“The big French cluck I had the row with.”
Cluck: a stupid or foolish person, from the Danish word for a short guttural sound
“…me, a ordinary ham-an’egger…”
Ham-an’ egger: A fighter who boxes to put food on the table.
“…that double-dash dog.”
Double-dash: a double expletive
“…that belayin’ pin on the rail.”
Belaying Pin: a rigging pin that doubled as a baton, common on sailing ships and still used to a much lesser degree for lashing and hauling freight on steam ships—a very handy weapon.
“…because birds all around were jumping up.”
Birds: easily riled up people.
“…and a bad egg to fool with.”
Bad Egg: an idiom for a dishonest, good for nothing, rotten person, first appearing in print as American slang in 1864
“…what sort of dub would take my place…”
Dub: a sort of blunt, backward person
“…lamming head on…”
Lamming: to hit someone hard, possibly related to Norwegian and Danish lamme to ‘paralyze.’
“…the crowd was clean ory-eyed…"
Ory: unfound
“…when I slewed around…”
Slew: to turn, shift or slide violently.
Collodion: a syrup of nitrocellulose in a mixture of alcohol and ether, used for coating things and for surgical dressings
A Well of Heroes
link › jameslafond.blogspot.com
James—Bringing back this lexicon might save our young men from a soy-filled fate! Talk tough, act tough, be tough!
"I have a dream"—of a world filled with Bogarts, Cagneys, and Edward G. Robinsons.