A Selection of 19th-Century Slang
Because words are interesting.
20 min readApr 7, 2022
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Slang-whanger. Great word. Back in 1807, it was coined by the American writer Washington Irving in his satirical periodical Salmagundi to describe someone who wields words like a weapon. Not an elegant weapon, mind you — a slang-whanger does not possess a rapier wit. Rather, this person is more like a Twitter troll that won’t shut the hell up.