IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 i^KS ^ u us; « 12.0 12.2 I.I lU 11.25 Ta 2%. ">*' Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (7l6)t73-4S03 • . (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol Y (moaning "END"), whichavar applias. L'axamplaira ffilm4 ffut raproduit grica i la gAnArosit* da: La bibiiothiqua das Archivss publiquss du Csnsds Lss imsgss suivsntss ont AtA rsproduitos svsc Is plus grsnd soin, compts tsnu ds Is condition st ds Is nsttst* ds I'sxsmplsirs ffilm*, st sn confformit* svsc lss conditions du contrst ds ffilmaga. Las axamplairas originaux dont la couvarturs an papiar ast ImprimAa sont ffilmAs sn commsn^snt psr Is prsmisr pist st sn tsrminsnt soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'illustrstion. soit psr Is sscond plat, sslon la cas. Tous lss sutrss sxsmplsirss originaux sont ffilmAs sn commsnpsnt par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'illustrstion st sn tsrminsnt par la darnidra paga qui comporta una tella amprainta. Un das symboiss suivants apparaltra sur la dsrnlArs imaga da chaqua microfficha, sslon Is ess: Is symbols — ► signiffis "A SUIVRE", Is symbols y signiffis "FIN". Maps, platas, charts, stc, may ba ffilmad at diffffarant reduction ratios. Thoss too larga to ba entirely included in one exposurs ara ffilmad beginning in the upper lefft hand corner, lefft to right and top to bottom, as msny fframes as rsquirsd. Ths following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planchss, tsbisaux, etc., peuvent Atre ffilmte A dss taux de rMuction diffffirents. Lorsqus Is documsnt sst trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un ssul clichA, 11 sst ffilmA A psrtir ds I'sngla supArisur gauchs, de gauche h droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant la nombre d'images nAcsssaire. Les diagrammss suivants illustrsnt Is m6thods. I ** t 3 L:'--^^.::'- ,: :r t 4 5 ■-_ - - /.- ■ = 6 isei.] AmeriMnUtM. ill ^ AMSBIOABnaUB. A VKRY doll man, and a pertina- cious reader — tlie terms are by no uieans incompatible — ia said to have hod /obnsoD'a Dictionary lent to bim by Home inittchievous friend as an interesting new worlc, and to hare read it throagb from beginning to end, qaite unconseioas that he was doing anything unasaaL He observed, whan he returned it, that the author appeared to him a person of considerable information, but that hii style was slightly uncon- nected. The remarlc, like other ac- cidental remarks of great readers and stupid people, had a good deal of truth in it. A dictionary is not bad reading on the whole. It is much more endurable than a good many of what are called lighter books, and not mnoh more nncon- ueoted. Take Biohardson's Englitk Dictionary for instance; you could hardly make a choice of a pleasanter companion for an hour or two on a rainy day. In the hands of a patient reader it would form almost a course of study in itself and very far from a dry one : he would make acquaint- ance in its pages with a gcd many English authors to whom no one else is very likely to introduce him ; and although this acquaintance would certainly, in one sense, be very superficial, it would not in that respect differ from popular knowledgi> in genial, and would at least have the advantage of being accurate and critical, so &r as it went, in point of style. Bat a dictionary of American- isms, which offers us • bit of oomie dialogue or a Yankee story on every other page, must be allowed to be rather tempting reading than otherwise. Mr. Bartljtt's volume, at all events, may be read through easily and pleasantly enough. There is not a great deal to be learnt A'om it, perhaps: the materials are too modern to present much interest in a philological [toint of view, nor do we think that the most has been made of them in this res|>ect ; but the col- lection of queer turns of thought and odd perveriuons of language which find favour with our transatlantic cousins are safticiently amusing. Our own conversational language, and even some of our modern |)opular literature, is more leavened with them than most of us are aware of — certain- ly not to the credit of our popular taste. It is very hard to say what is or is not an Americanism ; the more so because it is becoming every day less easy to lay down rules as to what is or is not good Eng- lish. Our Anglo-Saxon on this side the water is but a happy conglomer- ate at best, and if the Philological Society's new list is to be trusted, is receiving daily additions, more or less valuable. Such verbs as "to amnesty" and "to colleague" (which come from Mr. Carlyle's mint) would look much more na* tural in Mr. Bartlett's pages thaa some which he has placed there. If by an Americanism were to be meant strictly a word born in the country, or used in a sense peculiar to the country, tlie fist might pro- bably be comprised in a very few coloiuns. In the book before us there are very few words of this class-^not nearly so many as we shomld have been inclined to expect. The words and phrases which are here collected under the genend term Americanisms may by fairly classed under three heads. (Mr. Bartlett makes a more extended divisioQ, but the f<^owing is accu- rate enough for present purposes.) 1. Geauine English words, bat which in England are obsolete or provin- A OloMary of Words and Phrases xt-tually regarded as peculiar to the United States. By J. B. Bjuitlbtt. Boston: Little, Brown A Co. London: TrQbner & Co. 1869. (i^ v^. ^0, i(o 1^1 m Am4riecmum$. I [April, oinl, eitlior nitogether or in tho Aiiierioan sense. Tliis clafw Is by for the largest of the whole. 2. Words intro(lnceqnire» no ex- •uption* from e i» a Hingainr juth-west — to ng more than )n of tamo$, Ivaaio, again, ' whom tliero ints in Texas enk their own their own al- io. Possibly [ fewer woeda in Mr. Bart- is one, how- ill readers of itcrature, that nation. It ifl word whieh many other tlie learned ;s derivation. )g vagabond ; B to mean so, Philadelphia a new word, i in the lan- ety Biology. ; it is the rnnner, with riy e&mpares id the Span- )te8 a corre- Queries, who b old Dutoh- )f his dangh- good-for-no- nging aboat. settlements les in Penn- ^elsh, who ind in New contributed vocabulary. 