Bartlett’s

Dictionary of American isms; a Glo ary of Words and Phrases colloquially used in the United States, 8vo. New York , 1859. It is a curious fact connected with slang that a great number of vulgar words common in England are equally common in the United States; and when we remember that America began to be peopled two centuries ago, and that these colloquialisms must have cro ed the sea with the first emigrants, we can form some idea of the antiquity of popular or street language. Many words, owing to the caprices of fashion or society, have wholly disappeared in the parent country, whilst in the colonies they are yet heard. The words “skink,” to serve drink in company, and the old term “miching” or “me eching,” skulking or playing truant, for instance, are still in use in the United States, although nearly obsolete here.