Ripper-Related Victorian Vocabulary

[Archaic]

Slang Term For "Sham Virgin"

Here are a few slang terms for "Sham Virgin" taken from an 1891 book.

This refers of course to the practice of selling the virginity of young girls. Brothel-keepers and procurers were out to make as much money as they could, so they often tried to sell a girl's "virginity" more than once. There were all sorts of tricks used to attempt to fool the client. Those tricks are described in many 18th & 19th C. books, as well as in modern Social History books.

As William Stead endeavored to expose in 'The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon', young girls were often lured, tricked, and abducted into prostitution. In some cases they were even sold into what was called "White Slavery" by a member of their own impoverished family. Once in the clutches of the procurer, the girls were locked up, denied food, and threatened with harm or even death order to break their spirit and make them believe escape was impossible. Their virginity was quickly sold to a wealthy client, and once violated and "ruined" the girl often gave up trying to escape, knowing she had become a social outcast. From then on she had little choice but to be a prostitute.

This shameful and immoral practice still goes on all over the world today.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Rubyretro]

Sorry to be a bit late reading this thread !

Infact 'clink' comes from Clink Street, London :

Narrow, dark and cobbled, it is best known as the historic location of the notorious Clink Prison, giving rise to the slang phrase 'in the clink', meaning 'in prison'

(Clink Street is really near Tate Modern, the Globe and Southwark).

So the adjective 'clinking' (as in keys) comes from the prison, and not the other way round !

[Archaic]

Origins of "Clink"

Hi Ruby, thanks for that clarification.

Since "clink" is an onomatopoeia, I thought that's where it originated.

I guess "clink" is the perfect word for "prison", having both an historical origin (Clink Street Prison) and sounding just like what it represents (the clink of prison keys & metal bars).

Thanks and best regards,
Archaic

[Errata]

Hi Ruby, thanks for that clarification.

Since "clink" is an onomatopoeia, I thought that's where it originated.

I guess "clink" is the perfect word for "prison", having both an historical origin (Clink Street Prison) and sounding just like what it represents (the clink of prison keys & metal bars).

Thanks and best regards,
Archaic

That totally reminds me. Bedlam, meaning chaos and insanity from the popular pronunciation of Bethlem hospital, the much feared insane asylum.

[Archaic]

re: Origins of "Clink" and "Clink Street"

Hi Ruby.
I just looked up Clink Street Prison and the phrase "the clink" again, and the sources I read said that the exact origin of the word was unknown but it seemed to be an onomatopoeia. (An onomatopoeia is of course a word that sounds like the noise it represents, such as "bang".)

It seems that the prison might actually have been named after the word "clink" rather than the other way round. 'Clink Street' apparently means 'Prison Street'.
The word is known to have been in use by the 1300's.

"Clink" refers to the sound of rattling prison chains as well as to keys, bolts, and metal bars.

Here are links to a few of the articles I read:

The first article is very informative, and explains how 'The Clink' in London made income from anti-prostitution laws in the late 1100's. It also discusses the fact that wealthy prisoners could purchase food, bedding, candles, etc. The Clink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clink

Clink Street Prison: This page says Shakespeare visited a friend here and the Clink Street Prison can be rented out for parties! (*How about a Ripper Conference??* )

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/places/clink-prison-museum

1995 'Dictionary of Word Origins': "The name for a prison comes from the sound of the bolt of a cell-lock as it's shot home, and also from the "clink" of prisoner's leg-irons as they drag them around."

The article attached below is from 'The Western Antiquary', 1882, and discusses the origins of the word "clink".

It looks to me like the word "clink" really is an onomatopoeia, and was most likely the origin of the name "Clink Street", rather than the other way round.

Best regards,
Archaic

PS: Word origins are often rather murky, especially when they involve very old words and archaic usages. If anyone has found different information regarding the origin of this word or any other word under discussion here you are very welcome to post it. The more the merrier!

[Archaic]

What "Wife" Means In Victorian Prison-Slang

This is from an 1882 book.

"In prison slang a fetter fixed to one leg is called a wife."

Well, look on the bright side- at least it's only fixed to one leg!


Archaic

[Archaic]

Victorian Slang Terms For "Police"

The following definitions were taken from a Victorian book published in the 1870's and are all slang terms for “Police."

BLUE-BOTTLE, a policeman. It is singular that this well-known Slang term for a London constable should have been used by Shakespeare. In Part II. of King Henry IV., Act V., Scene 4, Doll Tearsheet calls the Beadle, who is dragging her in, “ a BLUE-BOTTLE rogue."

BOBBY, a policeman. Both BOBBY and PEELER were nicknames given to the new police, in allusion to the Christian name of the late Sir Robert Peel, who was the prime mover in effecting their introduction and improvement. The term BOBBY is, however, older than the Saturday Reviewer imagines. The official square-keeper, who is always armed with a cane to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has time out of mind been called by the said urchins Bobby the Beadle. BOBBY is also, I may remark, an old English word for striking or hitting, a quality not unknown to policemen.

'COPPER,' A slang name for a policeman derived from cop, which is a well known and generally used vulgarism for 'catch.'

Note: this book said the term "copper" goes back at least as far as the year 1659.

Best regards,
Archaic

[ChrisGeorge]

Getting back to the topic of bridewells and period cop shops, Charles Dickens served briefly as a policeman in Liverpool and there's a thread on the Yo Liverpool forum that discusses his time in the city. Go here.

Chris

[Archaic]

More Slang Terms For "Police"

Thanks for the link, Chris.

These slang terms for "Police" come from an 1889 book. Some of them are rather funny. My own notes are in < >.