8 that they wn separatd 1861.] Afn»nMni»m$. langnage and nationality. The lat- ter people especially are the most tenacious nation upon earth on these point?. In Oneida Oountv, N. York, "one may travel for miles," nays Mr. Knrtlett, '^und hear n<>thin|{ but the Welsh lan|;cnage: they liave newspapers and magazines in their , native tonpne, and support many ohurchcs wherein their langnajyo alone is preached." He goes on to prfif,'nosticate that this state of thin<^ cannot last for any length of time, in which respect he is likely to be mistaken. But ho is quite correct in the remark that they are not likely to "produce any sensible dialectic change " in American-Eng- lish, owing to tho difference in the structure of tho languoge. Centu- ries have i)assed in the Anglicised counties of Wales without a dozen words having been adopted by the Saxon from the Oymry — his mouth abhors their fluent pntturals. Nor have the Irench, notwith- standing their occupation of Louisi- ana an(l Canada, grafted many words on the Anglo-Saxon stock, except- ing geographical names and terms in natural history. Such other French words as are in nse in the Southern States — such as eae?ie, por- table, voyageur, &c. — cannot fairly be called Americanisms, any more than those which wo are borrowing every day from the same source can be called Anglicisms. Indian terms of course abound throughout all the States. Half the geography and natural history of the country is Indian, as might bo expected. With regard to the first, it is much to be wished that it were more so — that the unfortunate race who are the victims of Anglo-Saxon enterprise had in a larger sense, so far as terminology went, taken their conquerors captive. There is a music even in the roughest of the old Indian names; and som« of them — Susquehanna, Ontario, Hochelaga, Wyoming, Minnehaha, &c. — are very smooth anil melodious. They were at one time more largely distributed than at present; but after the suc- cessful struggle for independence, an evil taste for modernising set in; and {esthetic h)yalist.s in the mother country must have felt halt' avenged for thuir defeat in the sub-titution of sncb names as " Adam-i " and "Gates" for the romantic syllables which had formed tho aboriginal name of tho town or village which it was sought to make liistorical. Kven Paweatuok and Wot a-qut-o are less grating upon civilised ears than such names us Ovid ami Pal- myra — to say nothing of Hodom and Babylon, which the old Ptiriluns inflicted, tht-y alone know why, upon some places in their new dotuiidon. Tlie Indian names for plants and animals are in most cases retained, as we should expect to fmd ; and the words canoe, wigwam, aquaw, mocassin, tomahawk, wampum, pem- mican, &c. — all ap|)liod to articles of the red man's invention — have be- come so familiar to us, thnnks to tho novelist and the traveller, that they may be considered to belong almost as much to our own as to the Amer- ican vocabulary. One use of the word " Indian " as an adjective is a sad index to much 'erffctly nt liomo in tliu peculiar wordti nnd idioms of bin own i-oiiiitry i^'enerally, and furnish* ed (as ^(r. Kartlett appears Ut bave been to a very fair extent) with pro- vincial fjlosMaries carefully compiled by others; nnd nn Eii^liith editor, who could l)uve asenred him that, unlesH he intended to include the whole En^liith langnaRo as an Amer- icanism, he might have omitted a good n)any words which are licre in- troduced. Such a coadjutor might, at any rate, have secured the editor from the strange assertion that veni- son, which "in the United States means exclusively the flesh of deer, is in Englnnd applied to the flesh of deer, hares, and certain game birds''^ He would also have been in a position to assure him that '^coal-hod" is undeniable English for u wooden conveyance for coals, and that few people except Cock- neys talk of "coals" being put on the fire. Mr. Pickering's remark, quoted by Mr. Bartlett, that "Eng- lish writers, in speaking of Amer- ican nftuirfi, generally say ' the Con- gress,' using the article, is quite in- correct as applied to the u.^age of the Inst twenty years at least, as might have been ascertained by a glance at any newspaper or printed book of repute. A half-educated person may talk of " the Congress " as he may of t?te Parliament, but such is not even the conversational practice of well-informed English- men. " Mock auctions," we fear, are not peculiar to New York; and there was no need to go to Mr. Hartshorn («)'8 Shropshire Olotgai:y for " Hop-Scotch," which may be seen played, under the very same name, in the streets of any Midland county- town where the police are indulgent. And "Sally Lunns!" They to be set down oa American- isms I whv, Sally wa^ a Hath pastry- cook; and if anything in the world is English, that ancient mnnufacturo is. Mr. Hartlett will be trying to perHuaeculiar ^o our kinsmen over the water. " Let be " is a good old formula common, we believe, to this day in every county in England. "Ho ain't" and "he don't" are vile modern Anglicisms, which were used not very long ago by those who ought to have known better. " You should ha' went " is good Cockney-English still; "seen" does duty as a preterite for "saw" in rustic conversation everywhere ; "stop" for "stay," and "Jay" for "lie," you may hear continually, not only from illiterate people, but from those who would be very angry indeed if they were considered so. "Your'n," "her'n," and "his'n" (aird even »hu'n* according to the author of the Scouring of the White Jforie, who should be competent evidence), are as good Berkshire as New York, any day. 80 is "ne'er a one" — or "nary," as both Mr. Bartlett and the authority just quoted choose to spell it ; though it may be doubted whether such an an- nouncement as the following would be intelligible if pnt forth by a Berkshira banker. (A "red cent," it should be premised, may be Eng- lished by a " copper farthing.") "Onr oitizena, last week, adopted a new plan for proteoting their banks from being run by the brokers. Learning i i " But t'other young maiden looked sly at me, And from her seat she ris'u — ' Let's yofi and I go our own way, And we'll let she go thit'n.' — -Berks ditty. fAprll, 18«1.] Annrieanitnu. 