[t'.ifitii'.i^'.ttfUthil AMERICAN ENGLISH \h THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE A Preliminary Inquiry into the De'velop- ment of English in the United States BY H. L. MENCKEN A nenv edition, revised and ivith much additional material in preparation for is- sue in the fall of iQ2i. "A fascinating book; a labor of love and hence a joy to read." — The Boston Tran- script. " It is a book to be taken seriously; it is a book well planned, well documented, and well written." — The Nevj York Times. AMERICAN ENGLISH By gilbert M. TUCKER NEW YORK ALFRED • A • KNOPF mcmxxi COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, Inc. PRINTED IN THB UNJTEP STATES OF AMERICA FOREWORD The following pages are the development of a chap- ter on the same subject in the author's earlier book, "Our Common Speech," published in 1895 and long out of print, that chapter being itself the development of a paper read before the Albany Institute in 1882, printed in the Tenth Volume of the Transactions of that body, and also printed, in somewhat different form, in the North American Review for January, 1883. Several sentences relating to the early bib- liography of the subject, included in the Albany Insti- tute paper and repeated in "Our Common Speech," appear with some alterations in the preface of the Sylva Clapin "Dictionary of Americanisms"; and as they appear again in the book now in the reader's hand, it seems advisable to state the facts, lest pos- sibly the present writer might be suspected of pla- giarizing from Mr. Clapin. 211726 CONTENTS Foreword 5 CHAPTER ONE Is Our English Degenerating? 11 CHAPTER TWO Ten Important Treatises 49 CHAPTER THREE Exotic Americanisms 70 CHAPTER FOUR Some Real Americanisms 224 CHAPTER FIVE Misunderstood and Imaginary Americanisms 315 CHAPTER SIX The Bibliography of the Subject 332 Index of Words and Phrases 347 AMERICAN ENGLISH CHAPTER ONE IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING? "When the American Ambassador tells us, in some degree at least seriously, that better English is spoken in America than in England, it is really a little too much. , . . The Americans . . . are rich. They are, or seem to be, confident of themselves. They excel at the business of games. They make things 'hum.' But it is absurd to pretend they speak good English. Their English, and their spelling of English, which we are sorry to say is imitated by English writers who should know better, are most unpleasant. Their twang is sometimes so." — Saturday Review, Dec. 13, 1913. The above quotation from an editorial in an im- portant London journal epitomizes, in a form very convenient for consideration, the view that seems to be rather generally held in Great Britain of the differ- ences existing, or supposed to exist, between the lan- guage of that country and the language of the United States. "We are continually girding at the Ameri- cans, and criticizing in a more or less disparaging manner their speech," wrote the late George Augustus Sala in the Illustrated London News. The "girding" has been indulged in at not very protracted intervals, for a long, long time, and by all sorts and conditions of British writers. A well known essayist on matters II 12 AMERICAN ENGLISH verbal, Dean Alford, devoted some pages, in his trea- tise on what he rather absurdly called "The Queen's English" (as if terms like "the king's English" or "the king's highway" or "the king's evil" needed cor- rection in gender when the sovereign happens to be a woman!) to "the process of deterioration which our queen's English has undergone at the hands of the Americans." A writer of a very different type, John Ruskin, admonished the workmen of Great Britain (Fors Clavigera, No. 42) to remember that "England taught the Americans all they have of speech," the words they have not learned from England being "unseemly words, the vile among them not being able to be humorous parrots, but only obscene mocking birds." Speaking of a book by Mark Twain, the Westminster Review remarked that "English as writ- ten, and still more as spoken, by Americans, is an- other thing from native English," adding that in Mr. Clemens' writings "there are scarcely half a dozen consecutive lines of what we should call pure Eng- lish," and further that "the modifications which differ- entiate 'American' from English are for the most part vulgarisms." A book called "The Abounding Amer- ican," by T. W. H. Crosland, published in London in 1907, informs us (page 14) that the Americans, "hav- ing inherited, borrowed or stolen a beautiful language, willfully and of set purpose degrade, distort and mis- spell it." Any number of similar expressions from British writers might be given, and some expatriated IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? I3 Americans delight in echoing them. Such an Amer- ican was Dr. Fitzedward Hall, a recognized authority in philology, who informed the readers of the Nine- teenth Century that William Cullen Bryant lived "among a people among whom our language is daily becoming more and more depraved," and that who- ever will compare "Edgar Huntly," a novel published in 1799, with Mr. Bryant's letters, "the English of which is not much worse than that of ninety-nine out of every hundred of his college-bred compatriots, will very soon become aware to what degree the art of writing our language has declined among