In every time period there are slang words. If you’re a writer and your story takes place 150 years ago (like one of mine does) it is important to know what words people were saying back then. In addition to being important for writers, the slang of yesteryear can be the “beatingest” fun. Here is a sampling of words used in the 1800s.
Acknowledge the corn: to admit the truth
Allow: to admit; to be of the opinion
Balderdash: nonsense; empty babble
Beatingest: anything (or anyone) that beats the competition
Chirk: cheerful
Picayune: used to signify something small or frivolous
Whip one’s weight in wild cats: to defeat or beat an opponent
Leah E. Good 
That’s cool! I was going to say “I should find some of those…”
And then I remembered my characters spoke a completely different and foreign form of English.
Oh well.
It would have been neat if you could have. Oh well. You have cool sandstone caves to make up for it. 🙂
I love this! Slang and catch-phrases from other periods of history are so fun and interesting.
They are interesting. You should look into the “Writers Guide to Everyday Life” series. They’re great.
Enjoyed reading slang from the 1800’s. Balderdash & picayune are the only two I recognize in our day and age. The others sound like foreign language.
I’m glad you like it. I love finding out how people used to speak.