Offendo. Ep. 15. 15.
Octonus. S. 1. 6. 75.
Æra. Ib.
Duplex. S. 2. 4. 63.
Vulpecula. Epist. 1. 7. 29.
Proprius. A. P. 128., &c.
A. A. D.
Slang Expressions.—It would be curious to investigate farther how some odd forms of expression of this kind have crept into, if not the English language, at least into every-day parlance; and by what classes of men they have been introduced. I do not of course mean the vile argot, or St. Giles'
Greek, prevalent among housebreakers and pick-pockets; though a great deal of that is traceable to the Rommany or gipsy language, and other sufficiently odd sources: but I allude more particularly to phrases used by even educated men—such as "a regular mull," "bosh," "just the cheese," &c. The first has already been proved an importation from our Anglo-Indian friends in the pages of "N. & Q."; and I have been informed that the other two are also exotics from the land of the Qui-Hies. Bosh, used by us in the sense of "nonsense," "rubbish," is a Persian word, meaning "dirt" and cheese, a corruption of a Hindostani word denoting "thing:" which is exactly the sense of the expression I have quoted. "Just the cheese," "quite the cheese," i. e. just the thing I require, quite comme il faut, &c.
Probably some of your correspondents could furnish other examples.