educated" people in the United States. Now of course there is great temptation to make sharp retorts to statements like the foregoing, espe- cially as our critics generally reveal rather plainly very vulnerable joints in their armor. Dean Alford, for instance, displayed, on the same page on which he spoke of the language as having deteriorated in our hands, a certain lack of familiarity with matters in this country, in his reference to the Northern States as having been engaged in 1864 in "reckless and fruit- less maintenance of the most cruel and unprincipled war in the history of the world"; and what is more to the present point, he fell continually into verbal errors himself. Ruskin was guilty of such expres- sions as these, all in Fors Clavigera too: "A daisy is common, and a baby not uncommon; neither are vulgar" (No. 25, note); "None of these minor errors 14 AMERICAN ENGLISH are of the least consequence" (No. 43); "Any one may be a Companion of St. George who sincerely does what they can to make themselves useful and earn their daily bread" (No. 67). Mr. Crosland says (page 105) that "the Chicago method of treating meats are unhealthy," which may possibly be a typo- graphical error; but he doubtless wrote as printed the sentence on page 111, "I have never been to the United States." The qualifications for passing judgment on the language of a country possessed by a writer who could speak of being "to" it, and who confesses that he has never been what in good English is called being "in" it, need hardly be discussed. (I regret to note the same blunder in a book by a writer of widely different calibre. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — "The Vi- tal Message," page 158 — and what is unaccountable, Sir Arthur insists, in a courteous private letter to the present writer, that it is correct to say "I have been to Crewe.") As for "Edgar Huntly," so greatly admired by Dr. Hall for its fine diction, the style of that almost for- gotten book is regarded by the historian Prescott (who reviewed it, sympathetically and on the whole admir- ingly, in one of his miscellaneous essays) as char- acterized by "unnatural condensation, unusual and pedantic epithets and elliptical forms of expression, in perpetual violation of idiom" — an opinion in which I think everv reader of the novel will concur. The second sentence runs thus: "At length does the im- IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING^ I5 petuosity of my fears, the transports of my wonder, permit me to recollect"; the transports does. In the second chapter: "Those with whom he lived and were the witnesses of his actions"; no subject for the verb were. "A suspicion suggested itself whether my guide did not perceive that he was followed, and thus prolonged (meaning prolong) his journey in order to fatigue his pursuer." Chapter Four: "My leisure was considerable, and my emoluments large"; emolu- ments was large. Chap. Five: "There is no event on which our felicity and usefulness more materially depends": two things depends. "The choice was not likely to obtain the parental sanction, to whom the moral qualities of their son-in-law were inferior to the considerations of wealth"; no antecedent to the pronoun whom. "The ties of kindred, corroborated by habit, was not the only thing that united them"; the ties was not. Chap. Seven: "I charged him to have a watchful eye upon every one that knocked at the gate, and that, if this person should come, by no means to admit him." If anybody can find English like that in anything that Mr. Bryant ever wrote, I should like to have him point it out ; and it has seemed worth while, considering Dr. Hall's undoubted emi- nence in philology, which gives importance to any deliverance of his on any topic relating to language, to show the value of his judgment on questions of grammar and style (philology not being involved), as illustrating the importance that should be attached l6 AMERICAN ENGLISH to his opinion that the language is "daily becoming more and more depraved" in the United States. The Saturday Review says it is absurd to pretend that we Americans speak good English, implying of course that good English is the English of Great Brit- ain. If any fair comparison is drawn, it must be either between the speech of people of the same class in the two countries, or else between fair averages, as nearly as they can be had, of all the people of the two countries. If the talk of street loafers in Amer- ican cities, and the verbal peculiarities that one may find in outlying regions of Texas, are to be counted as characteristic of American speech, we must also take just as careful account, in striking the balance, of the lingo of the slums of London and Edinburgh and Cork, and of the jargon of the most unprogressive counties of the three kingdoms. To compare the con- versation of a London drawing-room with the talk that you might hear in a road-house in Arkansas is manifestly unprofitable; nothing can be learned by such methods, though it is to be feared that some of our critics have not invariably been quite as careful as they might be to avoid them. Good English, the kind that the Saturday Review approves and that it is said we Americans do not speak, ought surely to be heard, if anywhere, in the higher strata of London society. What sort of Eng- lish, then, is it that one hears there? A number of specimens, given