Tweet-A-Week: Bowery B'hoy

        Bowery B’hoys and g’hals were the labels placed on young men and women of a working-class background in the mid-1800s, especially in Manhattan. According to Wikipedia, they used slang like “Hi-hi” (WTF), “Lam him” (WTF??), and “Cheese it.”

Everyone still uses the phrase "Cheese It"... And they will use it in the future too.

        The image of the working-class is something Whitman tries to place on himself at times, whether in his physical image, (as seen by his picture in our book) or through the language he uses. Whitman seemed to try to put on some rough edges on his image, which resulted in him gaining attention from upper-class people fascinated with a working-class image, as well as the working-class itself which probably desired representation in the arts and media. Whether the image was real or not, Whitman obviously felt a connection with the working-class, speaking of them at length in Song of Myself. Though they may have lived a rougher life than the one he led, he felt they made the US run. A Bowery B’hoy would be someone he not only wants to have read his poetry, but also someone who he would like to represent to the rest of the nation in a close view which the majority of people from the upper-class might not have seen before.