Mind your language
WE ARE making some progress, if only speculative, on the origin of the phrase spending a penny. For those of you who missed the story so far, it certainly pre- dates coin-in-the-slot lavatories, and seems to be connected to physicking.
The helpful and learned reader, Richard Rose, who seems to peruse the folio volumes of the Harleian Miscel- lany for fun, has come across an anony- mous lampoon called Scotland Characterized, published in 1701. After the usual jibes (such as that when Satan tempted Our Lord he didn't bother showing Him Scotland among the king- doms of the world, since it could tempt no one), the author gets down to scato- logical matters.
He describes the well-known Scottish habit of emptying sewage out of the window, then says: 'It may be, at high noon, and in the principal street, you shall meet a tattered wretch, with a monstrous cloke, and a close-stool under it, bawling out, "Wha wants me?" For a halfpenny you may be accommo- dated, and covered while you are so.'
Well, we are certainly in the right area here, and what is a halfpenny more to a man or woman in need?
On a related matter, I asked if anyone knew for certain what bum taffy meant, as attributed by Smollett in the 1770s to a fictional unlettered Welsh servant. Several of you suggested black treacle, a traditional laxative. Taffy is an early form of the word toffee (origin unknown), which has been in use only since the 18th century.
Mr Rose .suggests bum is a version of balm (at that time often spelled bawm or baum). And what might taffy be a corruption of — de vie? I cannot find in dictionaries any such phrase as baume- de-vie. Smollett is fond of making jokes by getting his semi-literates to use low words instead of fancy ones, and he is probably doing that here, even if bum- tajj5 had a recognisable meaning of its own.
Till something more certain turns up, perhaps we can all raise our thoughts to higher things.
Dot Wordsworth
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