by an English lady who is vouched IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? I7 for as thoroughly au courant of the speech of the kind of people she portrays — a London nobleman and his wife — ^may be found in the bright story called "The Marriage Contract," by Alicia Ramsey, published in 1913. The husband is represented as persistently slurring the terminations of present participles, after a fashion confined in this country to the very illiterate ; he says rippin', beginnin', listenin', worryin', and so on ad nauseam, even anythin', which I think is one word of the class which you will hardly hear thus mangled by any American, however illiterate. His regard for grammar is shown by his speaking of doing something "like those millionaires did." He talks about a "piffling" law; characterizes an approaching wedding as "a beast of a nuisance," offers to sign "the bally thing," asks his wife at table, not to pass the jam, but to "shove it along," and to "chuck" him another match; and tells her that something "bucks you up." Nor is the bride less elegant. She de- clares that "marriage is rotten," and something else is "beastly," refers to "old uns like Aunt Jane," calls a famous English sovereign "Billy the Conq," tells her aunt to "buck up," says "it was me," and "ex- pects" it's somebody come to tea. It will hardly be maintained by any well-informed person, I think, that this picture, taken from an ephemeral story as it is, is so overdrawn as to make it grossly misrepresent the conversation of many of the class of people from whom it is to be supposed that the Saturday Reviewer l8 AMERICANENGLISH would have us poor Americans try to learn to talk as we ought to talk. In any case, nothing in the tale is worse English than that used by Sir Francis Knollys, private secretary to King Edward VII, who wrote to Prof. Rawson of the Thirteen Club of New York, Feb. 27, 1896, speaking of the king: "The number of invitations which he receives from different parts of the world to belong to various clubs are ex- tremely numerous"; the number are numerous! Really now, how often do you hear anything as bad as that, among people of any sort of education in the United States? But perhaps it is in British literature, modern Brit- ish literature, rather than in the talk of fashionable British people, that we are to find the well of Eng- lish undefiled from which it would become us Amer- icans to quaff and of which we should endeavor to assimilate the flavor? Well, no very elaborate analy- sis is necessary to inspire caution in so doing; a few sips will answer. Charles Reade, whom Dr. Fitz- edward Hall ranked among "the choicest of (then) living English writers," is guilty of such phrases as "there will be only us two at dinner" ("Love me Lit- tle," Chap. 1). Our kind friend Dean Alford is au- thority for the statement that "our best writers (mean- ing the best British writers) have the popular expres- sion these kind, those sort," where this kind or that sort is intended; and it is entertaining to read in Blackwood's Magazine, No. 799, the following: IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING? IQ "There are some happy writers whose mission it is to expound the manners and customs of the great. . . . And yet, alas! to these writers when they have done all, yet must we add that they fail to satisfy their mod- els. . . . 'As if these sort of people knew anything about society! ' Lady Adeliza says." The queer blun- der seems to persist in England, for in a novel so recent as "Katherine Bush," by Elinor Glyn, we find one of the characters asking whether her employer has "any particular paper for these sort of things" (Cos- mopolitan, March, 1916, page 485) and another re- marking that "those kind of natures always win" (ib., July, 1916, page 176). Dean Alford is also author- ity for the statement that Eton graduates are especially prone to confuse the verbs lie and lay, an error very rare in respectable American society and one that has grieved me much in a great English story-teller, An- thony Trollope, as for instance in the 7th chapter of "The Warden": "I have done more than sleep upon it; I have laid awake upon it." It occurs also in an extraordinary place for a grammatical error, "Stor- month's English Word-Book," where laid is actually given as the participle of lie! After noting this, one need hardly be surprised to find the same writer (in the supplement to his excellent dictionary) defining Alborak as the name of "the white mule on which Mohammed is said to have rode from Jerusalem to heaven." If an American lexicographer were caught using laid for lain or rode for ridden, what a text it 20 AMERICAN ENGLISH would furnish for a dissertation on the process of de- praving our mother tongue which is advancing with such alarming rapidity in the United States! Re- verting to TroUope, it may be worth while to mention that in a single book, "The Prime Minister," he not only writes: "The duke had been up to London," chap. 32, and "There are others just as bad as me," chap. 51 ; but three times uses eat for ate: "That he should be thwarted by her eat into his very heart," chap. 32; "In the evening he eat a mutton chop," chap. 52; "He drank his tea and eat his toast," chap. 60. Or look over the last literary production of an ex-prime-minister of Great Britain, "Endymion," and you find this sort of thing, among