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How Deaf Mutes Learn Slang

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 11, 1883

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 9, No. 38.

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How Deaf Mutes Learn Slang.

By St. Louis Globe-Democrat

A VERY curious thing about deaf mutes is the rapidity with which they learn the meaning and use of slang words and phrases. The ordinary street language of the day seems to be every bit as familiar to them as it is to people whose organs of hearing are not impaired, and they will say, in their own way, "You bet your boots!" or, "You bet your sweet life!" with as much ease and grace as if they had it at their tongue's end all their lives. One of the afflicted young men whom I asked for an explanation of this remarkable fact, said the deaf mutes got their knowledge of slang from the newspapers; that they were great readers of the newspapers, and snapped up a new phrase or word just the moment it made its appearance. They not only use slang in writing, but also in their sign language.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.