The KANSAN Comments
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1941.
Prevention or Cure?
The President's Defense Mediation board is now eight weeks old. Faith in the board's ability to control strikes in defense industries prevented the passage of anti-strike legislation by Congress.
Before the creation of the mediation board, 18,- 006 men on defense contracts were on strike each day. Since the creation of the board the average has been 17,122 men. On army contracts, six times as many men have been on strike since the creation of the mediation board as were before. This is not a commendable record.
Since the original provision for the Board, the President has made only one change in the labor setup-for maximum production by three day shifts, six-day-week schedule for defense industries, and the addition of new members to the Board. The President has never taken decisive action to end the industrial disputes. But if the United States is to send vitally needed supplies to Britain and protect them against the German blockade, something must be done about the labor blockade at home first. Since the first of the year, strikes have blocked the maximum delivery of supplies for Great Britain and our own defense program. The Mediation board has been fairly successful insofar as it has been permitted to act. But the Board should be given power to act as a preventive agent on the question of labor strikes if defense industries are to function near capacity.
On the other hand, 32 strikes have been certified to the Board, and in only one has the Board failed. That one—the coal strike—was settled in 24 hours after the board made public its report.
The thermometer and the calendar may say that it's spring, but there are certainly a lot of persons snowed under.
Spit It Out!
After 10 years, off and on, of trying to gobble up China, Japan has finally admitted that she has bitten off more than she can chew, let alone swallow or digest.
With the bland statement from the army that they just can't continue to chase Chinese all over the continent, Japan has begun pulling troops out of the interior.
The non-aggression pact which Matsuoka signed with Stalin, enables Japan to relieve to a certain extent the troop concentration on the northern China border.
Last week, Japan announced that the boundary dispute between Thailand and French Indo-China had been settled-by Japan. as mediator-in favor of Thailand. That is, Thailand gets the land she wanted, 25,000 strategic square miles, but has to pay about a million dollars for it. Japan has new trade treaties with French Indo-China and Thailand.
There are two possibilities: Japan is at last going to make a push southward, or some of the men will be allowed to go back to their homes, and the conflict will subside in answer to growing popular complaint against the army government.
Much of the pressure is off and many troops are available. The question is why?
On With the Show
What happened in Fraser theater last night? Something unusual is right. The University Dramatic club put on a student sponsored, student directed play with an all student cast. Critics, just more students, agree that it was good.
ROCK CHALK TALK
By HEIDI VIETS
Black sheep of the waltz scene in "On With the Show" is Phi Pi hepcat Mike Sheridan. With partner Anna Jane Hoffman, Chime Omega, he does the off-beat while everyone else one-two-three's. Waltzing just ain't got it, says Mike.
The dummy of Lana, feature character in "On With the Show," made a hit with the audience last night—a hit with its wig. When the dummy fell from the ceiling to suspend above spectators' heads, the wig flopped down to the floor, leaving Lana's head bared and unglamorous.
Feminine serenades last night numbered two—the Delta Gamma's and the Theta's. But the girls didn't cross each other up on their men-to-men melody tour. Their schedules brought them within hearing distance only once.
When the Theta's serenaded the Phi Psi's, almost everybody suspected trickery. The only foul play, however, was that the Psi's waited a full minute after the first song before they cheered. The girls got revenge by delaying their applause when the men answered back.
Dean Paul B. Lawson was surprised last Sunday when he went to dinner at the Chi Omega house to find that the two girls who invited him were both away from home.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
Publisher ... Gray Dorsey
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief ... Kay Bozarth
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son, Mary F. McAnaw
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Society Editor ... Helen Houston
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Published at Lawrence, Kansas, daily during the school year except Monday and Saturday. Entered as second class matter September 17, 1910, at the post office at Lawrence, Kansas, under act of March 3, 1879.
College Lingo Has Word For It
—Strictly American
Nearly every walk of American life has ist own unique "slanguage" of expressions, words, and phrases which are used every day as a part of the speech of the initiated.
Truck drivers, waitresses, actors, swing musicians, air corps fliers, the race track boys, Broadwayites (aided no small amount by the writings of Walter Winchell and Damon Runyon), harvest hands, lumberjacks, and shop girls each speak a lingo pungent with phraseology known only to themselves. Each is a colorful and expressive means of communication among "those in the know." Now and then a word or phrase will creep into general use from one of these neologism
on one of these nonlinear factories, but, for the most part, the language is vernacular.
The uninitiated parent who once walked into such an intellectual retreat seeking his "collih child" might be forgiven his complete amazement at hearing the waiter sing out "Shoot four, right, left, and one truckin', ritz one, drag a C.C., stretch a sunshine, G.A.C., Blackout, one of the best, and swipe me." All of this given with the steady sputter of a machine gun.
By no means the least of these is the college student as he lounges in his favorite "jive-joint" or hangout with saddle shoes dangling out of a private booth—a place where student waiters invariably go to the farthest corner of the restaurant so that they can yell the order at the top of their lungs.