other phrases of similar correctness and beauty: "Everybody says what they like," chap. 20; "I would never leave him for a moment only I know he would get wearied of me," chap. 39; "I have never been back to the old place," chap. 63; "Everybody can do exactly what they like," chap. 98. George Meredith wrote in "Harry Richmond," chap. 5, "you are younger than me," and in Chap. 6, "a girl about a year older than me" Locke, in "Jaffery," published so recently as 1914, "for such as him" (chap. 3); "I have never been to Albania" (chap. 5); "that's a place I have never been to" (chap. 19); Galsworthy in "Beyond," published 1917, makes the heroine ask, "Who in our world would marry me if they knew?" Or take down a more serious work presumably written at leisure and IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 21 with care, "Freeman's Historical Essays," and you will find, in the Third Series, gems like these: "One whom the mockers of the age said was no fitting guest"; "It may be argued that he either could not nor would not hold Athens"; "The valiant peasantry of old Hellas was of another mould from the nobles"; "Their relation to the empire was wholly different to that of the slaves." Or to go farther back, we find in a book long regarded as the highest authority on. purposeful speech, "Blair's Rhetoric," this: "Few authors are more clear than Archbishop Tillotson and Sir William Temple; yet neither of them are remark- able for precision." And what is more, you will find in great English books not infrequent instances of highly incorrect constructions that are notoriously British and of which it is almost safe to say that no American is ever guilty. Such a construction is per- haps Freeman's "different to." Such certainly is Spencer's "immediately this is recognized" ("Sociol- ogy," chap, 2) and Arnold Bennett's "immediately I left the station" ("Your United States," chap. 3) — meaning in each case as soon as — a construction that Murray's Dictionary palliates as "elliptical for im- mediately that," which explanation seems to me to be one of the very few slips in that wonderful work, con- sidering that if immediately is to be used in that fash- ion at all, the word to supply is not that, but after. Such a construction also is Anthony Hope's, "the house comes into view directly the drive is entered" 22 AMERICAN ENGLISH ("The Great Miss Driver," chap. 2), which occurs likewise in Buckle, "I put them away directly they came" (letter to Mrs. Grey, Huth's "Life," chap. 2), though Buckle was anything but a careless writer, having devoted great labor for a long time to the ac- quisition of a correct and polished style of composi- tion. Even worse, as ignoring one of the elementary principles of English grammar, is the frequent occur- rence in British books and high-class periodicals of such terms as "parcels post," "inventions exhibition," "rivers pollution commission," and the like. Nobody speaks of a hats rack or a books case or a cloaks room, and everybody ought to know that a noun used to qualify another noun becomes for the time an adjective and is therefore absolutely indeclinable; but while this is perfectly recognized in England in the case of every old combination, it is constantly overlooked in making new ones, and overlooked in the most formal official documents even more than in the careless lan- guage of the streets. If anybody might be expected to avoid solecisms, surely it is a gentleman holding the position of Lec- turer for the Oxford University Extension Delegacy. Yet such a gentleman, Prof. John Cowper Powys, falls into the following errors in a single book, "Visions and Revisions": "Are we not those who are neither for God or for his enemies?", Dante, 45; "Words- worth is neither a Christian or a pagan," Lamb, 110; "Neither realist or psychologist," Dickens, 125; "It IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 23 may be neither very useful or very moral," Shake- speare, 159; "If a person is hurt by them, that is only an indication that they are in grievous need," Rabe- lais, 31 ; "Neither of them know what lies on the other side of the moon," Dante, 43; "Not one of them but have murderous feet," Dickens, 124; and the pecu- liarly awkward phrase, "He is the most widely known of any stylist," Lamb, 105, HowTver, the Tu Quoque argument is unconvincing and unsatisfactory at best; and it is admittedly im- practicable to institute any very instructive compari- son between either the fashionable or the literary lan- guage of the two countries. It is not quite so diffi- cult to compare what after all counts for most, and what was probably in the Saturday Reviewer's mind, the average speech of our British cousins and of our own people. Is the former superior to the latter? I have the authority of the American ambassador re- ferred to, Mr. Page, for saying that his only allusion to the matter was in a single sentence which he meant as a pleasantry and which was so understood by his hearers. But there is a proverb about true words spoken in jest; and I believe it will be found, on weighing the evidence, not only that the well known dramatic critic, Mr. William Archer, is right in de- claring ("America To-day," page 253) that "the idea that the English language is degenerating in America is an absolutely groundless illusion," but also that the ambassador was quite justified in making, if he 24 