486 I Batli pnstry- iii the world t iiiHiiufucturo be trying to next edition, icaiw who dia- that tlio com- ention of uur d to an tiniie- iscrtiou of ttb* iptions, which in tlieir oriirin, )untry in being I lower diisaes. Ruiigo n» "Let i[)" "Mizzle," e leHst peculiar )r the water. I old formula to this day in Ingland. " Ho n't " are vile which were ftgo by those known better, ent " is good ; "seen" does for "saw" in everywhere ; »nd "lay" for ir continually, lite people, but be very angry considered so. and "his'n" icording to the of the White be competent d Berkshire as So is "ne'er as both Mr. authority just it; though it ler such an an- >llowing would forth by a A "red cent," may be Eng- irthing,") veek, adopted a their banks from kers. Learning I thnt u broker hat' renched town from it iioiKlihoiiriiig city to run lliu liaiik for L'oiii. tlioy promptly plnue*! on oii)> Hide uf th« hHiili a bucket of tar and n bruitli, and ii|H>ii tile onp(i«itu a long rougli- liMikiiig fiMK>lopteruuini»mi, [April, i li Hall, (luring which tho km wn* pot out. Ono of tho Huoliims — the " E(\nn\ IliKht«" pnrty— hftd been proviilfiit enough to ^riiix Home of the iimtchcH witli thoin, and tho room wiiH " n-llKhted in n moment." Tlioy wtTO (liilihod, in conHwquoiifio, lioco-fouim ; and tlie name hoM Hinco paHMcil to, and been retuined by, tho main luxly of DenioorAtH. Those who advocate tho t'xclusive claim of pcrxonH born in tlie United Htatt'H to public otHce-', and pro- claim " war to the hilt against Ho> inaniHin," were known at Unit oh "Native American!*;" and formed a conntcr-movcment a^ainAt an or- fTflnisation of the Irisli UoinaniHts for tho advancement of their own peculiar IntercBts. Tlioy were huo- ceeded on the name platform by tho " Knovv-nothingH" — so called be- cause, in order to keep their politi- cal movements &» Bccret as pos8il)le, their invariable reply to all truublo- Bome inquirers ou that nuhject was, "Don't know." The Germans of Pennsylvonia translated them into Saff mchtu, on the principle that those who profofssod to know no- thing hod better my nothing. They were also termed "Sams;" and, derisively by their opponents, "Hin- doos ;" a report having been spread, in disparagement of their claims to peculiar nationality, that a candi- date whom they had put up for the Presidency liad been born at Cal- ontta. The Irish party in New York "assumed" the name of "Dead Rabbits;" as to their rea- sons for the choice of such an un- pleasant sobriquet Mr. Bartlett does not enlighten us; but no doubt it has a history. The Americans ore exceedingly ready at inventing and applying those political nick- names, more or less hap:>ily; the Peace Congreps, which ij or was sitting at Washington under ex- President Tyler, and which consists chiefly of elderly notabilities, was at once dubbed by Young America " the Fossil Convention," Most of the long-established cant words of Congretw, with their hl«- tory and derivation, are already well known to Knglixh y«adon<. The in^ttrnotive parable which explain* tho origin of " Bunkum" will hardly t>o forgotten as long as that stylo of eloquence continues to adorn our Knglirth House of Commons, and woulil f.irm a very nntlul text to few up, han«U(m)oly illuminated, over the Speaker's chair. "Caucus" — with its very <|uestioi»iblo derivation from a Bhi|>-('att//l«r»' meeting at Boston — is sulHciently understood. " I'lat- form" (of winch we have already been glal to avail ourselves), in the sense of a general code of i)rinoiples, we should certainly have set down as strictly American, and are in- debted to Mr. Bartlett for pointing out its use in a similar sense by no less an authority than Hooker, who speaks of the bent of people's minds being "contbrmablo to the plat- form of Geneva." We have since met with a similar use of tho word in Bacon, where he speaks of " tho Ex- emplar or Platform of Good."* An expressive term applied tosition better understood in Anie- rioa than here, inasmuch as friend Jonathan will sit on the rail of a neighbour's fence " whittling" for hours, to his own immense satisfac- tion. To desert a itian's party or principles goes with us by the name of "ratting;" the Americans, by a similar figure of speech, call it to "crayfish," because that little animal, which abounds in some of their swampy lands, is in the habit of " backing out" of his position under disturbing circumstances. Each of the States, and nearly every town of nny mark, has a sort of slang alioi^ either complimentary or otherwise. New York claims to be the "Empire State," to which its great wealth and population give it * Advancement of Zeaminff,^. 226. Pickering. 18S1. 4 (April, 1891.] Aii*0HciinitiM. 487 I their bU- re alrrftdy ftdcri*. 'n>« )h explain* will hanlly Ihnt 8ty!o of ndoru our iiiiiotiH, mill 1 text to ««» ed, over the ucim"— with ivaiiDii from lit HoBttin — ml. " riftt- nve already lvt'»), In the jf |>rinoiple», vre 8ft down ind are In- for pointing r sense by no Ilookei, who eojde's minds to the pint- e have since if the word in i of " the Ex- of Good."