American Language Supplement 2
Page 105
Elephant, or hippo. A steer weighing more than 1,500 pounds.
Facer. One who skins the heads of slaughtered cattle.
Grouch. A cattle buyer.
Gut-fatter. One who trims fat from the viscera.
Gut-shanty. The place where sausages are made.
Gutter. One who splits a carcass for the government inspection.
Ham-sniffer. An inspector of hams.
Ham-tree. A rack on which hams are placed.
Header. One who cuts off the heads of slaughtered hogs.
Hooks. The hip-bones of a cow.
Judas. A sheep trained to lead other sheep to the killing-floor.
Knocker. One who stuns the animal with a blow on the head.
Mountain oyster. A sheep testicle.
Mouse. An undersized lamb.
Nanny. An old ewe.
Nelly. An old, thin cow.
Peeler. A skinner.
Peewee. A small, stunted pig or lamb.
Scenery-fed. Applied to half-starved sheep or steers.
Slimmer. A remover of fat.
Snatcher. One who removes the viscera from a carcass.
Snooper. A government inspector.
Soo-ey. A whip used in driving cattle.
Stiller. An animal fed on distillery mash.
Sunfish, or tripe. A thin, common animal.
Turp. An inferior animal from the South, supposed to have been fed on turpentine.
Photographers1
Acrobat, or distorter. A photographer who specializes in pictures taken at arty angles.
Blow-up. An enlargement.
Box. A camera.
Candid camera. A small hand-camera with a very fast lens, used for making surreptitious shots.2
Cheese-cake, or submarine shot. A photograph of a woman showing her legs above the knee.3
Cook, v. To develop.
Crop, or guillotine, v. To trim a print.
Dodging. In making prints, to shade parts of the negative in order to keep the shadows from becoming too dark.
Dope. A mixture used to roughen a negative for retouching.
Dynamite. A very rapid developer.
Elbow artist. A newspaper photographer who presses to the front, thus obstructing his fellows.
French it, v. To deceive a lens-louse by going through the motions of making an exposure without actually doing so.4
Fuzz-ball. A photograph out of focus.
Glowworm, shutterbug, snapper, clicker, ham, or film-burner. An amateur photographer.
Gun. An apparatus for setting off a flashlight.
Hypo-bender. One in charge of the fixing-bath – hyposulphite of soda.
Lens-louse, or -hog. A publicity-seeker who tries to force himself uninvited into news photographs.
Mugger. A portrait photographer.
Percentage man. A news photographer who makes a large number of exposures, hoping that chance will give him a few good pictures.
Photogenic. Used to describe a good photographic subject.1
Pix. An accepted plural for picture.2
Pop-bottle. A poor lens.
Screwball. A difficult photographic subject.
Shot. An exposure.
Soup. A developer.
Stripper. A photographer specializing in nudes.
Tent. A darkroom.
Thirteen and eight. A warning cry that a lens-louse has got into a group about to be photographed.3
Plasterers4
Airedale, bloodhound, or minute-man. A foreman.
Aviator. A man working on a high ceiling, as in a theatre.
Bottom. The walls.
Butterflies. Lumps in the lime that don’t spread out.
Chicken-wire. Light metal lath.
Corker. An easy job, without the delays caused by windows, beams, etc.
Dope. A chemical retarder that prevents plaster from setting immediately.
Hoddy-doddy. An apprentice.
In the boilers. Work underground.
Mudslinger, spreader, or mutt. A plasterer.
Putty. Lime.
Slugger. A hard worker, in a derogatory sense.
Snots. Lumps left on the wall.
Whitewash. A poor plastering job.
Plumbers and Steamfitters5
Bicycle Jake, or roller-skater. An overzealous workman.
Cocker. A steamfitter.
Digging for gold fish. Cleaning clogged sewers or toilet bowls.
Dope, gooey, or gee. The white lead used on pipe-threads to prevent leakage.
Fly swatter. A painter.