AMERICAN ENGLISH did make it, the statement that so stirred the ire of the Saturday Reviewer, that statement being after all only an almost word-for-word repetition of what Sir George Campbell had written (in his book of travel called "White and Black") that "of the body of the Ameri- can people it may be said that their language is Eng- lish a little better than that used in any county of England." It is of course impossible to establish any standard of ideal correctness by which the two varie- ties of speech might be judged to see which of them falls the more seriously below it; but comparisons be- tween the two, on points about which there can hardly be difference of opinion, may nevertheless be insti- tuted, and should furnish some grounds for a general verdict in favor of one or the other. In the first place, it will hardly be denied in any quarter that the speech of the United States is quite unlike that of Great Britain in the important particu- lar that we have no dialects. "I never found any difficulty in understanding an American speaker," writes the historian Freeman; "but I have often found it difficult to understand a Northern-English speaker." "From Portland, Me., to Portland, Oregon," says a writer in the Westminster Review, "no trace of a dis- tinct dialect is to be found. The man from Maine, even though he may be of inferior education and lim- ited capacity, can completely understand the man of Oregon. There is no peasant with a patois; there is no rough Northumbrian burr; in point of fact, there IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 2^ is no brogue." Trifling variations in pronunciation, and in the use of a few particular words, certainly exist. The Yankee "expects" or "calculates," while the Virginian "reckons"^; the illiterate Northerner "claims," ^ and the Southerner of similar class, by a very curious reversal of the blunder, "allows," what better educated people merely assert. The pails and pans of the world at large become "buckets" when taken to Kentucky. It is "evening" in Richmond while afternoon still lingers a hundred miles due north at Washington. Vessds go into "docks" on their arrival at Philadelphia, but into "slips" at Mobile; they are tied up to "wharves" at some ports, but to "piers," of exactly the same construction, at others. Distances from place to place are measured by "squares" in Baltimore, by "blocks" in Chicago. The "shilling" of old New York is the "levy" of Pennsyl- vania, the "bit" of San Francisco, the "ninepence" of old New England, and the "escalan" of New Orleans. But put all these variations together, with such others as more microscopic examination might reveal, and 1 No American ever uses this word with an infinitive, as occurs twice in Mr. Arnold Bennett's delightful and really brilliant book, "Your United States." He writes (p. 16), "I reckon to do a bit in that line," and (p. 126), "We reckon to be connoisseurs." The verb, it will be noticed, appears to have quite different significations in these two sentences, meaning (I suppose) expect in the first and claim in the second. 2 And sometimes, alas ! the Northerner who is not illiterate. Prof. Whitney, editor of the great Century Dictionary, is more than once guilty of this barbarism in his "Elements of English Pronunciation"; and so is Prof. L. T. Townsend of the Boston University, in his work on the "Art of Speech." 26 AMERICAN ENGLISH how far short they fall of representing anything like the real dialectic differences of speech that obtain, and always have obtained, not only as between any two of the three kingdoms, but even between contiguous sec- tions of England itself! What two regions can be found within our borders, however sequestered and unenlightened, and however widely separated by geo- graphical position, of which the speech of the one presents any difficulty worth mentioning, or even any very startling unfamiliarity in sound or construction, to the inhabitant of the other? Our omnipresent railroads, telegraph lines, mail routes and printing presses, and the well-marked disposition of every class of our people to make lavish use of these means of intercommunication, both for the rapid diffusion of intelligence and the interchange of opinion, and also, so far as lines of travel are concerned, for the fre- quent transportation of the people themselves hither and thither, with a degree of ease and celerity to which no other country has ever attained — these causes have always favored, and seem likely permanently to pre- serve, a certain community of expression as well as of thought, that not only is practically prohibitive of the formation of new dialects, but also rapidly effaces the prominent lineaments of such variations as have at different times been imported from the old world. Compare this homogeneity of speech with the con- ditions that obtain in Great Britain. "Even now," writes the Dean of Ely in the Outlook, "a west-coun- IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING? 1'] try peasant cannot understand the tongue of York- shire — as I know well, for I was a country parson in Devonshire for four years — and speaks of him too, occasionally, as a 'farriner.' " Yorkshire and Devon- shire are separated by what seems to Americans the trifling distance of about 180 miles, nearer each other than are Pennsylvania and Indiana; and the speech of the two counties is