* ijilied to that triility which strongest side «., sitting on ro properties,' m either side y invite; a ,ood in Ame- uch OS friend the rail of a vhittlinK" for iit'iiBe satisfac- tian'rt party or ns by tbe he Americans, speech, call it ^ that little lis In some of 3 in the habit I position under es. !8, and nearly ark, has a sort complimentary fork claims to ," to which ita )alatiou give it Bl. k i c.liarac- ter of the |)opulation, " I nfvvr knt-w a man from Arkan^oi*," »uid a frii'iMJ to the compiliT, " but he WHH a l)(ir, ami in fact all the peo- ple am hariiK to a dojiree." An anecdote in another part of the work oirtainty a{>pearH to indicate a sli^'htiy otl'-liand manner t>n the part of tlie ladies there. A young Hostonian of the first water (and the Koiiton folks claim to be " the brain of the New World") made bis flrnt appearance in polite society in Arkansas at a ball. He saw a most attractive young lady sitting in a window for some time without a partner. After much modest besi- tatifii, and some anticipations of a pos^ible refusal, he ventured to say to her, in bis bewt style, " Will you do me the honour to •;;raco mn with your hand for the next set?'' The lady jumped up in a state of de- light (uf which the provincial news- paper gives a very glowing descrip- tion), and made a reply which must have staggered the young exquisite : " Yes, sir-ree ! for I've »ot, and /*o^, and »ot^ till I've about tuk root!" Ohio is the " Buckeye State," from a tree {/Eaeulm glabra) which grows there in abundance; and an Indian chief has left bis name, '' Hawk- eye," long a terror to western pioneern, to the State of Iowa. Connecticut is known as the " Nut-, meg State,"' from the famous 8pcf its nciuitors having been a detennined auri l'lilliiilel|>liiii iMHlnio«t ill n«)WN|Mi|K>r pliriiMC- "tiuiikiT, City ;" and w«< liHVf, l>4>i(iil()4, uiMonffMt ottii-n, tli« "Ijtiuen ('ity," Cincinniiti ; tii«) "Hpindlo City," biwull ; ftml tliu " ForiHt 01tv,'U1ovolu»il, Oliio. The MiHMi»wi|ipi, in l)»r-rnn " itiuu- iioHe," iip|)ii»-(i to n N'«)Vrt Hcotiiui, Ih durivrd, iih Hum Hiick Iihh inforniud ui, triiiii n (tiluliratfd kind ut' potato wliicli if* iiiucdi grown tliere : liut wiiy tho ('iinadinuH are calied " K'liuukH," or " CiinnuokM," in loCt u Hiyntcry uvcn in the work In-fore us. Tho reputed origin of tlio «x- prennion« " Urotlier Jonntliun " and '' Uncle Hani," ho uoiiiiiionly ap- !>lied to our tranHatlanlic rolativeM, R poHHiblv already well known to many reudurH. At the risk of lioing tedious, wo will givu the Htorieu bribtly according to Mr. liartlott. He datbti them both from the Revolutionary War. At the com- nicnceiiient of regular hoHtilitien, one Jonathan Trumbull waH t^ovornor of Connecticut. General Wiwiiitigtou, wlien appointed to the command of the army, found it very badly sup- pliiNl with ammunition and oth«r n«4;«*iM«rieH of war ; grvtt t'Xortiont booHtne iicot<«Mary in order to mipply thfuu dt^tiflieiirieH ut once ; und Wanli- ington found nucIi vuluiilile aid in the 7.«al and Judgment of the governor, that in all dilHciiliit.-* of tlie kind he wiiM in tlif huliitof Haying," Wo inuHt oonHuil Itrother Jotuithan" wliioii thuM pAMed into a by-word with all partioH. Till' other ■4tory, an given in KrontH Niteal llittory <>J ihn IJnileil Stnli'ii, ruiiH liiietly iih follows : Onii Elliert .\iidersoM, of Now i ork, an army contrautor, had purclia^ed a largo <|UHntity of proviitioiis at Troy, on the Uiidrion. Tlie (toverniiioNt inMpeetorH al tliat place were MoHnrn. Ebunezer and Samuel Wilnoii — tho latter iiivurlubly known among tlio workmoti an *' Uncle Ham." Eadi proviriion - Clink, aH examined and paHHod, was marked E. A. — U. 8. (Elbert Anderson, United Htates.) The first initials were oa-sy to un- derHtaiid — not so tho two m5Nte- rious li'tterrt which followed ; for tlio now republic, it must be re- membered, had Hcaroely yet learned to lui.swer to itx name ; mo the work- men, after a littlo puzzling, aaid in Joke that U. H. niUHt stand for " Uncle Ham" — i. «., Mr. Hamuel Wiltiou,.the inspector; to them a a correnpondont ot Notes and Qiieriet (vol. xi. p. 321), who dates from tiio "State Library, Hartford Connect," and sliould tlioreforu lie well informed, gay* that no Buch 1aw8 ever existed, and tliat Dr. PvttMM'a book is a libel. And Huch would aiipoar to he Mr. liartlett's opinion, though he Bays very little on the subject (see p. 88). They are quoted, however, by Judge Ilaliburtou {Enijliiik in Avurica, i. 814) as authentic, and probably from I'etors^ book. Amongst them are the following : — " No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or elsewhere, except reverently to and fmni meeting. "Mo husband shall kiss his wife, and no woman shall kiss her child, on the Sabbath or fasting-day. "No one shall read Common-Prayer, keep Christmas or saints' days, make mince-pies, dance, or play any instrument of music, except the drum, the trumpet, and the Jew'* harp. " Every male shall have his hair out round according to a cap." Tiieso bear a suspicious absurility on the face of them ; but an " Abstract of the Lawsof New England," as publishca in Governor Hutcl^inson's Collection of Papers (London, 1665), shows that the Puritan discipline went pretty far. Not only blasphemy and witchcraft, but " heresy with obaaracy," " profaning the Lord's day in a careless and scornful coatempt thereof," and " rebellion against parents," were to be punished with death. Kasn or profane swearing subjected the guilty party to loss of all civil rights, and corporal punishment, either by "stripes, or branding with a hot iron, or boring through the tongue." Well might old Blackstone of Shawraut say, that" he had left England because he did notuke tlie Lord Bishops, but that he could not live under the Lord Brethren." [ApfU, lS«!.j ^% ^W^^t^Wt»»^W»»» 4^9 n uiul <»th*ir tliu tho novt-riuir, r iliH kiii'l l'« Inn, "Wo inuHt fAfirt," wliioh wonl will* hH iry, HH Kivn i» I "t'olliiw-t : Oim Now Vork, ftu I |)uroha.-eil u m\om Ht Truy, It! CldVlTllUIOHt cu wtpoar subject (see p. 88). Amtrica, i. 814) as re the following '.