Arsworm, Bumfodder, Farting-crackers - 17th century slang from London
By ANIThursday, August 12, 2010
LONDON - Slang is not a phenomenon of the 21st century. In fact, early Londoners resorted to colloquialism too.
‘Arsworm’ (a little diminutive fellow), bundletail (a short fat or squat lass) and farting-crackers (breeches) are just some of the slang words used in 17th-century England, according to a new book.
According to The Independent, those are just two of the 4,000 entries included in A New Dictionary of Terms, Ancient and Modern, of the Canting Crew, which has recently been rediscovered in Oxford University’s Bodleian Library.
Nether regions seemed to be a favourite ‘zone’ for jokes too, with words like Bumfodder described as ‘what serves to wipe the Tail’.
Others include ‘malecontents, out of Humour with the Government, for want of a Place, or having lost one’ are defined as ‘Grumbletonians.’
The dictionary was originally compiled to entertain polite London classes with ‘canting’, the vocabulary of thieves and ruffians. (ANI)
