off by pretending to be sick
mutton shunter: a police officer, equivalent of the modern “pig”
poked up feeling embarrassed
rain napper: umbrella
sauce box: person’s mouth
sell a dog: tell a lie
some pumpkins: if something was some pumpkins, it was quite impressive
strumpet’ a prostitute, or someone who dressed/ acted like a prostitute
take the egg: win (a prize or an argument)
tarnation equivalent of modern "damnation" as an expletive
up the pole: so drunk you need a pole to keep you upright
whooperup: a person who sings loudly even though they do not have a good singing voice
wooden spoon: a stupid person

And now let’s look at US words and phrases:
absquatulate: take leave, disappear (a person)
acknowledge the corn: confess, especially confess to a lie
afeared: scared
boodle: a crowd of people.
bully: well done (by early 20th, used sarcastically)
chirk: cheerful
conniption: tantrum
coot: idiot
doggery: cheap drinking establishment, equivalent to a “dive”
guttersnipe: homeless child who lived on the streets
hornswoggle: cheat (usually a verb, sometimes a noun)
mosey: move slowly and/or lazily
mudsill: a member of the working class; in some areas, an uneducated person
Philadelphia lawyer: a person believed by everyone to be almost inhumanly intelligent
picayune: something small or frivolous
pony up: pay a debt
ramstuginous: rambunctious
ride out on a rail: force to leave town
tuckered out: exhausted
vamoose: leave quickly
wake snakes: raise a ruckus

And there we go, a quick-fire 50 slang terms from the Victorian era (and before). Now, many of the British ones did find their way across the pond, but very few went the other way. But if you are setting a story in this time frame, maybe some of these words could help you.