— irden or elsewhere, M hor child, on the • suKite' day», make J drum, the trumpet, ;an "Abstract of the J Collection of Tapers retty far. Not only faning the Lord's day gainst, parents," were oted the guilty party '' stripes, or brandmg ght old Blackstone of like the Lord Bishops, much ttioro lii«foripal ptT^onngp, Ihv joko t(K)k, ami xprend far nnd wide, n* JokfK will, nnd, mm V\\c\« Sum, llm I'lilti'd Mliitfh (infrormiK'iit liim liffii |H'n«>nitifii KO"d ftuthority. Thfy are at Ipiist vrry (• rciiuHtiintiiil ; yt-t the rdliitiiomhip iiii()lieeo()le in her house, though she could not sleep half the number." To " egg," again, is to pelt witii rot- ten eggs, — happily not so common an occurrence as to require its special verb with us. We sincerely trust that " 'coonery" will never be so rampant in Edinburgh as to place the Editor of Maga in such an uncomfortable predicament as the following : — " W. J. Bailey, the abolition editor of the Newport (Ky.) News, was efffjed out of Alexandria, Campb«ll county, in that Htate, on Monday." — Bait. Sun, August 1, 1867. This " egging" of opposition editors is plainly what our American friends, in their land of liberty, call " an in- stitution ;" a word which has a variety of the oddest applications. Here are a few instances: — " Oarotting, as an institution, may be said to be almost extinct in New York. It went out of fashion in a desperate hurry.immediately after a sensible judge sentenced three garotters to the atate prison, one for life, the other for twenty- one years each." — Tri9k» and Traps of New York, p. 47. " Whatever small thinkers and small actors may attempt, woman cannot be counted out and classified as a {uere ap- pendage. 8lie is an inalituiion, and nereafter must receive the most generous culture and reeognition." — New York Tribune, August 1 1, 1858. But as a caution to American fair ones not to be too much elated by this chivalrous declaration, they will find other and less divine presences recog- nised as " institutions" also: — " A very unwholesome object, the carcass of a large dog, lias been sufjfered to lie in Ninth Street, near D, since Tuesday, although most abominably of- fensive and unhealthy. A similar insti- tution has occupied a site on thti com- mons for some time past, filling the air with noxious odors." — Washington Eiie- ning Star, July 1868. Mr. Barllett shows that we are not safe from such abuses of the word even in England ; for ho finds in the letter of the Timen'' Indian Correspon- dent (April, 1858) that "the camels form an institution of India." It is interesting to find some old senses of words retained, which are perfectly legitimate, but fast growing obsolete in the mother country. " liide," for example, as expressing conveyance in a carriage, has been classed as an Ame- ricanism — very unfairly, as Mr. Bart- lett observes. '• Sick" is still the com- mon expression for indisposition of any kind, as in our English liturgy ; whilst "ill," which has taken its place in our iiodern parhmce, retains, at least in 'IcA'as, much more of its original mean- ing. "Is your dog ill?" would bo understood, not as u tender inquiry as to his health, but a^ a precautionary investigatitm of his moral character — " Is he given to bite ?" Even the po- pular sense of the verb " guess," as ex- pressing any amount of belief or cer- tainty, which has formed a point of dispute between American philolo- gers, and which Mr. Bartlett himself seems disposed to give up as an Ame- ricanism pure, simple, and indefensi- ble, was once prevalent in England, as it appears to us, with very little more limitation. The very first ex- ample which he quotes from Chaucer is an instance of it : — " Ilcr yellow hair was braided In a tress Uobind hor back, a yard long, I guess."'' — Giiauokk's ueroine, Locke also has th« word more than once in a sense corresponding still more nearly with the present Ameri- can colloquial use, as in the following passage : — " lie whose design it is to excel in English poetry would not, I guess, think that the way of it was to make his first essay in Latin verses." So also the verb "reckon," used ':mv^7^?;J^i-"?^'■as^«;■Tv?^ 4S9 AmsrieanUynt. [April, m in mucli the same sense in the United States and in the northern Ijart of England, appears with the same meaning in onr version of the I5ible.* So witli regard to tlio use of the term "sliclt" (which is nothing more tlian a form of " sleelc, or slik'e as used by our older poets), a word whoso very soimd, to our modern ears, implies Americanism ; such it is un- doubtedly, 80 far as common usage goes ; but it lias still the same adver- bial sense of " clearly and entirely" in some of our western counties. The verb is used by Ciiapman iu his trans- lation of the Odysney — ■' Sliek't all with sweet oil ;" and by Beaumont and Fletcher — " Who will our palfreys slick with wisps of straw." — Knight of the Baring Pestle, Act ii., scene i. " Monstrous," which Mr. Bartlett gives as " much used by the vulgar for ' verj', exceedingly,' " was much used by the fashionable in the same sense in Horace Walpole's day, and there has been soma tendency to re- vive it of late, like other question- able idioms of the same period. " Awful" — another intensive adjec- tive which our schoolboys of late very much atFect — is at least as much a Scotticism as an Ameri- canism. " Bound," in the sense of " resolved, determined," which is here inserted with the remark that it is " a vulgarism of recent origin," is of very old standing in some parts of England at all events, and may be heard in com- mon use to this day in the English districts of South Wales, where a good many primitive terms and ex- pressions survive. An English phi- lologist, well read in the folk-lore of he mother country, might pro- bably find in the New England pro- vinces many terms in use connected with old customs which have dis- appeared on our side of the water. We have a hint of one in the term " whit - potting " which is here given as ." nsed In Nantucket for visiting among relations and friends." There is no attempt at explanation ; and the compiler was probably not aware that it alludes to the old English festival of Mothering-Sunday (Mid-Lent), when servants and young people were allowed to go homo for the day, and when (at least in the west of Eng- land) " white-pot" — something