mutually unintelligible. Think of the jargons that you hear in other districts also, districts in which only English is supposed to be spoken — the varied patois of Scotland, of Wales, of many parts of Ireland, of considerable regions in Eng- land itself. I shall never forget — and many readers must have had similar experience if, like myself, they enjoy talking with all sorts of people, and especially with specimens of sorts that are new to them — I shall never forget trying one day, on a steamer, to converse with an English workingman, English born and bred, and finding it just barely possible to understand him. He recognized the difficulty himself, and apologized, saying, as near as I can represent him: "Ah know thut ah hahv ah varra bahd ahxunt." Find anything like that in the United States if you can. And here is part of an editorial article in the New York Times : "Over here we enrage our cousins by talking about their 'English accent,' calmly ignoring the fact that their speech is standard, and we have the 'accent,' not they. But one of the war correspondents laments that the English troops in France and Belgium often cannot make themselves understood even 28 AMERICAN ENGLISH to the foreigners who speak the English of the schools, for such instruction as is there received does not qualify the stu- dent for intelligent converse with soldiers who talk in 'Welsh, Scotch, Yorkshire or Whitechapel.' The results are sometimes serious, especially when dealing with native guides, and the demand is for interpreters competent to translate the speech of British soldiers, not into French or German, but into an Eng- lish comprehensible to a Frenchman or German who speaks — EngHsh." The very literature of the subject tells the story. There are I don't know how many glossaries of dia- lects in England — no fewer than 250 would be neces- sary to cover the ground, according to the statement of a member of the Yorkshire Dialect Society; and some of them are quite big books with an appalling list of terms unknown outside of a very restricted re- gion; find anything like that condition of affairs in the United States if you can. The fourth chapter of this book gives an approximately complete list of all words and phrases really peculiar to this country, and it contains about 1900 entries. Compare this with Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words in Great Britain and Davies' Supplement to the same, which explain, between them, perhaps sixty thousand expressions. Undoubtedly the im- mense majority of the entries in these books are obso- lete terms and words highly local; but that is also true of my list of Americanisms. Of the whole 1900 I am quite sure that I have never in my life heard more than about 1100 used, most of these being vul- IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING? 29 gar locutions that neither I nor anybody likely to read this book would ever think of using, and I doubt whether a fifth of the whole number would strike any American as being really familiar. It ought to be remembered also that the ordinary speech of the United States presents not greatly more of what may be termed caste variations than of those that are attributable to differences of locality. A dis- criminating English traveler, the Rev. F. Barham Zincke, once chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria, mentions as "a remarkable fact that the English spoken in America is not only very pure, but also is spoken with equal purity by all classes. . . . The language in every man's mouth is that of literature and society; spoken at San Francisco just as it is spoken at New York and on the Gulf of Mexico just as on the great lakes. It is even the language of the negroes in the towns. There is nothing resembling this in Europe, where every county, as in England, or every province and canton, has a different dia- lect. . . . Often, in parts of the country most remote from each other, in wooden shanties and the poorest huts, I had this interesting fact of the purity and identity of the language of the Americans forced on my attention. And at such times I thought, not with- out shame and sorrow, of the wretched vocabulary, consisting of not more than three or four hundred words, and those often ungrammatically used, and always more or less mispronounced, of our peasantry." 30 AMERICAN ENGLISH In other words, the speech of even the lower orders of our American people, whether examined in regard to its vocabulary, its construction or its pronunciation, is distinctly better English than is generally spoken on the other side of the sea, taking the whole of the three kingdoms together. The Saturday Review finds our "twang" sometimes unpleasant, and no American with any sort of ear for fine sounds will disagree with him. Very unpleasant it certainly often is, as one hears it from many Ameri- can mouths, especially in Europe, when contrasted with the lower-pitched, softer voices of many English people, notably those of English ladies; and teachers and parents of American children will do well to pay more attention to inculcating better intonation. But "twang," after all, is not peculiar to this side of the ocean. I am told that the "jerking tone of voice popu- larly called the Parliamentary twang" which Bulwer Lytton noted (in "My Novel," Book 10, Chap. 44) is about as observable now as it was when that book