AtDDtA1: "Slang"

[Dave Monroe]

"'Professor, Professor!  Lindsay has just now made a defamatory remark
about Miles' mother, yet he's forever after me about using 'slang,'
and is that fair, I ask you?'" (AtD, Pt. I, Ch. 2, p. 11)


"slang"

Note here scare quoted a la other presumably "slang" terms
("scuttlebutt," "dime novels," et al.) in the Chums of Chance
chapters/book-within-a-book.  "Slang" as "slang," a linguistic mise en
abyme, of sorts, perhaps ...

slang, n.3

[A word of cant origin, the ultimate source of which is not apparent.
It is possible that some of the senses may represent independent
words. In all senses except 1 only in slang or canting use.
  The date and early associations of the word make it unlikely that
there is any connexion with certain Norw. forms in sleng- which
exhibit some approximation in sense.]

 1. a. The special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or
disreputable character; language of a low and vulgar type. (Now merged
in c.)
  In the first quot. the reference may be to customs or habits rather
than language: cf. the use of SLANG a. 2b.

1756 W. TOLDERVY Hist. 2 Orphans I. 68 Thomas Throw had been upon the
town, knew the slang well. 1774 KELLY School for Wives III. ix, There
is a language we [bailiffs] some~times talk in, called slang. 1809 E.
S. BARRETT Setting Sun I. 106 Such grossness of speech, and horrid
oaths, as shewed them not to be unskilled in the slang or vulgar
tongue of the lowest blackguards in the nation. 1824 SCOTT Redgauntlet
ch. xiii, What did actually reach his ears was disguised..completely
by the use of cant words, and the thieves-Latin called slang. a1839
PRAED Poems (1864) II. 117 And broaches at his mother's table The
slang of kennel and of stable.

    b. The special vocabulary or phraseology of a particular calling
or profession; the cant or jargon of a certain class or period.

1801 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. I. 723/1 A studied harangue, filled with
that sentimental slang of philanthropy, which costs so little,
promises so much, and has now corrupted all the languages of Europe.
1802-12 BENTHAM Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 306 Giving, in return
for those fees, scraps of written lawyer's slang. 1834 H. J. ROSE
Apol. Study of Divinity (ed. 2) 15 However tempting the scientific
slang, if I may so term it, of the day may be. 1857 KINGSLEY Lett.
(1878) II. 43, I have drawn, modelled in clay and picture fancied, so
much in past years, that I have got unconsciously into the slang. 1872
GEO. ELIOT Middlem. xi, Correct English is the slang of prigs who
write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang
of poets.

    c. Language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the
level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words
or of current words employed in some special sense.

1818 KEBLE in Sir J. T. Coleridge Mem. (1869) 75 Two of the best
[students] come to me as a peculiar grinder (I must have a little
slang). 1848 THACKERAY Van. Fair xliii, He was too old to listen to
the banter of the assistant-surgeon and the slang of the youngsters.
1868 DORAN Saints & Sinners I. 107 He [Latimer] occasionally employed
some of the slang of the day to give force to his words. 1887 R. N.
CAREY Uncle Max xv, If I had ever talked slang, I might have said that
we chummed together famously. 1914 J. M. BARRIE Admirable Crichton IV.
227 In the regrettable slang of the servants' hall, my lady, the
master is usually referred to as the Gov. 1925 T. DREISER Amer.
Tragedy (1926) I. II. i. 156 Don't say 'swell'. And don't say 'huh'.
Can't you learn to cut out the slang? 1937 PARTRIDGE Dict. Slang p.
ix, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, i.e. of
linguistically unconventional English, should be of interest to
word-lovers. 1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Apr. 520/4 In Australia, slang
simply has a quite different status from slang in England. It is a
part of 'Standard English' there, not outside 'Standard English'.
Slang words are used informally, casually and naturally by all
Australians regardless of class or education.
attrib. and Comb. 1846 MRS. GORE Engl. Char. (1852) 139 Like a door
from which some slang-loving roué has wrenched the knocker. 1850 N. &
Q. Ser. I. 369/2 That great slang-manufactory for the army, the Royal
Military College, Sandhurst. 1856 G. MEREDITH Let. 15 Dec. (1970) I.
28 Have you..a book of Hampshire Dialect?.. Also a slang Dictionary,
or book of the same with Gloss. 1926 Variety 29 Dec. 5/3, I was hep
that the slang slingers were not crowding each other. 1977 K. F.
KISTER Dictionary Buying Guide II. 240 The more substantial slang
dictionaries provide detailed word histories and thus complement the
etymological dictionaries.