The fond parent might be forgiven his amazement, but it would be a very green freshman indeed who
could not promptly translate this order. He would know, for instance, that the basic food and drink and "jelly dish" of all students is the Coca Cola, called from waiter to fountain man as a "shot," "shoot one," or, if a bottled coke, "cap one," or "one of the best." If the bottle is to be enclosed in the special wrapper which the Coca Cola people provide for their product, the order might be "shoot one in step-ins." The order is yelled by floor man or "chimney sweep" to the "short jerk," "the stoop, squat and squint man," the man behind the fountain.
Thus, the order just given would be four cokes in various flavors: "right" is cherry since the pump for this flavor is to the right of the coke dispenser on the fountain, "left" is lemon for the same reason. "Truckin'” is rather a far-fetched term, as a good many of them are, for it is vanilla—it used to be called "van" which is, of course, a truck, hence
"truckin'." You figure that one out. "Ritz one" is the old familiar 400, chocolate milk, with a new name—the 400 being the upper crust of ritz of people, thus also with the soda fountain. "Drag" any sort of flavor is an ice cream cone, usually with the ice cream flavor abbreviated. In this case it is chip chocolate. "Stretch a sunshine" would be merely an extra tall glass of orange juice, while "G.A.C." is short for grilled American cheese sandwich. "Black-out" is coffee sans cream or sugar. As before explained "one of the best" is a bottled coke. "Swipe me" is the order for a wet towel to be thrown at the wafter so that he can wipe off the table. Its occupants will then likely settle down into a steady bridge game interspersed with much small talk.
Probably the most often used expression in the entire college student's lexicon is "86," which can mean anything from incredulity to complete negation. The term originated with a waiter who couldn't carry six glasses of water at the same time. In fountain parlance the number of glasses of water the fountain man must draw is given in the second digit of a number in the 80's—thus 84 is four waters. A waiter can carry five glasses on one hand, but it take a man with very long fingers to carry six, hence "86" came to mean something that was impossible. From that stage it soon expressed "we're all out of that." Now, anyone who are 86 is a "droop," a "drizzle," or just simply "doesn't have it." Also, "86 on that," means "no."
Out on the floor where the "studies are talking over current affairs th
main topic usually centers around "B.U." biological urge, or any of its related subjects such as the latest campus romance. A couple going steady are "on the beam," or "future middle-aislers" if it looks like a really "gooey" affair. Post-war "necking" on the campus is now "smooching," "peeling the orange," a "crush party," or "sneaking a mug or two." The male will demand a kiss with "pucker up, I'm gonna lay one on you." The proper definition of petting is "a study of anatomy in Braille."
The stude greets his best friend with "hi stupe," "hello bag," or "what's cookin?" If a hangover is evident, the greeting is "you look like a stalking skeleton," or "close your eyes before you bleed to death." The friend may reply with "I'm a stranger here myself," or, if in low spirits, "I feel like warmed-up death," or "I'm among the zombies this day." If they agree upon the subject in question they say "that's no dream," or "you can say that again." To put emphasis in the proper place, "I ain't woofin" or "you're not just clickin' your teeth," all of which substitute for the outmoded "I'm not fooling."
Men studies who don't meet with the feminine point of view are "droops," "goon boys,""zombies," or, if ugly also, "some of Hitler's work no doubt." The co-ed who is unpopular is a "haggy bag,"a "black widow,"or may also rate the term "zombie."
The "B.M.O.C.," or big man on the campus, is a stude "in the lettuce," having plenty of pocket money to take his "cookie" or best girl friend to a "rat race," a better dance where they "do it cheek to cheek" and afterwards wheel in to one of the "campus clubs" for a "ground cow," or hamburger. If near starvation, she will murmur, "I'll eat anything that don't bite me first." The man who dates a lot of women's dorms or sorority houses (a nunnery or Lydia Pinkham headquarters), is known as a campus Casanova or dormitory Don Juan.
The coined phrase of the college is a linguistic kaleidoscope to express every emotion and object. The more remote the connection, it would seem, the better. Be that as it may, the studies really "have a word for it."
OFFICIAL BULLETIN
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
May 20, 1941.
Vol. 38 No. 150
Notices due at Chancellor's office at 3 p.m. on day before publication during the week, and 11 a.m. on Saturday for Sunday issue.
COLLEGE FACULTY: Meet Tuesday at 4:30 in the Frank Strong Auditorium. - Deane W. Malott, President.
DRAMATIC CLUB: The Dramatic Club will meet for election of officers at 4:30 o'clock Wednesday. Shirley Jane Ruble, President.
EL ATENEO: Sign the list in the Spanish Office if you wish to attend the picnic Thursday evening.-Merle E. Simmons.
PSI CHI: There will be a meeting Strong hall for election of officers. at 4:30 Wednesday in room 21 Frank Members please attend.- Lois Schreiber.
W. S. G. A.: Meet at 7 p. m. in the Pine room tonight.-Nadine Hunt.