Transcription
Hey there. Welcome back to Metadatron Academy. I've got something really, really awesome today, and it's going to change the way you say some things from now on, guaranteed.
Now, I think we all know what the Victorian age is. There are some things good about it, some things bad about it, but in general, I'd say that recently we've been focusing mostly on the way they speak. We found some early recordings, both of Victorian men, Victorian women, the way they spoke, but we focused mostly on the accent, the overall intonation, but today we're going to focus on some Victorian age slang that I think should absolutely come back in usage because it's awesome.
So, there are several websites that tackle this, but I really found this one. I'll put a link in the description called "77 delightful Victorian slang terms you should be using." And of course, I'm going to read each and every single one of these in alphabetical order. I would say if I wanted this video to have the lowest average watch time in YouTube's history, no. I found the best ones for you, specifically selected.
Check this one out: "A basket of oranges." What does that mean? You say this phrase, which referred to a pretty woman, originated in Australia before making its way to England. Can you imagine that? "Oh, look at her. She's a basket of oranges." I'm so going to tell my wife. I'm going to go tell her now. I'm going to tell her now. "Hey, love. Hey, you're a basket of oranges." "I'm a what? A basket of oranges? I am? Yeah. Oh, thanks. It's a Victorian slang for a pretty girl." "Oh my goodness. You're a basket of oranges. That's very sweet, Jeff."
All right. Next, "coffee sisters." "Coffee sisters." Victorian era women enjoying a coffee break. A 19th-century German term. Initially, I'd like to underline it for malignant gossipers. Does it mean gossip? No. No, it doesn't. So, this is what that's just the origins of it. In Victorian slang, the coffee sisters refer to women who frequently gather together to chat, often over coffee. So, it can be understood as a way to say your besties, "coffee sisters." Use it now. Send a text to your coffee sister. You're welcome. Many more to come.
Okay, here's my favorite: "Champagne weather." A rather sarcastic society term used from 1860 onward to refer to bad weather. "Champagne weather." So, it's raining outside. Oh, I can already imagine the Victorian people saying this. "Oh dear, you're not going out today with that champagne weather. Champagne weather." I love it. I'm so gonna say "champagne weather" from now on. And you there's nothing you can do to stop me. "Oh dear, it is champagne weather again. What shall we do next?"
"Bubble around." A verbal attack generally made via the press, where demonstrated its usage with a sentence from the Golden Butterfly. Open quote, "will back a first-class British subject for bubbling around against all humanity." Close quote. So basically, oh my gosh, I'm going to use this one against my haters. You know, the detractors that can't stand me. "Stop bubbling around. What's that all about? Bubble around." Oh my gosh, I love it.
Now, if you think for a moment, give me a second before we continue. Got an amazing one next. But if you think for a moment, well, yeah, these are nice, but it's not like I'm going to I'm going to use an expression from the freaking Victorian age. Well, you do already. Let me give you two examples now, given these are more common I suppose in England than they would be in other places, but that doesn't prevent you from using them from now on.
One would be the expression "excuse my French." I love it, like when I was in England as a teenager, spent some time there; that's where I picked up my English because English is not my first language, of course. But when I was in England, and I remember people being like, they would say this immediately after using an extremely vulgar swear word. So they they'll say something really vulgar and then say "excuse my French," which is hilarious as an expression because it's it's probably like a making fun of a class when they're like speaking English, but then since they want to show how eloquent they are, uh, they would say something like, "Yes, and today we could speak a little bit about the bourgeoisie, excuse my French," like that's I think where it came from.
