TIME TRAVEL FOR YOUR TONGUE:
O’Neill’s use of slang in Hughie

O’Neill, “a devoted follower of underworld news,” loved to incorporate gangster speak into his plays, letters and even speech. The following mock-advertisement for a night out on the town incorporates many of the 1910s and '20s colloquialisms of which the playwright was so fond.

What’s eating you? All balled up about what to do tonight? If you’re stuck on some spiffy Shiek or Sheba, you might have the heebie-jeebies. Let me level with you: don’t dress like a rag-a-muffin. Put on the Ritz, get all dolled up in your glad rags and go to a hotsy-totsy joint, where you know that everything is jake. You won’t be taking any wooden nickels if you cough up the dough. So, get a wiggle on and come out for some theatrical whoopee! Jump into your breezer, put a ciggy in your mouth, jack in your wallet, and it’ll be a swell time at the Long Wharf.

Afterwards, if you don’t want your date to be a flat tire, cruise on over to a keen gin mill for your favorite giggle water. Just don’t get too zozzled on bootleg hooch because you wouldn’t wanna upchuck, or worse, be on the lam from the bull.

But that’s enough of an earful from me. As long as you’re on the up and up, you’ll end up looking like the cat’s meow, and you won’t have any beef as you and your baby cash with your kissers, all goofy for each other.

The timeline below traces the origins of the jargon Eugene O’Neill uses in Hughie:

1812: CROAKED - The slang for "croak," meaning "to die" was first recorded in 1812. The term "croak" comes from the Old English "cracian" which means "make a sharp noise, as from the sound of death rattle." A "death rattle" is a sound produced by a person immediately proceeding death, resulting from the passage of air through the mucus in the throat.

In Hughie: "The poor guy croaked last week. His funeral was what started me off on a bat."

1815: SAP - The term "sap," meaning "simpleton," first emerged around 1815. It comes from the word "sapwood," the soft gooey wood between the inner bark and the hard wood. In the 1920s, it was used synonymously with "sucker."

In Hughie: "Because he was a sucker, see - the kind of sap you'd take to the cleaners a million times and he'd never wise up he was took."

1825: CLAM SHUT - As early as the beginning of the 19th century, the word "clam" was used to mean "mouth" or "lips." The first instance of "keeping one's clam shut" occurs in an 1825 record.

In Hughie: " And when they're all bad, there's always bucks to pick up for little errands I ain't talkin' about, which they give a guy who can keep his clam shut. . . . "

1831: SUCKER - The first use of "sucker," meaning "naïve" or easily hoodwinked, appears in a Boston transcript in 1831. It probably comes from the name of a salt-water fish that has suction-shaped lips that indicate its need to suck up its food. Fisherman had an easy time capturing this fish during migration season.

In Hughie: "Nix," I told him, "if you're going to start playin' sucker and bettin' on horse races, you don't get no assist from me."

1850: SAWBUCK - This slang for a ten-dollar bill originated in 1850 because of the resemblance between Roman numeral 10 (X) and a sawhorse.

In Hughie: "I had to get down on my knees and beg every guy I know for a sawbuck here and a sawbuck there until I raised it."

1851: MONIKER - "Moniker" is a synonym for "nickname." It comes from the word "monk," since monks and nuns traditionally take new names with their vows. The slang terminology with the modern spelling emerged in 1831 in London, where a written account poses the question, "What is your moniker?"

In Hughie: "That's how I got my moniker. No one calls me nothing but Erie."

1850s: RUBBED-OUT - In the mid-1800s, "rubbed out" referred to death. By the mid-1900s, the term had come to insinuate murder. It comes from the idea of being erased and forgotten.

In Hughie: "Lots of guys I've been pals with, in a way, croaked from booze or something, or got rubbed out."

1850s: POOR BOOB - "Poor Boob" came to mean "a nincompoop, a fool or simpleton" in the late 19th century. It emerged around the same time as the term "booby," which, since 1889, has been an object of little value given to the loser of a game. Both words came from the Latin "balbus," meaning "stammering," probably in reference to barbarians.

In Hughie: "It stopped sudden and she was jerked into him, and he put his arms around her, and they started talking, and the poor boob never stood a chance. . . . "

1859: REAL JACK - "Jack" has a plethora of meanings in the English language, but in this case, it refers to money. In 1690, a farthing (small coin), was often named a "jack." It wasn't until 1859 that "jack" began to mean substantial sums of money. Other 1920s terms for money include "dough," "clam," and "rubes."