    d. Abuse, impertinence. (Cf. SLANG v. 3, 4.)

1805 T. CAMPBELL Let. 9 Feb. in W. Partington Private Letter-bks. W.
Scott (1930) 100 In five weeks, however, her slang broke out, and
within the seventh she discovered the whole catalogue of Vices of
which a very ugly woman can be guilty. 1825 LOCKHART in Scott's Fam.
Lett. (1894) II. 297 This Mr. H. gave grand slang to the Porters,
etc., who crowded the vessel on our anchoring: 'Your fingers are all
thumbs, I see', etc.

    2. Humbug, nonsense. Obs.1

1762 FOOTE Orator I. Wks. 1799 I. 192 Have you seen the bills?.. What,
about the lectures? ay, but that's all slang, I suppose; no, no. No
tricks upon travellers.

    3. A line of work; a 'lay'. Obs.1

c1789 G. PARKER Life's Painter 120 How do you work now?.. O, upon the
old slang, and sometimes a little lully-prigging.

    4. A licence, esp. that of a hawker.

1812 J. H. VAUX Flash Dict., Slang,..a warrant, license to travel, or
other official instrument. 1865 Slang Dict. 234 'Out on the slang,'
i.e. to travel with a hawker's licence. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 2/1
You don't want for much to start with;.. sovereign..for a (slang)
licence is plenty.

    5. a. A travelling show.

1859 Slang Dict. 94 Slang, a travelling show. 1873 LELAND Egypt.
Sketch Bk. 63 There is a great deal of the Rommany or Gipsy
element..wherever the 'slangs' or exhibition affairs show themselves.
    b. A performance.

1861 MAYHEW Lond. Lab. III. 101, I am talking of a big pitch, when we
go through all our 'slang', as we say.
    c. attrib., as slang cove, cull, a showman.

c1789 G. PARKER Life's Painter 130 To exhibit any thing in a fair or
market,..that's called slanging, and the exhibiter is called the slang
cull. 1851 MAYHEW Lond. Lab. I. 353 We did intend petitioning.., but I
don't suppose it would be any go, seeing as how the slang coves (the
showmen) have done so, and been refused.

    6. A short weight or measure. (Cf. SLANG a. 3.)

1851 MAYHEW Lond. Lab. I. 32/2 There's plenty of costers wouldn't use
slangs at all, if people would give a fair price. Ibid. II. 90/1 Some
of the street weights, a good many of them, are slangs.

http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50226993

Sorry, just recalled, I have OED access here, so ...

But note esp. 1.d.  Pynchon tends to know and make use of such
multiple shadings/meanings, cf., e.g. ...

"... she was a beast of venery and he had no tears for her." (V., Ch.
14, Sec. ii, p. 412)

Main Entry: ven·ery
Pronunciation: 've-n&-rE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English venerie, from Middle French,
from vener, to hunt, from Latin venari -- more at
VENISON
Date: 14th century
1: the art, act, or practice of hunting
2: animals that are hunted : GAME

Main Entry: venery
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English venerie, from Medieval Latin
veneria, from Latin vener-, venus sexual desire
Date: 15th century
1: the pursuit of or indulgence in sexual pleasure
2: SEXUAL INTERCOURSE

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0106&msg=56887

Now if I could only recall that passage from, I think, again, V.
(though maybe Lot 49), where he goes down the list of possible
meanings of a key word in the successive sentences of a paragraph.  My
favorite post of mine here ever ...