A girl like that - beautiful, lissom, and - as far as he had been able to tell at such a long range - gimp, was sure to be fond of dancing. The chances were, therefore, that sooner or later he would find her at some night club or other.
He started, accordingly, to make the round of the night clubs. As soon as one was raided, he went on to another. Within a month he had visited the Mauve Mouse, the Scarlet Centipede, the Vicious Cheese, the Gay Fritter, the Placid Prune, the Cafe de Blogna, Billy's, Milly's, Ike's, Spike's, Mike's and the Ham and Beef. And it was at the Ham and Beef that at last he found her.
(from Meet Mr. Mulliner, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)
You will note above the word gimp. Given that is has a number of meanings, among them those that are crude and offensive, I will explain that when this book was first printed (1927), it would have had the meaning of "spirit" or "vim," or in this case the adjective forms of those words. (The Roaring Twenties were noted for their colorful slang expressions.)
No comments:
Post a Comment