I fled to the past, searching for comfort and a bit of linguistic fun, and bumped into the intriguing phrase collie shangles. Have any of you heard of this bit of Victorian slang before?
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Because it is definitely Victorian. According to a post titled A Dictionary Full of Victorian Slang, Queen Victoria herself brought this term into the light. The phrase and the definition appear in Passing English of the Victorian era: a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase by James Redding Ware. Collie shangles appears in the Queen's journal More Leaves, published in 1884, as follows:
At five minutes to eleven rode off with Beatrice, good Sharp going with us, and having occasional collie shangles (a Scottish word for quarrels or rows, but taken from fights between dogs) with collies when we came near cottages.
The perfect term to fling about the next time an exchange turns heated, don't you think?
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| No collie shangles when in the presence of the Queen! Photo of Queen Victoria with her dog "Sharp," the Border Collie, taken at Balmoral Castle Unknown author - http://the-lothians.blogspot.com/2012/06/, Public Domain, Link |
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