like hasty - pudding — formed a staple dish. There is also a phrase quoted from an account of the early customs of New England, called " whipping the cat," applied to the annual visit of a travelling tailor to repair the clothes of the household. Of its origin Mr. Bartlett professes himself unable to give any account, nor can we ; but the identical phrase is still known in England with the same ap- plication : it is possible it may be con- nected with a rough practical joke which bears the same name in Hamp- shire, of which the tailor may have been the subject. There are a good many terms, of course, of genuine American manu- facture, and which boldly set all sense and derivation at defiance. We need not introdnee our old ac- quaintances " absquatulate," " oata- wampously," " slantindicular," &c., which have a certain force in their very absurdity. In this dictionary there are a few of this class which may be new to onr readers, as most of them are to us. Ladies are said to get into a •conniption fit" when any little matter goes wrong. The lexicographer here prudently de- clines not only etymology but ex- planation, and contents himself with humbly suggesting that, " as far as he can judge," it may have the saine mysterious meaning as " tantrums." A " karimptiou" is what We should caH a " squad." " A whole karimption of Jbutch emigrants were landed here yester- day," writes the Cairo (Illiiioia) Times. A "contraption" is a con- trivance. " Caboodle" appears to be a strengthened form of bundle • Romans vi. 11, yiii. 18. 1861.] Am»rieani»m». 48S in Nantucket elatioDs nnd » attempt at compiler wns at it nlludes festival of -Lent), when people were the day, and we?t of Eng- tmethicg like id a Htaple )hrase quoted '.arly customs i " whipping B annual visit to repair the [lold. Of its fesses himself ount^ nor can phrase is still the same ap- t may be con- practical joke line in Ilamp- lor may have any terms, of erican mann- )oldly set all at defiance. ) our old ac- iate," " cata- licular," &c., force in their lis dictionary 3 class which Jers, as most adies are said ion fit" when wrong. Tlie rudently de- )logy but ex- ents himself g that, " as it may have meaning as irimptiou'' ia a " squad." n of Dutch here yester- ro {Illinois) m" is a con- appears to m of bundle —"the whole lot." "Sloshing about" — a western '-'r •an only be explained by the \w. ■ evidence which is quoted in illusaudon :— '" Come, witnesd, whni hn.l Mr. Sal- tonstnll to do with the affair?" " ' Wiill, I've tnld joii, they clinched and paired off, but ti^ultonstall lie jetit kept liloithiiifj about.' "'Tliat isn't legal evidence, my good fellow, in the Bhape you put it. IVU me what you mean by "sloshing about." ' '"111 try,' answered the witnesa. ' You see, IJri*\ver and Sykea clinched and fuut. That's in a legid form, aiu't itf " ' Oh yesl' said the judj^o — ' go on.' " ' Abney and Blackinan then pitched into one another, and Blackrtian bit off a piece (if Abney's lip — that's legal too, ain't it »' " ' Proceed I' " 'Simpson and Bill Stones and Mur- ray was uil together on the ground, a bitin', goiigin', and kickiu' one another — that's legal too, is it?' " ' Very — but go on.' " ' And Saltonstidl, he made it his business to walk backward and forward through the crowd, with a big stick in his hand, and knock down every loose man. Thnt's what I call doshing about.' '' — Cairo {Illinois) Ihnes, Nov. 1864. In the Sonth and West they have enriched their vernacular of late by a queer kind of onomatopceia — ex- presbive of all varieties of falling; a body is said to go " kerslosh," or "kesouse," or "cachunk," into the water, or "keswalop"' over a horse's head, or "kelumpus" on Something hard. But these wcrds are spelt and pronounced with all manner of varieties, according to the speaker or writer's fancy. Of the many words which are strangely metamorphosed in their metaphorical application, perhaps the most ludicrous instance is the slang term " socdolager." It stands for a conclasive argument, physical or otherwise; ''the winding-up of a debate, a settler; and figuratively, in a, contest, a heavy bh)vv, which shall bring it to a close." " I gave the fellow a tocdolager over the head with the barrel of my gan," saith Colotiel Crockett. The word is no- thin? more or le.*s than a corruption of doxology — the signal of disnds.sal at the close of n-ligious services. " Bogus " — a[>plicd to forged bills or notes — is an ea'^y form of " Borg- hese;" an individual of that name, •some twenty years ago, having done a very large business in the forgery line, whence all paper of that de- scription became known as ^* Bogiti currency." The term has since been figuratively ap[>liod to coun- terfeits of any kind. It also serves to di.stingnish one of the favourite "drinks," omposed of rum and molasses. But the nomenclature of American drinks is almost a science in itself. Under the word " Liquor," in this volume, the reader may find a list of no less than sixty varieties, said to be taken from a single bar advertisement. The thirsty soul has an almost be- wildering choice; but unless he should be a political teetotaller, it is hard if he does not find some- thing to suit both his taste and his principles. If " Vox Populi " is too strong (or him, he can try "Moral Sua-iion ;" if he cannot swallow ." Polk and Dallas," the " Slip-ticket " 'would pronase to go down easy. We are sctrry to say Mr. Bartlett does not give the receipts for these compositions; but they seem from their names to be adapted to tempt all classes of tipplers — from "Peach Cobbler" and "Oitroneila Jam," which ifiust be ladies' fancies, to " Chain-lightning " and " Ne plus ultra," which must be reserved for more advanced disciples. Indeed, the difficult point seems to be, to know what name a drink does not go by. Servants who live in fami- lies where it is the habit to " liquor up considerable " are a|)t to fall into awkward mistakes from not being thoroughly up in the terms of the science. Here is the illustration given by Mr. Bartl«tt, under the word "Pnpelo," which is a New England name for oider-brandy : — " Han't they got any of the reUgian at your house I" [inquires a pious lady- visitor of the "help."