Jewelry is spigg; spigg is the treasure-chest of would-be beauty, the ammunition of the bogus Cupid.
In some latitudes, ladies are spigged with tattoo marks and nose-rings; in others, with marceled hair and low-necked gowns. (See Varm.)
Men spigg themselves with fancy socks and curled moustaches. In the cart-horse parade, Old Dobbin spiggs his braided tail with ribbons.
For spigg is nothing but a vanity that is not ashamed to advertise itself; but advertising is one of the most difficult of arts, wherefore now its appeal is as grotesque as the three fat seasick plumes in the dowager’s hair, and now it is as delicate as the violets in a debutante’s bosom.
So spiggety was cousin Grace,
When I was there last night,
I could not even see her face;
She was a shocking sight!
“Why all this flour and whitewash, dear?
Why so much black-and-red?”
“Because I’d feel so nude, this year,
Without my spigg,” she said.
Spil´lix, n. 1. Undeserved good luck; accidental success. 2. A lucky stroke, beyond one’s normal ability.
Spil´lix-y, a. Exceptional, lucky, uncharacteristic. Untrue to “form.”
At pool, tennis or golf, the spillix aids the amateur with proverbial luck. A spillix is winning a prize in the lottery; is the business deal, that unexpectedly goes through; is meeting an influential friend when you are in your best clothes. Getting a position by inadvertently happening to be right on the spot.
A bargain is a spillix; an exciting conversation overheard on the telephone. (See Frowk.)