Wild West Words: Ladies’ Night

By Kathleen Rice Adams

In a continuing quest to avoid  anachronisms in western fiction, here are some of the more colorful terms residents of the 19th Century American West might have applied to women. (Terms related to lawbreakers and lawbreaking are here.)

Women with bicycles, 1890s

California widow: a woman whose husband is away from her for an extended period. Americanism; arose c. 1849 during the California Gold Rush.

Call girl: prostitute who makes appointments by phone; arose c. 1900. To call someone, meaning to use a phone for conversation, arose in 1889 along with the telephone.

Catty: devious and spiteful; c. 1886 from the previous “cattish.” The meaning “pertaining to cats” dates to 1902.

Cute: pretty, 1834 from American English student slang. Previously (1731), as a shorted form of acute, the word meant “clever.”

Drag: women’s clothing worn by a man. 1870s theater slang from the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor.

A working girl of the late 1800s

Fancy woman: high-dollar whore or a kept woman; possibly from the 1751 use of "fancy" to mean "ornamental."

Fast trick: loose woman. Of unknown origin, but possibly related to the 15th Century use of the noun "trick" to mean "trifles," or pretty things with little value. By 1915, "trick" had come to mean a prostitute's client.

Feathered out: dressed up.

Filly: a young, unmarried woman (literally, a young mare).

Frump, frumpy: cross, unstylish person; sour-looking, unfashionable. The noun arose c. 1817, possibly imitative of a derisive snort. The adverb followed c. 1825. The slang etymology is a bit obscure, although earlier uses of the noun frump meant “bad temper” (1660s) and “cross-tempered” (1746), both of which may have derived from the verb frump, which in the 1550s meant “to mock or browbeat.” All senses may have descended from the late-14th-Century verb frumple, “to wrinkle; crumple.”

Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's
19th wife. She divorced him.

Grass widow: divorcee

Gyp: female dog; more polite form of “bitch.” American slang from about 1840 as a shortened form of gypsy, presumably in reference to stray dogs' wandering nature. By 1889, gyp's meaning had shifted to "cheat or swindle," also based on gypsies' perceived behavior.

High-strung: temperamental, excitable, nervous; c. 1848. Evidently based on earlier (1748) musical term referring to stringed instruments.

Hot flashes: in the menopausal sense, attested from 1887.

Hysteria: mental disorder characterized by volatile emotions and overly dramatic or attention-seeking behavior. When the word arose in 1801 (based on the Latin medical term hysteric), it was applied solely to women and often resulted in their confinement to an asylum. In 1866, clitoridectomy was proposed as a cure.

Lightskirt: woman of questionable virtue. American slang. Date unknown, but most likely from the notion loose women's skirts lay over fewer petticoats than traditional skirts of the time and therefor were easier to raise.

Dolly Adams, exotic dancer
in San Francisco, 1890s

Painted lady: any woman who wore obvious makeup, primarily entertainers and prostitutes. From the 1650s use of "paint" to mean makeup or rouge.

Scarlet woman/scarlet lady: prostitute. From the 13th Century use of scarlet to mean "red with shame."

Soiled dove: prostitute; generally considered the kindest of such terms. Most likely a conflation of the 13th Century definition of “soil” (to defile or pollute with sin) and the Christian use of “dove” to indicate gentleness or deliverance.

Sporting house: brothel. Arose latter half of the 19th Century as a combination of "sporting" (early 1600s for "playful") and "house."

Sporting ladies/sporting women: prostitutes. Shortening and modification of 1640s "lady of pleasure" by substitution of early 1600s "sporting" (playful). Arose in America during the latter half of 19th Century in conjunction with "sporting house."

Vaulting house: brothel. Conflation of “vault,” meaning a vigorous leap (mid-15th Century) and “house.”

A Texan to the bone, Kathleen Rice Adams spends her days chasing news stories and her nights and weekends shooting it out with Wild West desperados. Leave the upstanding, law-abiding heroes to other folks. In Kathleen’s stories, even the good guys wear black hats. Vist her home on the range at HoleInTheWebGang.com.

 

Civil War Reenacting: Camp Followers

By Matthew Pizzolato

The term 'camp follower' is a broad term that encompassed many different types and classes of people. In general, it is defined as a civilian who follows an army.  Large groups of people followed the armies of both the American Revolution and the War Between the States and camp followers have existed since the beginning of organized warfare.

During the War Between the States, there were many different classes of camp followers. Some were the wives and children of the soldiers who followed their husbands and fathers because they had no way of supporting themselves with the men at war.

The sutlers, who provided goods to the soldiers that the Army didn't supply, were another class of camp follower. They sold items like eggs, cheese, butter and fresh or canned meat. They also sold dry goods such as playing cards, stationary, needles and thread, toothbrushes and straight razors.

Clara Barton

Another group of camp followers were the nurses. Perhaps the most famous of these was the "Angel of the Battlefield" Clara Barton, who would later become the founder of the American Red Cross.  The care she provided the soldiers of the War was mostly self taught. In addition to medical care, Clara would also write down the words of some of the dying soldiers and pass them along to their families.

But there were many nurses more exceptional than Barton, some who even came under fire with their regiments. The Union army alone had more than 21,000 women on their payrolls as nurses, cooks, laundresses, seamstresses and chambermaids.

And of course, some of the camp followers were prostitutes. The term "hooker" is alleged to have originated because of Union Major General Joseph Hooker. He became notorious for throwing parties attended by fallen doves and there was even a red-light district in Washington DC that was referred to as Hooker's Division. However, that story that the term originated with him is largely a myth. "Hooker" was in use as a reference to prostitutes before the War, but the Major General surely contributed to spreading it's use.

Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print. He is a member of Western Fictioneers and his work can be found in the Wolf Creek series as well as his own publications, THE WANTED MAN, OUTLAW and TWO OF A KIND. 

He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western. He can be contacted through Twitter @mattpizzolato or via his website: 

www.matthew-pizzolato.com