CHARLEY or CHARLIE, (old). — I. A night watchman, A popular name, prior to the introduction by Sir R. Peel, in 1829, of the present police force ; since when it has fallen into desuetude.
< Note: 'Desuetude' refers to that which is lapsed or obsolete. >

The CHARLIES were generally old men whose chief duty was crying the hour on their rounds. Boxing a CHARLEY was a favourite amusement with young bucks and bloods, who when they found a night-watchman asleep in his box would overturn it, leaving the occupant to escape as best he might. The origin of the term is uncertain. Some trace it to Charles I., who reorganised the watch system of the metropolis in 1640. If this is tenable it is curious that so long a period elapsed between the event and its recognition in slang.

COPPER'S NARK. (thieves'). —A police spy; one in the pay of the police.

CRUSHER, (popular). —A policeman. [Possibly from the slang verb to CRUSH = to run. CRUSH! was once a favourite signal of the 'pea and thimble' and other race-course sharpers, the meaning being: 'Run! The police!' The word came into general use, and was ultimately converted into CRUSHER, a policeman.]

CHAPEL OF EASE, (common).—A water-closet. < Note: Water-Closet = Toilet >

CHAPEL OF LITTLE EASE, (thieves')—The police station or cells.
- - - - - - - - - - -

"Boxing A Charley" sounds like the ancestor of that mythic rural sport known as "cow-tipping".

Best regards,
Archaic

[ChrisGeorge]

Thanks, Archaic. You might be getting to this but another British slang term for a policeman is "rozzer". Merriam-Webster's shows that the first known use of the term was in 1893.

Whether correct or not, one blogger's comment on that word is interesting:

"Talking about police officers, amongst the numerous and colourful words used to call the police in Britain, rozzer was always one that I thought was non-offensive and almost affectionate. Wrong. It comes in fact from the Hebrew word 'chazer' (approximately pronounced 'hazzer'), which means 'pig'."

That's news to me... I had not previously thought that "rozzer" was a derogatory name.

Another person on the same blog has an alternate take on the origin of the word:

"Rozzer is linked with another slang term of the time 'rooscher', now defunct. I did once read a reference, which maddeningly I cannot now find, suggested the following origin. Rozzer dates from c. 1870 when Sir Robert Peel set up the original London Police force, based in part on the Venice Watch, run at the time by Count Rosseretario or some such. I do not have the exact name. London idiom would easily trunsmute that to rozzer. It is also exactly the sort of thing that Londoners do with language. Further evidence for this is that until recently the word was almost unknown outside London."

"The only certain statement is that the etymology is lost."

Of course that person was not correct that the London police force was set up in circa 1870 -- rather it was 1829.

Chris

[Archaic]

More Victorian Slang For &quot;Police&quot;

Hi Chris. I don't recall coming across "rozzer" before. Thank you very much for that information.

Here are some more slang terms for "Police":

BEAGLE, (old).—A spy; informer; man-hunter; policeman; also a general term of contempt. [From BEAGLE, a small hound, which tracks by scent, formerly used for hunting] BEAGLE (old cant).— A policeman or guardian of the peace.

BEAK—As far as is known, this (as 'beck') is the oldest cant term for a member of a class of men, who, perhaps, above all others have been the recipients of nicknames and epithets, and these, be it noted, not always of a complimentary character. < > The derivation of BECK or BEAK is doubtful. Especially vague seems that which finds its source in the Saxon beag, a gold collar worn by civic magistrates, and an emblem of authority. This genesis appears to be based on the later and secondary sense of BEAK, a magistrate, a meaning which it still retains. But against this must be placed the fact that, as the name for a watchman or guardian of the peace, BEAK boasts a much older usage. Sir John Fielding, half brother of the author of Tom Jones, and an active Middlesex Justice in the last century, was popularly known as “Blind Beak” [c. 1750]; but beyond this date no instance of this sense has been found. If, therefore, BEAK originally signified a policeman, it is difficult to discover any connection with the Saxon beag, inasmuch as watchmen are not known to have been decorated with gold collars. BEAK, meaning a policeman, has not long been obsolete.

Cheers,
Archaic

[Steven Russell]

Beak

Hello, Archaic.
"Beak" is still in use for magistrate over here but I'd never heard of it applied to policemen. Possibly it derives from beak as a slang term for nose. It is common in the UK to accuse someone of "sticking his beak in" i.e. being nosey.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Archaic]

&quot;Beak&quot;

Hi Steven.

I've heard my English friends say "sticking his beak in". In the U.S. we say "sticking his nose in". Rather less colorful, I'm afraid.

Attached is an entry on the term "beak" from an 1889 book. It says that "beak" is no longer used for "policeman", but is still used for "magistrate".

By the way, "vache" means "cow" in French... as all good English speakers already know from watching 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail': "Fetchez la vache!"

Cheers,
Archaic

[Archaic]

&quot;Pole-Axe&quot; / &quot;Lushy and Stropulous&quot;

A few more Victorian slang terms for "Police":

POLE-AXE, vulgar rendering of the word "police."

POLICEMAN, “a fly”—more especially the earlier kind known as "blue bottles."

D AND D, (police).— 'Drunk and disorderly', in connection with charge sheet cases. A synonym is “LUSHY AND STROPULOUS”.


I really love the phrase "Lushy and Stropulous".

I was inspired to invent a companion term- "Scrofulous and Stroppy." I hope to see it come into common usage.

(But I'll settle for seeing it in a few posts.)


Best regards,
Archaic

[ansonfish]

The British amongst us would probably have seen a trailer for a TV proramme called 'Top Gear' in the last few weeks.
One of the trio who present the show said, 'We were actually being chased by the Albanian Roozzers.
I was aware A Rozzer is a Policeman but it's a rarely used term nor would I think it's particulary derogatory, nor a term a term of endearment.
Great thread. The English language is never a constant throughout the world which is what makes it so interesting.