! " No, ma'am; they drink pupelo and rttwi."— Judd's Margaret, p. 62. VOL. LXXXIZ. 80 LSyrfP^ 484 Amerieanitmt. [April, I ii The stroiiR religions principles of the old rilgrim Falliera Imve of course left their stiiiiip upon the language and modes of thought of their dcsceTularits. It may he a (juebtioii whether either one or the oilier are the hetter for it. Much of the old Puritan spirit has passed away, whilst its vocabulary remaius ; and amongst the lighter spirits of llie preseiit day the quaint old phrai'e wliich, on tlie lips of their forefathers, had at least a religious meaning, only serves, as it did amongst the courtiers of the Restor- ation, to give additional point to a jest by a tinge of profanity. We need only refer to the pages of Sa}7i Slick as the most familiar embodi- nieHt of American dialogue to an English reader. It would be most unfair to accuse the writer of pro- fanity, for many passages in his ■writings might be quoted as proofs to the contrary. Yet, undoubtedly, the free adaptation of scriptuml phraseology gives a dangerous pi- quancy to the humour, of which many readers must be painfully coubciouf", much as they may admire the caustic good sense and the irre- sistible . He asked a review at the court following, which was granted ; and, pending trial, the court asked counsel of the Rev. Mesera. Woodbridge and Buckinghiini, the ministers of the Hartford churches, as to the 'common , occeptotion ' of tlie offensive phrase. Their reply constitutes a part of the re- cord,, and is as follows; — 'Wo ore of opinion that these words, said on the other side to be spoken by Bevel Waters, include — (1) profuneuess, by using the name of Uod, that is holy, with sucli ill words whereto it was joyned ; (2) that they carry great contempt in them, aris- ing to the degree of au imprecation or a curse, the words of a ciuse being the most contemptible that can ordinarily be used. ''T. Woodbridge. , T. BUCKIN0H.\M. " March 1th, 1V06-6. " The former judgment was affirmed on review.'' Wo can sympathise with the hon- est indignation of a clergyman men- tioned by Mr. Bartiett, who called tlieso evasive itn|>rec:itio!H '4 one- horso oaths;" that adjit-tivo being used by western agriiultnrisfs to anything moan and shabby of its kind — "a oue-horse hanking eon- cern " — "a one-horse church" — "a (ine-horse lawyer." Even modern American courts, which, wo are ac- cnst.w, and from [ when eaten ; attached, it is ■ Lord Corn- fork Town in irked to an- irallis now, he ihington shell I slick." "To 1 " — which is *sion for con- f any accasa- )le when its Yankee from int down to OS with two th corn, the He went into bis way, and le then staked and potatoes "When ho larf, he found ontainiug the otal loss. He kl Society's List 1861.] AmerieanUma. 487 went to Hieop off his trouMes as well as ho could ; and before he was well awako in the mortiin;;, the sncces:*- fill party niado his appeitrance to claim Ilia winnings. " Slowly a- wakeniiig from sleep, our hero, rub- bing 1)1:1 eyes and looking the man in the face, replied, ' Stranger, / arknowledge the corn — take 'om ; but the potatoes you canH have, by thunder I ' " The words and phrases which are really the most interesting, and which may with most propriety be classed as genuine Amencaiiisnis, are those which bear in their origin the impress of a new country — which come to us with all the racy flavour of the backwoods and the prairie, the settler's log-lmt, and the free hunter life. These are not slang, however much they may seem to resemble it. They are the lawful coinage of a new world, expressive of new combinations and new wants. Like many words and phrases in the " old country," they carry a little history in themselves. A " corduroy " road could exist no- where but in a forest clearing. In no other country could a traveller strike a " bte line." It may sound like a strange inversion of moaning at first to find that to " save " means to " kill "— " I've shot three men," says a notorious Western duellist (jud'je W of I'exas), " and two of them I saved" — until we remember that to the hunter, whose subsist- ence might depend upon his ritte, every wounded animal that escaped was a shot wastel. Western talk is full of these metaphors, always witli a touch of the picturesque even in their most ludicrous adaptations. If a man changes his quarters, he is said to " pull up slakes," or to " make tracks " — phrases which are in themselves vivid reminiscences of a nomad life amid the pathless wildernesses of a new country. To move off in a hnrry is to " wake snakes" — a highly probable result ill a country where a traveller about to start in the morning is pleasant- ly informed by the landlord that " there's u smart sprinkle of rattle- snakes on Rod Uuii, and a powerful nice day to sun themsolves."* If a fair lady loses her tenijier, or if she breaks a tender promise, she is said to " fly off the handle," like a faithless axe — as serious a disap- pointment as a lost love to maiiv a settler. This appears to bo a (av- ourito metaphor, for we have it otherwise applied in a New York papir, where a poor man is an- nounced as having succeeded to a fortune from a distant relative, " who went off the handle in England rather uiipxpectedly." If there seem a little aftectation of nierliin)j wurtte tiiait a pole-cat, id not a very jjleawant operation. This vermin has betu " improved '' by the Atnericantt into another maxim, as good as it is original — " Vice is a skunk that smells awful rank when stirred up by the pole of misfortune." We cannot lielp think- ing that, with a little pains, an amus- ing collection might bo made of these essences «)f new-world jthilo- fiophy ; the list given at the end of Mr. Jiarllett's book is very short and poor, and