Another one actually kind of connects to a really funny anecdote that I had personally. So I was in Sicily, English teacher together with someone from London who was also an English teacher. His name was Hugo. We were teaching together at school, and then at one point I saw him in the morning. Well, it was almost like lunchtime, and I said, "Hey, Hugo, how you doing?" He's like, "Very well, thank you." And then I asked him, "So what what did you do this morning?" And he said, "Oh, just went to see a man about a dog." And I stopped. "You what?" And he goes, "Oh, just went to see a man about a dog." "A dog? What dog? What? Sorry. What did you say? You mentioned a dog. No, there's you said you went to see a man about the dog. What dog? There's no dog. Are you having an episode? Seriously, what are you on about, man? Are you hearing impaired? You said about the dog." So, the expression "I went to see a man about a dog" or "I'm going to see a man about a dog" means I'm going to do something I don't want to tell you. Sometimes can be something a little cheeky. Uh, but in general, it's like, yeah, I'm just going to do just just did some things. But it's an expression, and I didn't know. So, I literally thought he was talking to a man about a dog. "Are you adopting a new puppy?" Like, I completely misunderstood the guy, which was absolutely hilarious as a little situation. Anyways, uh, yeah, that expression too is from the late 1800s. People still use it in the UK at least. "I went to see a man about a dog." And yeah, it's Victorian in origin. So, there we go. I'm just upping your pool of words.
And next one, you're going to love it: "Butter on bacon." Extravagance. Too much extravagance. Open quotes, "Are you going to put lace over the feather? Isn't that rather butter upon bacon?" I love it. So yeah, when you're exaggerating, you're exaggerating. So like I can imagine now that I live in America, I can imagine a few situations where I would say it with the amount of sodium, for instance, you guys put. Regardless, I could say, "but that's like butter on upon bacon, isn't it? Like that's an exaggeration. That's too much." I love it.
This one cracked me up: "Can't you feel the shrimps?" Now I want to underline before we continue. Some of the expressions that we saw belonged to upper-class slang. Some could also be middle class. This one is low class, and I freaking love it. But just to say that slang kind of was a little bit everywhere. Although there is a whole discussion that we can have on the idea of hygienizing speech. So making speech more hygienic if you will, in the sense that particularly when it was women, middle to upper class, it was often discouraged in period from using slang in general, to speak in a way that was more conducive to a better reputation as a distinctive distinguished woman, but in general slang is a thing now, of course, some slang even fits in a way the middle class at least, but some slang was like this, and I love it. So a Cockney phrase from 1877 meaning "smell the sea." Oh, can you imagine that? I can already imagine it, and I love it. "Can't you feel the shrimps?" Yeah, it's like, "why is the freaking sea, mate? I can't see it. Can you feel Can't you feel the shrimps?" Goodness gracious.
Next. I'm having a great time. I don't know about you. Oh, this one. What the classes would have said instead of "Jesus Christ," they would say "cheese and crust." "Frightful at first sight, this phrase suggests a slight sense of respect by its veiling of the oath," where wrote open quotes, "also a little touching as being a phrase associated with comfort uh to those amongst whom comfort is little known." Close quotes. Well, yeah. I mean, honestly, I think I would use this because I personally don't like using this because again, I'm a Christian, so I don't like using his name in vain. So, I suppose I just don't say it. But I imagine this could be an interesting alternative. And you know, the idea of "cheese and crust." Oh, it's kind of funny actually because it sounds, oh my gosh, it sounds like they're geniuses. I don't know what it is.
Believe it or not, these kind of expressions, by the way, uh, when you are astonished or something happens or you're like, "Oh, how is that even possible?" And you use this, it's actually goes all the way back to the ancient Romans and the Greeks. And when I say that, you'll be like, "But wait, isn't that pre-Christianity?" Yes. So, you have to just the expression is still there because at the end of the day, languages do evolve organically. There are differences but also basal elements of connection between how languages evolve naturally uh through time. And so the idea is that the ancient Romans would say something like this, but they would say "me Hercules," which means "my Hercules." So something happened like, "oh me Hercules." So they would say that "my Hercules, why oh my Hercules, why did you do that?" So they would do that. And I I also find it endearing how and this is a coincidence but it's still interesting how, you know, in Christian thought, of course, Jesus is both a god and a man. It's both right, and when it comes to because he has a human component to him, and that's his mortality, and there is a divine component to him, which is his ability to be resurrected and therefore defeat death and be immortal. That's the god element. Now, something similar was the case also with in a way with Hercules because he's a demigod. So he's human and divine at the same time. And it's so fascinating that a very similar expression existed in the classical period. Once again, possibly by coincidence, but there is also some kind of natural, I wish to say, inclination towards that sort of expression within human societies. I just love it.