Fourteen and a half. The boss is coming.
Good Friday. Pay day.
Hardware. Tools.
Hickey. Any tool.
Jewelry. A tool kit.
Postoffice Workers1
Balloon. A large mail-pouch.
Boodle. A valuable letter or package.
Box up, or buck the case, v. To sort mail.
Bum. An empty mail-pouch.
Case. A rack of pigeonholes into which mail is assorted according to its destination.
Confetti. Envelopes of less than the usual size.
Czech. An unpopular superior.
Fat stock. Letters too bulky to go through the cancelling machine.
Floating. Loafing on the job.
House. A postoffice.
Humpback. A mail sorter.
Kluck. A used postage stamp on a letter.
Landlord. A high postoffice official.
Nixie. A letter or other piece of mail so badly addressed that it can’t be delivered.2
Peeling, skinning, or sweeping. Collecting mail from street boxes.
Shedder, or brummie. A stamp fallen from an envelope.
Shoo-fly. A carrier foreman.
Swing-room. A lunch-room or rest-room.
Potters
Clay-belly. A potter.
Doughnut. A woman’s stocking worn in the cap as a cushion by men who carry ware on their heads.
Fire-eater. A worker who unloads kilns.3
Pugilists4
Button. The point of the jaw.
Chiropractor. A wrestler.
Cauliflower, or tin ear. An effusion of blood or serum between the cartilage of the ear and the skin, caused by blows.1
Has-been. A played-out pug.2
K. O., or kayo. A knockout.3
Level, v. To fight honestly in a framed bout.4
Mouse. A black eye.5
Palooka,6 ham, or tomato. An inferior fighter.
Punch-drunk, slap-happy, slug-nutty, punchy, goofy, or cutting paper-dolls. Feeble-minded as a result of taking too many blows to the head.7
Roarer, or breather. One who fights with his mouth open.
Semi-windup. The fight before the last one of the evening.8
Solar plexus. A network of nerves behind the stomach and in front of the aorta.9
White hope. A white fighter expected to beat a colored champion.10
Racetrack Followers11
Acey-deucy. A jockey riding with one short stirrup and one long one.
Blind Tom. A track steward.
Bug. An apprentice jockey’s five-pound weight allowance, lost when he has been riding a year or won a certain number of races.1
Dead weight. Lead to bring a jockey’s weight up to the amount the horse he rides is required to carry.
Dogs. Temporary fences set up on muddy mornings to prevent horses working out from messing up the track near the inner rail.
Embalmer. A bookmaker who bribes stable boys to dope favorites.
Gumbo. A muddy track.
Gyp. A small owner.2
Heavy-headed. Said of a horse which runs with its head low.
High in flesh. Said of a fat horse.
Kentucky position. The fourth place in a race.3
Lug in, or lug out, v. To swerve from the course.
Maiden. A horse that has never won a race.
Morning glory. A horse that shows good speed in the morning trials, but does badly in the aft
ernoon.
Night cap. The last race of the day.
Photo finish. A finish so close that only the photograph usually taken can determine the winner.4
Ringer. A horse entered under a false name.5
Sportsman. One who patronizes racing because he really loves horses.6
Stiff. A horse sent out not to win.
Stimulate, v. To dope a horse.7
Suicide club. Steeplechase riders.
Tack. A jockey’s equipment.8
Tap out, v. To bet one’s last dollar.
Walk-over. A race in which only one horse starts.
Wall-eyed. Said of a horse blind in one eye.1
Work. Any sort of exercise for a horse, including walking.2
Rubber Workers3
College. A rubber factory.
Gob. A worker in a rubber factory.
Nerve. Firmness, strength and elasticity in crude or reclaimed rubber.
Plugger. A maker of rubber heels.
Red apple. A non-union man.
Sausage grinder. A tube machine.
Shoddy. Reclaimed rubber.
Wheel. An automobile tire.
Sand-hogs4
Bore hole. A tunnel.
