Ripper-Related Victorian Vocabulary

[Archaic]

British Slang Term for 'Pail of Beer'??

Hi Neil. I've heard of some other micro-breweries who sell small take-out containers of beer they call "growlers". Unfortunately, they don't come in a tin buckets anymore.

There must be a late 19th C. British slang term for a "take-away pail of beer", but I'm afraid it's proving elusive.

If anybody knows the slang term, I'd greatly appreciate your posting it.

Thanks and best regards,
Archaic

[YankeeSergeant]

Growler

I found a slang term for beer. The following definition and rhyme were given in a Victorian book; the words in italics are also slang.

GATTER, beer; "shant of GATTER," a pot of beer.

A curious Slang street melody, known in Seven Dials as 'Bet, the Coaley's Daughter', thus mentions the word in a favourite verse—

"But when I strove my name to tell,
Says she, “Come, stow that patter,
If you're a cove wot likes a gal,
Why don't you stand some GATTER?'

In course I instantly complied—
Two brimming quarts of porter,
With four goes of gin beside,
Drain'd Bet, the Coaley's daughter."

Now that you know the words, hopefully one of you will sing this song at the next conference.

Archaic

There's a microbrewery in the area here that sells their ale by the growler. I can't remember off the top of my head the name but it's on the Seneca lake wine trail (Finger lakes in Upstate New York)I believe it's inbetween a quart and a gallon but don't quote me on that.

[Archaic]

"Gatter" and "Shant of Gatter" & 'Bet the Coaley's Daughter'

I found a slang term for beer. The following definition and rhyme were given in a Victorian book; the words in italics are also slang.

GATTER, beer; "shant of GATTER," a pot of beer.

A curious Slang street melody, known in Seven Dials as 'Bet, the Coaley's Daughter', thus mentions the word in a favourite verse—

"But when I strove my name to tell,
Says she, “Come, stow that patter,
If you're a cove wot likes a gal,
Why don't you stand some GATTER?'

In course I instantly complied—
Two brimming quarts of porter,
With four goes of gin beside,
Drain'd Bet, the Coaley's daughter."

Now that you know the words, hopefully one of you will sing this song at the next conference.

Archaic

[Archaic]

"Growler" In c.1889 English & American Slang

I found this definition from an 1889 dictionary:

growler (grou'ler)
1. One who growls.
2. A certain fish: same as grunt
3. A four-wheeled cab. [Slang, Eng.]
4. A vessel, as a pitcher, jug, pail, or can, brought by a customer for beer. [Slang, U. S., of unknown origin.]

Cheers,
Archaic

[Archaic]

Beer Pails & "Rushing the Growler"- More Pics

This article has some more pictures, including one showing a variety of granite-wear beer pails. (That's a kind of enamel-clad metal often used for buckets or the pots, pans, cups, etc. meant for camping. Speckled blue, black, white & gray are the most common colors.)

There's also an old ad for a "growler" in this article, so apparently the "growler" wasn't the beer or the customer, it was the bucket itself.

http://www.bottless.org/The_History_of_The_Beer_Growler_s/605.htm

Best regards,
Archaic

[Archaic]

Beer Pails and "Rushing The Growler"

I was looking for an image of a beer pail such as the man seen with Mary Kelly called "Blotchy-Face" might have carried. In the late 19th C. beer pails would have been either metal or porcelain.

I found this article with a photo of a metal beer-pail, and decided to post it because it used a phrase my Dad taught me "rushing the growler". When he was a child in NY, kids were still allowed to go to the local tavern and get a bucket of beer for their fathers or for workmen who were paying them to run this errand. Going for a bucket of beer was called "rushing the growler."

H.L. Mencken said the term was in use by 1888. Jack London mentioned it in his writings in the 1890's. One story of the phrase's origins is that "rushing the growler" refers to the noise that the bucket made as it slide along the top of the bar. It seems to me that it would make more sense if the one doing the "rushing" is the kid in a hurry to get back and earn his tip for being quick!

Attached is a c. 1890's photo of a boy "rushing the growler."

Does anybody know if there was a similar slang phrase used in the UK?

'Rushing the growler' article: http://www.maltedbarley.org/2005/11/

Thanks,
Archaic

[Archaic]

Victorian Slang Synonyms For "Police"

Hello Ansonfish. Thank you; I'm glad that you're enjoying the thread.

Here are some more 19th C. synonyms for "Police". Some were mentioned previously in extracts from other books and some are new.

SYNONYMS FOR POLICE. 'Blue' (traceable to Queen Elizabeth's days when the colour of the uniform was the same as now); 'men in blue'; 'Royal Regiment of Footguards Blue'; 'bluebottle' (used by Shakspeare); 'blue coat' (also a Shakspearian term, and still in use); 'Dogberry' (an allusion to Much Ado about Nothing); 'charley' (one of the old watchmen); 'bobby'; 'peeler'; 'copper' (a thieves' term, from 'to cop' to lay hold of); 'crusher' (thieves'); 'slop' (a back slang corruption of 'police' = esclop, with c not sounded and shortened to 'slop'); 'scufter' (a northern term, as also is the example next following); 'bulky ' (used by Bulwer Lytton); 'philip' (from a thieves' signal); 'cossack'; 'philistine'; 'frog' (from pouncing upon criminals); 'Johnnie Darby' (a corruption of gendarme); 'Johnnie'; 'pig' (a plain clothes man);
'worm'; 'nose '; 'nark'; 'dee' 'tec' (a detective); the C.T.A. (a circus man's term); 'demon' (Australian thieves'); 'reeler'; 'raw lobster' (this like ‘blue,' would appear to be a reference to the colour of the uniform).


Note "esclop /slop" as 'back-slang' for police, and "dee" for detective.

I don't understand what "the C.T.A." means or how it relates to circuses; does anybody know?

Thanks and 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.

[Archaic]

"Pole-Axe" / "Lushy and Stropulous"

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

[Archaic]

"Beak"

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

[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]

More Victorian Slang For "Police"

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

[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 Slang Terms For &quot;Police&quot;

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]

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