appeared. And then — a more important point — one must be careful not to draw the comparison only with the speech of well-bred English people. Have our rural and laboring classes anything to learn from the management of their voices by the peasantry of the three kingdoms or the poorer classes of British towns? Could you find material in this country for a compo- sition like Tennyson's "Northern Farmer"? Who ever heard an American, of however humble social IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING? 3I position, so speak that it was difficult to distinguish his words? Where, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, will you discover any such utter disability of hearing or discernment as can permit men to drop or multiply their h^s or transpose their w's and i;'s? Who ever heard an American gamin call paper piper, or lady lidy, or rain rine, or take tike? Outside of a very restricted district in New England (it being distinctly a Yankee provincialism) who ever heard an American call pound as it seems to me that all Englishmen pro- nounce it, paound? Says the Westminster Review, No. 234, page 278: "If an Englishman is introduced as a character in a French vaudeville, the first words he is made to say are 'Aoh, nao' to announce as it were his nationality; this impurity in the sound of o is undoubtedly a vice in our pronunciation, ridiculed wherever we are known in Europe." On the whole, it appears to me that if, as I believe is the case, a nasal twang is the only fault that can be found with American intonation broadly considered, we make up for it and more than make up for it in half a dozen other respects in which we speak our words better than the majority of British people speak them. Prof. Ernest Whitney put it this way, in a very elaborate review of the matter published in the New York Tri- bune: "In England, where we should naturally look for a standard, pronunciation in general is worse than in America. That vulgarisms are heard far oftener, that carelessness and indifference in enunciation are 32 AMERICAN ENGLISH more common, even among the higher classes, is the frequent testimony of careful and practised observers. These facts may be said to be demonstrated by the published testimony of a foremost British phonetist." And when it is a question of orthoepy proper, the deliberate sounding of single words, it will be found that in almost every case of difference between the English and the American practice, the difference is due to the American's following more closely the spell- ing of the word, a practice that can hardly result in depraving the language but rather the reverse, work- ing in the direction of what is certainly very desirable, greater regularity and simplicity. Thus the thor- oughly anglicized French words fracas, trait, lieu- tenant and charade are still called frahcah, tray, lef- tenant (which is quite anomalous, neither French nor English) and charahd, in England, but never here. The I of almond, commonly sounded in this country, is silent abroad. Sliver, which Americans call silver, following the obvious analogy of the more common word liver, and following, too, the example of Chau- cer, is largely called sliver in Great Britain, Sched- ule, which we invariably pronounce skedule, is in England shedule, being the only word in common use in the language in which initial sch has the German sound. Shone, which we make rhyme with bone, is shon in England, a pronunciation absolutely anoma- lous, not following the analogy even of any of the very few words ending in -one — like done, one and IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 33 gone — which do not rhyme with bone. The accentua- tion of the verb perfect on the second syllable, bring- ing it into harmony with perfume, cement, desert, present, produce, progress, project, rebel, record, and other words which are accented on the final syllable when used as verbs — originated in this country. Nephew and phial, which constitute in England the only exceptions to the otherwise universal law that the digraph ph, when sounded at all, is sounded like /, are both reduced to rule in this country, by pronounc- ing the first nefew (it is nevew in England) and spell- ing the second vial. Hostler, always pronounced by Americans as it is spelled, is marked ostler in, I be- lieve, all British dictionaries. And in respect to geographical names, the closer adherence of our countrymen to the guidance of the orthography is, of course, notorious and manifest. Except the dropping, in imitation of the French, of the 5 of Illinois; the two words Connecticut and Ar- kansas (the latter a very doubtful exception) ; and a few terms like Sioux, derived from corruptions of Indian names — it is not easy to recall any geograph- ical appellation indigenous to our soil which is not pronounced very nearly as it is spelled. And when names are imported with a well-authorized divergence between the sound and the spelling, a strong tendency toward the obliteration of this divergence is sure to become manifest. Warwick is about as often War- wick as Warwick when spoken of in America ; Norwich 34 AMERICAN ENGLISH is more commonly Norwich, I think, than Noridge; St. Louis and Louisville are often called St. Lewis and Lewisville; a resident of Delaware County in New York would not know what place was meant if you spoke of the county seat as "Daily," so