Drummy. Loose rock.
Hot cat. Dynamite which fails to explode.
Navvies. Excavators employed on canals, docks, or other maritime projects
Niggerhead. A dense, hard boulder, also, a cylinder on a power-winch.
Rib. The side of a tunnel under construction.
Slaughterhouse. A job on which there are many accidents.
Smitty. A blacksmith.
Sheepmen5
Biddy, or gummer. An old ewe.
Blade-man, or barber. A shearer.
Bum, bummer, orphan, dogie, or leppy. A lamb whose mother has deserted it.
Drag. The rear end of a moving flock.
Drop band. A group of ewes about to lamb.
Gancho. The sheepman’s crook.
Granny. A ewe which adopts the lambs of other ewes.
Herder, or jockey. A shepherd.
Marker. A black or spotted sheep.
Nut, v. To castrate.
Shoe Clerks6
Al, Albert or Andy. A shoe of A width.
Benny. A shoe of B width.
Charley. A shoe of C width.
Cheaters. Insoles used to palm off over-large shoes.
Chromo. A difficult customer.
Compos, paste, or Mac. The cheapest sort of shoe.
Cowhide, or keg of nails. Men’s work-shoes.
Danny, or David, or Dave. A shoe of D width.
Dog. A shoe that is hard to sell.
Early, or Eddie. A shoe of E width.
Float. A customer who walks out while a salesman is getting a shoe to try on.
Forty-four boy. A salesman’s helper.
Forward, or up, or front. A customer is entering the store.
Happies. Arches.
Jiffy. A shoe included in a special sale; also, a cork inner sole.
Knock down, or grab, v. To take a customer out of turn.
Lawyer. A friend accompanying a customer, to advise him on his purchase.
M. M. A mismated pair of shoes.
Mrs. McKenzie,1 or shome.2 A customer who doesn’t buy.
Personal, or P. T. A customer who insists upon being waited on by a favorite salesman.
P. M., spiff, ninety-nine, or skig-last. An unpopular shoe on the sale of which the salesman receives an extra commission, called push-money.
Schlach-joint. A store without fixed prices.3
Schlock. An overcharge.4
Shoe dog. A salesman.
Skig, tinge, P. M. man, or P. M. hound. A salesman eager for push-money.
Stock manager. A salesman to whom a turnover is handed.5
Thirty-four. Go away.
Thrown out. Said of a customer to whom it was impossible to sell anything.
T. L. A salesman who tries to ingratiate himself with the boss.6
Walk. A customer who leaves the store without buying.
Wrap-up. A sale that is easy to make; also, an easily satisfied customer.
Zex. Beware; the boss is watching.7
Shoemakers8
Bat. A cheap shoe.
Beauty parlor. A dressing and packing room.
Bootblacks. Ironers in the finishing and packing departments.
Club sandwich. A high heel in layers of different colors.
Crispin. An old-time shoemaker.1
Doughman. A paymaster.
Flat foot. The superintendent.
Tap. A half-sole.
Tripe. Bad leather.
Soda-Jerkers2
Bar-mop. A towel.
Belch-water. Seltzer.
Black and white. Chocolate soda or malted milk with vanilla ice-cream; also, coffee with cream.
Black-bottom. A chocolate sundae with chocolate syrup.
Black-cow. Root beer with ice-cream.
Blue bottle. Bromo-Seltzer.
Bottom. Ice-cream added to a drink.
City juice, or moisture. Water.
Coke, or shot. Coca-Cola.
C. O. cocktail, or high-ball. Castor oil in soda.
Eighty-one. A glass of water.
Eye-opener. Castor oil in sarsaparilla.
Hoboken. A mixture of pineapple syrup and chocolate ice-cream.
Hot top, or hot cha. A cup of hot chocolate.
House-boat. A banana split.
Hump. Camel cigarettes.
Java. Coffee.
Oh gee, or red ball. Orangeade.
