Canting Crew words
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As promised, here are a few fun words that I learned by skimming a 17th century slang dictionary.
My first choice: Rantipole, a rude wild Boy or Girl.
The OED gives a less age-limited gloss for rantipole: "A wild, ill-behaved, boisterous, or disorderly man or woman; a roisterer, a rogue; a rake; a minx."
The earliest citation, from 1679, is "My Lord Whimsey lost five Hundred, Sir Thomas Rantipol lost six Hundred, Sir Nicholas Whachum won two Hundred" — but the most interesting one is from W.S. Gilbert's 1892 libretto for The Mountebanks, which includes this passage, featuring some linguistic terminology as well as the symptoms of an alchemist's potion:
Exeunt all the Monks except ARROSTINO, GIORGIO, and LUIGI.
ALFREDO (to ARROSTINO). May I ask if you are the Prior of this monastery?
ARROSTINO. Well, I am and I am not. That is, I am now, but I wasn't an hour ago.
ALFREDO. I see – a recent appointment.
ARROSTINO. Yes, for an hour. Present tense, I am a Prior. Imperfect tense, I was a rollicking young rantipole. Future tense, I shall be a rollicking young rantipole – in an hour. I hope I make myself clear?
ALFREDO. Perfectly. (Aside.) Very like my own case. (Aloud.) I found this poor old lady almost insensible at the foot of the mountain. She had just strength enough to beg me to bring her here to you.
ARROSTINO. Exactly. You call her an old lady. Well, she is an old lady, and she isn't an old lady. Present tense, she is an old lady. Imperfect tense, she was a young lady.
ALFREDO. Of course she was.
ARROSTINO. Ah! but, Future tense, she will be a young lady again – in an hour. That's the curious part of it. (To MINESTRA.) Go in, my dear – is should say my aged sister – and we will take every care of you.
LUIGI carries MINESTRA into monastery.
ALFREDO. You are very good.
ARROSTINO. Well, I am, and I am not. Present tense, I am very good. Imperfect tense, I was confoundedly bad. Future tense, I shall be confoundedly bad again – in an hour.
ALFREDO. We are fortunate in having dropped in upon you during your virtuous phase.
LUIGI re-enters.
ARROSTINO. Particularly so. It's altogether a curious state of things. I'm such a creature of habit that I find it difficult to remember that I am no longer a rantipole. For instance, I see you have a watch. Perhaps it is a valuable watch. Don't tell me it is; I would rather not know. Now, you can't imagine how difficult I find it not to take that watch. Oh, I know it's wrong; but then I always knew that. (Adopting a clerical manner.) By the way, I am collecting a few gold watches to send out to the poor naked savages of — (Aside.) No, hang it all, let the man alone; you ought to be ashamed of yourself! (Aloud.) Pardon me, your handkerchief's hanging out. Will you oblige me by putting it out of sight? (ALFREDO does so.)
Thank you, thank you so much! Temptation, you know, temptation! We are all weak, and it is sometimes difficult to resist.
My second choice: Ramp, a Tomrig, or rude Girl. To Ramp, to Play rude Horse-Play.
…and the cross-reference: Tom-boy, a Ramp, or Tomrig.
The OED's gloss for ramp is "A bold, wanton, or lively woman; a tomboy", with citations like these:
1548 [She] was a rampe of suche boldnesse, that she would course horses and ride theim to water.
1622 Of such short-haired Gentlewomen I find not one example either in Scripture or elsewhere. And what shall I say of such poled rigs, ramps and Tomboyes?
1669 That long-legg'd Ramp, that daggle-tail'd she-Ranger.
1728 The Author..represents her likewise a fine, modest, well-bred Lady:..And yet in the very next Canto she appears an arrant Ramp and a Tomrigg.
And in third place, the Canting-Crew's gloss for Tories is "Zealous Sticklers for the Prerogative and Rights of the Crown, in behalf of the Monarchy; also Irish-thieves, or Rapparies".
The OED's first entry for Tory puts the Irish thieves first: "In 17th-cent. Ireland: a person living as an outlaw after being dispossessed by English settlers, and surviving by acts of robbery and plunder against the English; (later) any Irish Catholic or Royalist who has taken up arms against the English government. Cf. rapparee."
ajay said,
November 25, 2025 @ 10:14 am
The first appears in a song that was a favourite of, of all people, Mr and Mrs Gladstone, when in happy mood:
"A ragamuffin husband and a rantipoling wife,
We’ll fiddle it and scrape it through the ups and downs of life.”
(from "Disraeli" by Andre Maurois).
Both political parties in 18th century Britain were known by names derived from other languages. "Tory", still used as slang for "Conservative", is from Irish Gaelic "toraidhe", literally "pursuer" but more generally "bandit, thief". "Whig", the party who later became the Liberals, is originally from Scots "whiggamore", meaning a horse-driver, especially one from the Covenanter stronghold of Galloway, and therefore more generally an anti-monarchist or at least an anti-Stuart-monarchist.
The Hanoverian George I, in the same month, donated several hundred books to (whiggish and therefore pro-Hanoverian) Cambridge University and sent a cavalry regiment to garrison (Tory) Oxford:
The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse
For Tories own no argument but force;
Likewise that year to Cambridge books he sent
For Whigs admit no force but argument.
Or as they put it in Oxford
The King observing with judicious eyes
The state of both his universities
To Oxford sent a troop of horse, and why?
That learned body wanted loyalty;
To Cambridge he sent books, as well discerning
How much that loyal body wanted learning.
J.W. Brewer said,
November 25, 2025 @ 10:50 am
I wonder if that archaic sense of "ramp" would actually help make sense of Marc Bolan's puzzling-to-me usage of the word in the lyrics of "Raw Ramp" (released by T. Rex in 1971 as a b-side): https://genius.com/T-rex-raw-ramp-lyrics*
Bolan's lyrics were often offbeat in a sort of idiot-savant bargain-basement-surrealist way, but usually they just rely on incongruous imagery (e.g. "you've got the universe reclining in your hair") rather than obscure senses of lexemes.
*If you want to hear the lyrics as delivered, youtube will get you the audio.