SPORTING SLANG.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 27, 26 October 1907, Page 12

SPORTING SLANG.

A visitor 'at.tho 1 .Randwick . raco mooting (says tho Sydney "Telegraph") drew tho attention of several of his friends to the marked predilection of- tho avorago 'Australian, to the excessive use of slang sporting tonns,' pointing out that oh few racecourses in the world could such'a variety of'original and strange:phrases be. heard as 011 somo.of the NV South Wales lawns'. The aceusa-'. tionwas, of courso, indignantly repudiated by some, while others upheld the contention' of the speaker, and in a short time quite an impromptu dobate was being held in a corner of the members' stand. - Apropos of this, it has often been remarked that Australia, like the United States, Canada, and South Africa, is gradually acquiring, not only a sporting phraseology;-but,; to a large extent, a dialect of her'own, distinct in many' respects from English vundefrlcdi Tile visitor to our shores has-'had occasion 1 frequently to remark : tnat in minor details wo arc drifting from recognised custom, and ; adopting an entirely original'plan for ' forming', neiv ■' words and phrases. The assertion has been indignantly, repudiated time out'of number, as though', the coinage of special words to meet purely Australian conditions'was a sign of linguistic decadence instead of tho growth of national individualism and .character. Within tho past few years many ne\r words havo .beeii' introduced which seem destined .to, talio a lixcrt placo in the language. They are for the most part slang terms, sporting and otherwise, which after long knocking have gained admission into the languages, liko pardoned outlaws received into a body of respectable citizens. The.'Australian, sporting community'need fear no blush iu using a superabundance of slang relating to "the money on. tho field" and the "chances of tho favourite at tho post," when it is reiriemborod that the august French Academy latbly sanctioned tho use *of a wide rango of ; sporting terms, experssivo and othorwise, as classical. : .