Icemanisms

The Iceman is here, and he’s brought the language of 1912 with him.

After six weeks of rehearsal and nine months of anticipation, The Iceman Cometh begins preview performances in the Albert Theatre tomorrow night. Audiences, and especially O’Neillphiles, are in for a special treat, as the four-and-a-half-hour classic features a virtuoso ensemble that seamlessly become the residents of Harry Hope’s saloon, the Greenwich Village flophouse in which The Iceman Cometh is set.

If you want a poetically snarky insult, then William Shakespeare is probably your man (“you starveling, you elf-skin,”  “thou hast the most unsavoury similes,” etc.). But if you want a down-and-dirty dig without the floweriness of the bard, then Eugene O’Neill delivers.

In our first two installments of The Iceman Speaketh, we explored drinking terms and insults. Now for the miscellaneous catetory: words and phrases that O’Neill uses in Iceman that you don’t hear everyday.