In Hughie: "Of course, like I said, it was only a gag. We'd play with real jack, just to make it look real, . . . "

1866: NOGGIN - For hundreds of years, a "noggin" referred to a small cup or mug. Eventually, it came to mean "strong ale" (as in "eggnog") and, in 1866, "head."

In Hughie: "But hell, I always keep my noggin working, booze or no booze. I'm no sucker. What was I sayin'?"

1884: HET UP - "Het" appears as a version of "heated" as early as the 1300s, but the phrase "het up" doesn't appear until 1886. The first record of someone using "het up" to mean agitated or angry is in a work by the American physician S. W. Mitchell in 1886: "I don't het up easy."

In Hughie: "He'd get all het up. It give me a kick, too - especially when he'd say, "Gosh, Erie, I don't wonder you never worry about money, with your luck."

1880: PUSS - In this sense, the term "puss" refers to the mouth or face, which comes from the Gaelic word in 1880. Other terms for "mouth" in the 20s included "kisser," "clam," and "gums."

In Hughie: "With her puss and figure, she'd never make no one except she raided a blind asylum."

1902: HIT THE HAY - "Hit the hay" means go to bed. In 1902, mattresses were often sacks stuffed with straw or hay (hence the similar phrase 'hit the sack'). The phrase 'hit the hay' seems to have originated in the US sports scene. The Oakland Tribune, July 1903, reported: "'Sam' Berger, the Olympic heavyweight . . . was sleepy and he announced that 'he was going to hit the hay.'"

In Hughie: "Might as well hit the hay, I guess."

1904: FALL GUY - The "fall guy" is the scapegoat, the one who takes on the responsibilities or workload of others. An article in the Oakland Tribune in 1904 used it in the following sense: "Bard is worked as a 'fall guy'. When some one comes along with a pull on Perkins and asks for a job that the senior Senator doesn't want to give him, it is very convenient to pass the burden of refusal on to Bard. . . . it is easy enough to see how handy is a good 'fall guy' for cases of annoying emergency."

In Hughie: "Then she told her Ma, and her Ma told her Pa, and her Pa come round looking for me. But I was no fall guy even in them days. . . . "

1905: THE STICKS - "Stick" comes from the Old English "sticca," meaning "rod, twig, or spoon." The first use of the phrase "The sticks," meaning "rural place" was recorded in 1905 and comes from sticks as slang for "trees."

In Hughie: "I bet you never seen one, except back at the old Fair Grounds in the sticks."

1910s: PUT THE BITE ON - In the 1910s, people began using "put the bite on" to mean "blackmail" or to force someone to do something that they'd rather avoid. Often times, the request had to do with the payment of a debt.

In Hughie: "My trouble is, some of these guys I put the bite on is dead wrong G's, and they expect to be paid back next Tuesday, or else I'm outta luck and have to take . . . "

1910s: THE ONCE-OVER - The term "once-over," meaning "quick glance of appraisal" or "to assess" originated in the 1910s. Sometimes it has a critical connotation.

In Hughie: "And he'd never ask to give 'em the once-over. Can you beat that!"

1920s: THE BIG STEM - During the Roaring Twenties, musicians talked about "playing the Big Stem in the Big Apple" - the "Big Stem" being Broadway. Another popular saying was, "There are many apples on the tree, but New York is the big apple."

In Hughie: "He'd ask, "What's new along the Big Stem?" and I'd tell him the latest off the grapevine."

1920s: ROUND-HEELED - "Round heeled" is used to suggest that a girl in question tips backwards easily, i.e., is ready for sexual intercourse. It emerged during the 1920s.

In Hughie: "He wanted me to be the Sheik of Araby, or something that any blonde'd go round-heeled about."

1920s: RUN-OUT POWDER - "Run-out powder" was a medicine that could be taken as a laxative. The slang came to mean "escape, speed, or departure" in the '20s and by the '30s it referred to leaving a place without paying rent.

In Hughie: "I stuck it till I was eighteen before I took a run-out powder."

1920s: SQUARE SHAKE - A "square shake" is synonymous with "fair deal." "Square" first came to mean "fair" in 1785, relating to behavior during children's games. Giving someone a "square shake" means that when you shake hands, you are giving your word. It appeared in the vernacular in the 1920s.

In Hughie: "Maybe you think I ain't giving her a square shake. Well, maybe I ain't. She never give me one."

For more information on 1920s slang, please visit the FURTHER READING PAGE