Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

it was reported that some folks were messin around in Mab after lights, and shouted 'KV' when they heard kemp approaching, who dutifully told them: "Come on now chaps, you know it's pronounced cave"

I can confirm that this certainly occured during my days in MaB! CHK would probably have reminded anyone who dared get this wrong though.

going back to late 40s/50s (!!!!) "kiff, crug, flab, squit, quis, ego", all used. Also: "skiffage pie" (delicious!), and another name given to a heavy duff that came looking like it had been squeezed out of a toothpaste tube ( i can't now recall the name. "Swabs" (fags) were paid and privileged. "Flip-flaps" - an exercise performed during compulsory "PT" in house groups half naked on the asphalt during break time. "Nose blowing" and "prayers" hardly slang but with a unique meaning to generations of blues who sprang out of bed each morning to perform these rituals.

Now I remember most of that - I was there in that period. There was also a lot of bullying when I first went there, with a delightful technique known as "fotching". This involved a very unhealthy whack round the back of the head. At home I have a dictionary of "housey slang" and much of it goes back a very long way.

Nicknames for masters/mistresses and matrons were always cruel and imaginative - it's nice to know that the tradition carries on. I might add that the school has always had a fair share of "eccentrics" or loony toons.

menace wrote: At home I have a dictionary of "housey slang" and much of it goes back a very long way.

let's hear some then !!

Beam = backside c1905
black jimmy = a foul medicine around 1885
broadie = the buckle for reaching middle school
bogs = the bogs at the back of the House during my day (1905 style hygiene)
chalks = milk at Hertford
gag = stew beef, slang is referrred to by Lamb in one of his essays
tightassed = a caning
skiffage = leftovers
sicker = the Infirmary
scraps = a scratch rugger XV from the West end Houses
hedgehogs = the name the boys in London used to refer to the Hertford crowd

Plenty more where they came from - my favourite is the last one

Yes Finney was a great and much feared fotcher when I moved from the Prep into Middleton A. Also thrashed juniors with a platted girdle - a truly terrifying presence!

Fotching was always a despicable act of legalized brutality. Same for beatings - the guy should have been expelled. On some fronts the place has improved beyond belief - I am sure we would have had Tom Brown "burnings" if there had been open fires big enough to do it. Strapping someone on a radiator was more pleasant/comfortable than anything. Ah the dire threats from Matron of chilblains and hemorrhoids.....

I recall "swab" as the term for the personal "body servant" to a house monitor. A paid appointment, no less. I think I was paid ten shillings (50p) a term .

Exactly right - I had forgotten all about that sideline. It also got you out of the worst trades because you were busy doing whatever the monitor needed done.

Yes, but I don't think it got you out of the mealtime trades. I'm not sure if all houses used the same naming system but in LaA we had (I think):

Plates 1 - pre-meal set-up - always a good skive because it got you off parade
Plates 2 - serving the main course
Plates 3 - serving second course
Plates 4 - clearing up, especially revolting mopping tables with grotty wet cloths.

Lamma looker wrote:I recall "swab" as the term for the personal "body servant" to a house monitor. A paid appointment, no less. I think I was paid ten shillings (50p) a term .

?????????

i thought that whole 'act' was illegal in the UK until the 60s/70s? or am i misunderstanding something here?

Cleaning shoes, making beds, lighting study fires, general dogsbody - Illegal?

Of course, as a hanging offence, the other alternative was an unpaid option I guess though I can't recall any specific cases.

That has triggered the memory of another bit of slang - "small boy" and "big boy" for those relationships.

misunderstood completely!

i assumed it meant something in the region of 'rent boy'! i was going to praise you for your openness and honesty about what would have been a sensitive area.

general dogsbody not so bad. i suppose whichever grecian it was was probably quite lenient towards you about other stuff. kinda like a big bruv.

Hendrik wrote:misunderstood completely!

i assumed it meant something in the region of 'rent boy'! i was going to praise you for your openness and honesty about what would have been a sensitive area.

A very sensitive area by the end of term, one would imagine!

I see how you could misunderstand! I think that any "rent boy" activity was entirely on a voluntary and unpaid basis - lurv, dontcha know.

I was lucky and had a swab-master who was pretty lenient though I came in for my fair share of bollockings. However, I think that just like real life, some swab-masters could be real ******** to work for and consequently tended to change their swabs frequently.