Ripper-Related Victorian Vocabulary

[Rubyretro]

I know the term "bullies" (from all those folk songs ) -so did it come from 'bullocks' ?

[Cogidubnus]

Presumably that explains why the bullocks always rowed in the jollyboat...I've wondered about that for years...

On the other hand, having googled it, perhaps there's not a connection after all...oh well, it was a nice thought anyway

Dave

[martin wilson]

I knew someone in the navy,and both forms of jolly would suit him (sorry Clark,only joking!)

More from James Greenwood.

To erase the name and number from a watch and replace them with one that is fictitious - Christening Jack

To remove the works from one watch and replace them with another- Churching Jack

All the best.

[Archaic]

"Balling the Jack"

Thanks everyone.

Hi Martin. Those are good ones. Nice play on the idea of being "christened".

Watches had their inscriptions erased & sometimes new phony inscriptions added so they could be quickly sold after having been stolen- often within 24 hours. Same with their works. Watch theft was quite an industry.

Slang words employing the term 'Jack' are astoundingly common. An American example is the phrase "balling the jack" form the America. It means "to travel at full-speed," such as by train.

From railroad slang it became a Ragtime song & dance c. 1913, then via the Blues became sexual slang.

You may recall "balling the jack" is used in the great boogie-woogie song 'Choo-Choo-Ch-Boogie'.

Archaic

[martin wilson]

Thanks,that tune has been playing in my head for a while now.

I've done my research, Jacob Isaacs was Jack the Nicker!
All the best.

[Rubyretro]

I've done my research, Jacob Isaacs was Jack the Nicker!
All the best.

[/QUOTE]

Jack/Knicker ? (Jack slash knicker)

[Archaic]

Etymology of "Nark"

I was curious about the history of the term Nark, so decided to see if I could find a documented use of it before the late 1850's.

I found this English slang term from 1835: "NARK, a hard-hearted or savage person".

So I thought that must be the origin of the later term meaning "police informer", and then I found this which seemed to confirm it:

1874: "Knark, a hard-hearted or savage person. The word is now usually spelt NARK, and is applied to the lowest class of informers."

So I thought that clinched it- but then I found this from 1901:

' ETYMOLOGY OF "NARK"
In your review of the latest volume of the 'N.E.D.' (ante, p. 626) you say, "It is interesting to find the slang 'nark' (a police spy) identified with 'knark' ('a hard-hearted, unfeeling person,' cf. Danish knark, an old crabbed person)."

Unfortunately, like not a few other interesting etymologies, this is incorrect. A policeman's "nark," or " copper's nark," is the same thing as a policeman's "nose." The verbs "to nark" and "to nose," for "to spy," are also synonyms.

This gives us the clue to the right explanation, which is that nark, or in more scientific orthography "nak", is the Gipsy (Romany) word for "nose."


So there you go..."Nark" is apparently derived from the Gypsy word "Nak" or "Nose". '

Whew!
Archaic

(PS: I believe 'N.E.D.' stands for 'New English Dictionary'.)