Scandal soup. Tea.
Spiker. Lemon phosphate.
Sprinkle. Spirits of ammonia.
Straight Kelly. Orange juice.
White-cow. A vanilla milk shake.
White horn. A vanilla ice-cream cone.3
Steel Workers1
Bogieman. A foreman.
Bone. A hard streak in a piece of steel.
Bug. A large ladle.
Buggy. A traveling crane.
Bull. A large ladle; also, a shop foreman.
Cabbages. Scrap metal pressed into blocks.
Cat’s-eye, or wormhole. A gas bubble in crucible steel.
Cheese. A disk-shaped ingot.
Clocks. A timekeeper.
Dickey boy. An efficiency man.
Dynamite. Limestone.2
Flush, v. To withdraw molten iron from a blast furnace.
Flute. A wave on the surface of a badly rolled sheet.
Healer, or iodine. A first-aid man.
Heat. The contents of one furnace; also, any load of molten steel.
Irish local. A wheelbarrow.3
Knobbling. A forging.
Niggerhead. A piece of scrap sticking above the surface of molten steel in a furnace.
Noodles. Material used to stuff cracks in the bottom of a furnace.
Pickle sheets. Sheets from which the scale has been removed by chemicals.
Pulpit. The raised platform from which the mill operations are controlled.
Salamander. The solidified iron on the bottom of a furnace.
Shoe. A plant policeman.
Skull. Iron cooled in a ladle.
Teeming. The act of pouring molten steel.
Umbrella. An ingot that curls when rolled.
Stockbrokers4
Airedale. A successful stock salesman.
Bird-dog. An outsider (often innocent) who rounds up customers.
Boiler-room. A telephone-room.
Cats and dogs. Worthless securities.
Cut a melon, v. To declare a large extra dividend.
D. K. The opposite of O. K.
Dynamiter. A stock salesman of extraordinary virulence.
Front-money. An airedale’s expense-account.
Hot stuff. Selling literature.
Irish dividend. An assessment on stock.
Lily, or mooch. A customer.
P. O. A Postoffice inspector.
Reefer. A refunding bond.
Reloader. A stock salesman skilled at selling more of the same stock to persons who have already bought shares.
Scenery. Directors elected to give an appearance of respectability to a company.
Tagged. Indicted.1
Stonecutters2
Banker, or skidway. A structure on which a stone rests while being worked.
Dog. A hook used for lifting stone.
Dutchman. A cemented repair on a finished stone.
Gang. A machine for sawing stone.
Hickey. A small grave marker.
Knot. A dark gray or black patch in granite.
Lumper. A laborer.
Saint Lucia day. Pay-day.
Slant-face. A grave marker with a surface for the inscription at an angle of about 65 degrees.
Structural Iron Workers
Buckeroo. The man who puts his weight against one end of a rivet while the other is being driven.
Button-head. A rivet.
Catcher. The man who catches hot rivets.
Driver. A riveter.3
Dutchman. A small derrick, operated by hand.
Flop. A fall not resulting in death.
Framer. A carpenter.
Header. A fall resulting in death.
Hole. The basement of a building under construction; also, the empty space under the workers on high jobs.
Monday. A sixteen-pound hammer.
Monkey. A member of a raising gang.
Red dot. A hot rivet.1
Tanners2
Buffing. The operation of taking a light cut from the surface of cattle skins.
Butt. That part of a hide covering the hind-quarters of the animal.
Chamois. If genuine, leather made from the skin of the Alpine chamois.
Usually the flesh part of sheepskins, oil-dressed and suede-finished.
Cordovan. Leather made from horse hides, used for shoe uppers.
Crushed. Said of leather in which the natural grain has been artificially accentuated.
Currying. Incorporating oils or greases into leather.
Doeskin. White sheep- and lambskin.
Full grain. The outer surface of a hide from which nothing has been removed save the hair.
Iron. The unit of thickness in sole leather. One iron equals 1/48 inch.