phrases - 19th century American English "slang"?


As I was doing a bit of research online I stumbled on this Children's Corner page 311 from the American Farmers' Magazine 1858. And, frankly, there are a lot of words that look totally foreign to me. I've underlined them, below the excerpts I'll do my best to guess their meanings. Where there is a blank, that means I haven't the foggiest idea.


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  1. Book larnin' = book learning, i.e. education

  2. small trumps = to come up trumps; small triumphs; winning cards.

  3. bowers = the balls? The courage, the conviction?

  4. shucks = no value, worthless.

  5. agin = again?

  6. buck agin you strong = people will come back with vengeance?

  7. sorter = sort of

  8. nor nig = ________

  9. it's regular cut throat = if you're not honest in life, your very own life will be at risk


  10. skunked = _______



    • Are these slang terms still used in the USA, or have some become dated and almost quaint?

    • Are these terms regional or widespread?




EDIT (oops, forgot)


I love the expression: (don't) look like a sick chicken on a rainy day


Is it a well-known idiom in the States? Or is it unique to this article?



Answer



My understanding:



  • Book larnin' = book learning (education)

  • small trumps = to come up trumps; small triumphs; winning cards.

  • bowers = a jack in euchre (played with the 32 highest cards in the deck) and similar card games. [HT to andy256 for explaining that a jack is a high card in the given situation: when it is trumps, the bowers are the Jack of the suit and that of the other same color suit, e.g., if Diamonds became trumps, the bowers would be the Jacks of Diamonds and Hearts. If a Joker is being used, it would be the highest card, followed by the JD and JH.]

  • shucks = no value, worthless: another word for husks/shells/pod, useless after shucking corn; worthless since 1836

  • agin = against

  • buck agin = fight/oppose you, buck against you, as when a horse bucks to throw the rider off

  • sorter = sort of

  • nor nig = niggle? (to argue excessively, to find fault constantly and trivially; carp. (maybe don't fight at cards about your hand of possible cheating) or possibly nig - to be cheap/shortchange people [HT to Robusto for explaining that nig is likely a shortening of the word renege, meaning to trump a card instead of following suit when you still have a card of the led suit in your hand, considered as cheating. Saying don't nig, then, is a way of saying don't cheat.]

  • it's regular cut throat = it's a hard game out there: As an adjective from 1560s. Of card games from 1823.

  • skunked = come up empty, "to be completely defeated (in a game), to shut out from scoring," 1831, (people who go out fishing and catch nothing are "skunked")


I think the theme of cards/life being a card game and playing like an honourable man is where this collection of words comes from.



Are these slang terms still used in the USA, or have some become dated and almost quaint? Are these terms regional or widespread?



Not most of them. In the south, they might say agin'; buck is well known, as is it's a cut throat world.


I never hear of "Don't look like a sick chicken on a rainy day".


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