contains none o:icept this last which is worth tjuoting. An English coadjutor, as has been said before, might have been useful, uud might have contributed a good many phmaea which would strike an English reader as decided Americanisms, though they pass unobserved by those wlio are ac- customed to meet with them and even uso iheni continually. One in particular, which is a great iavouriie both with Mr.o. Stowe and Mrs. Wetlierell, certainly deserved a place in any collection. When young ladies enjoy themselves, they are said to have " liad a good time." " Have you bad a good time, deer?" says one to the other on her return fron> a party. Neither of those lady- authors, of course, has the slightest conception of the odd eftVct which it has upon English ears ; not at all because such an ex- pression is not ft familiar one with us ; it is in use every day with the good folks in our English villages, and is a favourite one, we believe, with, the ladies — only not exactly in the American sense. A careful reading of some of the most popular books (which are not always the hest written) published in America, would enable an English critic to supply Mr. Bartlett with a good many additions of thia kind to his dictionary. One cannot turn over many fiagea of this smasing volume without observing that there Beems to bo a giMMl deal of fun going on amongst Uncle Sam's young }>eople, which we miss here in the old country : harndess fun enough, we will be bound to say, in spite of the up- lifted eyelids of modern refinement. Parties of pleasure are actually called " frolics " — imagine such a term applied to our well-hehayed stupidities ! Probaidy most readers know what a " bee '* is : when neighbours meet together to do one of their friends n good turn, and to have a social laugh and gossip over it at the safno time. Some of these gatherings are of a comi)aratively grave and business-like character : as when the farmers for twenty or thirty miles round meet with their teams at a raising-bee — to help ft new settler " raise '" his log-house, often by this united strength in a single day ; or at a stone-bee, to clear the stones oti' his land. But the most common and most amus- ing are those in which the young folks get tt>gether, when tongues and fingers move all at once. Quiltiug-bees,— where the young women sit round a largo frame to make a patchwork quilt, and where the young backwoodsmen find their way in, on what pretence is j)er- fectly impossible to say, except on the irishman's principle that " If all the young women itag ducks In the Wfttei-, It's thin the young men would Jump in and swim a'ter," but the consequence of which is, that when the quilt is finished the fiddling and dancing begin ; or " husking frolics," where the busi- ness is to strip the husks from the year's crop of maize (in which the gentlemen may be of some use), and where the lucky tinder of a red ear* is rewarded with the privilege of a * Thi& is an Indian superstition, according to Longfellow : ■ And whene'er some lucky maiden Fovmd IV red ear in the hvisklu^ W [April, ISOl.] Ain«rieanUm$. 4 kind to his r riiauy ftagos iiiiu Aritliout I'uiiH to he a ; on amongst leople, wliioli old country : we will be B of the up- n refinement. are actually gino Kuch a well-beliaved most readers " is : when her to do one 1 turn, and to d gos8i|> over Some of these compamtively io character : for twenty or :et with their (0 — to help II his log-house, strength in ) stone- bee, to is lund. But id most amus- lich the young when tongues uU at once, the young argo frame to lilt, and where ;men find their etence is per- say, except on le that itas (lucka in tlie vonld Jump in slid I of wliich is, is finished the ig begin ; or ,iiere the busi- liusks from the (in which the some use), and r of a red ear* e privilege of a kiss all round, or, if of the fairer Hi'X, is »»xpi'('ted to make her elec- tion of siiiiie one to the honour. Kvi'M a " bucket meeting," — un en- tertainment peculiar to the West, ami described as " a sort of pic-nic, pcni'rally with religions exerciser," AvouM lie prefernbk', in the month of Maj-, to our Exeter Hall gather- ings — certainly more airy, and pro- bably more good-hunioured. The most determined polemical divino could hardly venture upon a very long harangue, when the ir.eaiis of escape lay open to his victims in all directions; and the prospective "oiieiiing of the baskets" would keep an audience in good humour under any moderate infliction. The worst harm likely to happen on such occasions would bo some such mistake as that into which the young New-Englander foil, in the locim cla«sicu» with which the present compiler has illustrated the phrase: — " There was a corn-husking, and I went along witli Sul Stobbhis. There wiis all the gals and boys Bittiu' round, and I got 8ot down ?o near Sul Babit, timt I'll be dai-neil if I didn't kiis her (iforo I knowM what I was about." — 'JWiit.i of American Humour. There are certain sacred dishes l)roper to be eaten on these occa- sions. When the scene of the gathering is the sea-shore, as is often the case, the chief attractions in the bill of fare are "clam-bake" and " chowder," prepared upon the spot. For clam-bake wo confess we have no particular longing. The clam (not a pretty name, but its scientific alia-', Venua mercenaria, does not sound much better) is a common mollaso found in the sand of tidid rivers, and baked in an impromptu oven made of stones and sea-weed. We cannot help associating this food with the " whelks" of the London costermonger stalls — eight a penny, Mr. Mayhew tells us, pepper tnd vinegar included. "Chowder," we have understood, U excelknt ; it consists' of fish, pork, onions, and biscuit, stewed togethor; cider and champagne are soinetinu'S adde'd. The least desirable of tiieso uiwlress festivals is a " surprise party," which, it must bo confessetl, wov.ld bo ratiier embarrassing to most Englisli housekeepers — "a jiarty of jiersons who assend)le by agreement, an