After searching through a plethora of documents in the journal collection, I came across one that struck my interest. The article was simply titled, Civil War Slang and Humor. As I began to read, I began to understand that even in today’s world, where we have enough slang terms to last a life time, they were also in no short supply in the era of the Civil War. The article showcased many terms used to describe everyday things such as a “horse collar” for a rolled blanket that one may carry to such vivid expressions as comparing an angry captain to being “mad as a stump-tailed bull at fly time”. It was quite interesting how many of the soldiers and even the upper ranks of the military would use slang terms to describe different things. In some cases, they seem quite funny at the current time, but may not have been at that point in time such as a brave soldier being described that “he was so cool that water froze in his canteen.” Or my personal favorite, “an appointment with Captain Hemp,” referred to someone being hung.
It is also to be noted that the slang was very rural and changed from one location to the next. The fascinating part is that even though it was so unique to one area or another, people outside that area had an understanding for what it may or may not mean. Such was the case with Ned Buntline and Alvah Dunning in which Dunning was called an “Amerugian” and even though he didn't know what it was he threatened to kill Buntline on the spot. I also find it odd that some of these phrases have slipped through the cracks of time into more current periods. I noticed as I was reading, an expletive of the time was “Dog bite it,” which I have heard a thousand times over from my father, who has said it as long as I can recall. Even though the Civil War was a very rough spot in our history, I find the fact that some of the colloquialisms of the time were quite hilarious. It is even refreshing to know that something from so long ago has survived till this day and it still in use, at least in my family.
Monaghan, Jay. "Civil War Slang and Humor."Civil War History 3 (1957): 125-133.
This is so very interesting. Great topic to pick because I haven't heard much about this kind of stuff. I really liked, "an appointment with Captain Hemp." It's very clever! Not many of the humorous statements have trickled down, or at least they haven't in my family. But I do think that it is pretty neat that they have in your family. I'm pretty interested in what I've read from your article, so I guess I'll have to go and do some research regarding your post.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Brandon!