Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/12

 The difficulties were manifold, and crowded upon one at every turn from the very outset. First and foremost came the question of deciding whether any given word, phrase, or turn of expression could with justice be relegated to the limbo of unorthodox speech—in short to decide, What is Slang? As a matter of fact, I have not yet discovered, nor have I been able to formulate any definition which covers the whole of the ground to be traversed. As Dr. Murray truly observes, "there is absolutely no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre, but no discernible circumference." Authorities differ between themselves, and often with themselves when asked to set down in plain scientific terms the marks which distinguish the vagrant words of slang from correct and orthodox English. Nor is the difficulty removed or lessened by an analysis of the genesis, or the application of this vast and motley crowd of heterodox words: of a verity the borderland between slang and the "Queen's English" is an ill-defined territory, the limits of which have never been clearly mapped out. It is, therefore, not without hesitation, that I have ventured to explore this "Dark Continent" of the World of Words. If I cast a ray of light where before was darkness, or reduce to some sort of order where much was confusion—well and good: if, on the other hand, my steps at times chance to falter, others will, in such a case, be able to profit by my experience as I have by that of my predecessors.

Hence—bearing in mind the ill-defined character of much of the enquiry—my title, "Slang and its Analogues," which I think fairly and accurately describes