"Dizzy age," a phrase meaning elderly, because it opens makes the spectator giddy to think of the vict victim's ears. Well, it's not victim though. Um, the term usually refers to a maiden or a woman canvased by other maiden ladies or others. Okay. So, yeah, "dizzy age" to say old age. Yeah, I mean, sure, I can see that. "Dizzy age" or "she's of she's of dizzy age." Pretty nice.
"Do a stamp," an American term that made its way to England meaning open quotes, "take a walk." Close quotes. You could also "do a smile" meaning to take a drink. Oh, that's funny. "Let's do a stamp and a smile, shall we? Let's do a stamp. Let's do a stamp." Wow. So, there's that.
34. "Don't sell me a dog." Popular until 1870. Uh, this phrase meant "don't lie to me." Wow. Now, it's interesting. "Don't don't sell me a dog." Or just "stop selling me a dog, you muppet." Well, I don't think that "you muppet" would have been part of 1870s speech. But still, it sounds perfect. Other than anything sounds perfect. Like, you can connect your "muppet" to anything and make it sound better. Now, seriously, think about it, even to classical Latin. "Weny weedy wiki." Doesn't it feel like it's missing something? "Weny weedy wiki, you muppet." It's perfect. And now you can't like every time you will hear "Weny weedy wiki." In your mind you'll think "you muppet." So if I can apply to the ancient Romans, I can apply to the Victorians. Hate me all you want and stop bubbling around. In Cockney rhyming slang that they don't use "dog," they use they say "stop telling me porkies." "Stop selling porkies." Yeah, "porkies" is be, but that's not because of an association between pigs and lies. It's simply because "pork pies" rhymes with "lies." So that's rhyming in that situation, the slang, but slightly different, but I thought it was interesting. So "don't tell me a dog" and subscribe.
"Gas pipes," a term for specially tight pants. Oh, I think I know. I didn't know they were wearing them back in I mean, I suppose I can imagine that. So yeah, someone is is Oh, that's so fascinating that they're using "gas pipes" because of course it's something they would see, you know, gas lamps and gas was still a thing. I mean, it still is obviously, but I'm saying even more so in the Victorian period since the beginning of electricity and all that kind of stuff and development. "Gas pipes." Stop. "Why are you wearing gas pipes? They don't suit you." Love it.
"Jammiest bits of jam." What's that? Like very elegant. Well, they are very elegant. I'll give him that. Absolutely perfect young females. Circa 1883. So like a like a gorgeous girl. Basically "jammiest bits of jam." That's adorable. Actually, you could go like "jammiest bits of jam." Yeah, I'm going to use that.
"Mouth pie," a way to say scolding delivered as a woman. Man, they were specific. So she's Can you use it as a verb? "She's mouth pieing." Or should you say like she Oh, "she just gave me a mouth pie," which means she scolded me. "She gave me a mouth pie."
"A parish pickaxe," a prominent nose. Oh my gosh. "Can you describe him? Yeah, he had a parish pickaxe and was wearing gas pipes." I don't think I can pass an exam in Victorian English to be honest if this continues.
"Poked up." Oh my gosh. "Poked up" to say embarrassed. "I'm so poked up. I didn't understand what parish pickaxe meant." Although I did understand "gas pipes."
"Rainnapper." Oh, this is my favorite. "Rain napper." Did you? Oh god. My gosh. We got um we got some "champagne weather" today. "Don't forget to get your rain napper." "Yes, love. I will." And I thought Broly was edgy.
"Sponge it out." This term used beginning in 1883 meant "forget it." "Forget it. Just forget. Just sponge it out." Man, why did we Why would we lose these? These are great. "Sponge it out. Sponge it out."
"Start a jolly." What's a jolly? A term from theater music means to lead applause. "Start a jolly." "Oh, that was a great performance. Let's start a jolly." This must be upper class. There's no way this is not upper class.
Why does "take the egg" mean to win? "I took the egg. I took the egg." I'm going to make Okay, listen. I'm going to make an entire video with a script completely constructed, built entirely with Victorian slang. And I want to see if people are think I'm going to think I'm having an episode or a stroke. People are going to be like, "Okay, Metron, we lost him. He's having a stroke." But until then, thank you for joining Metron Academy. And let me know which of these you're going to use from today on. Bye.