perfectly set- tled is "Delhi" as the pronunciation as well as the spelling of the name. A multitude of other instances might be mentioned, among the most remarkable of which, perhaps, is the change that has taken place in the popular sounding of the name Chautauqua. As long as it was spelled with a final e, people persisted in saying Chautawk, notwithstanding that the local practice was always otherwise; but an immediate reformation was effected by the simple expedient of substituting an a. It is probably quite safe to say that no mispronunciation of a geographical name, growing out of an attempt to follow too closely the sound of its letters, has ever become so prevalent in Great Britain as even to suggest the idea of faking the spelling conform to the orthoepy, and, further- more, that if such a difficulty occurred, the attempted remedy in question would be found in that country quite unproductive of any change in the popular usage. Passing from orthoepy to orthography, it hardly need be said that in every instance without exception where a change in spelling has originated in the United States, the change has been in the direction of simplicity, and in the interest therefore of the "re- IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 35 form" which the Philological Society of Great Britain (not to mention such individual names as Max Miiller, Sir J. A. H. Murray, Prof. Newman, the Duke of Richmond, and Mr. Gladstone) so warmly favors. The dropping of the second g in waggon, the second I in traveller, the u in parlour and similar words, the me in programme (who would think of writing dia- gramme or telegramme?), the e in storey (of a house), and the final e in pease ^ (plural of pea), are all changes in this direction; and so is the substitution of w for ugh in plough, and / for ugh in draught, and the abandonment of the spellings cheque, shew, cyder, and especially gaol, the universal adoption of jail bringing this word into harmony with the rest of the language, as there is no other instance in English of a soft g before a — notwithstanding that some ab- surd people, who do not call Margaret Marjaret or Garfield Jarfield, will persist in saying oleomarjarine. A propos of the spelling traveller, a sentence from the Preface to the latest British popular dictionary, the "Concise Oxford," is of interest, as indicating the bias of some English authorities, for this dictionary unquestionably is an authority, perhaps on the whole the very best work of its kind published in either country; but look at the prejudice! The editors say: "In dealing with verbs such as level, jivet, bias, whose parts and derivatives are variously spelt, the ^ Of course peas was not originally a plural word, but nobody thinks of it otherwise now. 3^ AMERICAN ENGLISH final consonant being often doubled with no phonetic or other significance, we have as far as possible fallen in with the present tendency, which is to drop the use- less letter, but stopped short of recognizing forms that at present strike every reader as Americanisms; thus we write riveted, riveter, but not traveling, traveler." There is some justification for the doubled consonant in each of these two verbs when a suffix beginning with i or e is added, as having what the sentence quoted well describes as ''phonetic significance"; for it may be argued that the spelling riveting might sug- gest the mispronunciation rive-ting and traveler might suggest trayve-ler (two syllables), but that is just exactly as true of the former word, which the Con- cise Oxford Dictionary recognizes, as it is of the lat- ter, which the same authority scorns, notwithstanding the editors' recognizing "the present tendency to drop the useless letter" and their implied admission that the forms "that at present strike every reader as Amer- icanisms" are quite likely, in time, to prevail every- where. The only reason for their endeavoring to delay what they see to be a reform that is surely com- ing, is that it originated in the United States! It should be noted moreover that our American practice of dropping the u from the termination of many words ending in England in -our is more than a movement in the direction of spelling reform, for it cancels the etymological misinformation suggested by the orthography in use across the sea. Some peo- IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 37 pie imagine that the u in these words has value, or at least a certain sort of interest, as indicating that they came to us through the French and not directly from Latin or other tongues — rather an unimportant mat- ter at best; but the trouble is that, with the exception of just two words and those of rather infrequent use — savour and tabour — the indication either points the wrong way or would almost certainly be overlooked except by persons familiar with entirely obsolete Gallic spellings. The u is omitted, even in England, from ambassador, ancestor, bachelor, editor, emperor, error, exterior, governor, inferior, metaphor, mirror, progenitor, senator, superior, successor and torpor, every one of which is of French origin, while it is used in demeanor and succor, which are only very re- motely and indirectly French, and in arbor, behavior, clangor, flavor, harbor and neighbor, which are not French at all. Even in ardor, armor, candor, en- deavor, favor, honor, labor, odor, parlor, rigor, rumor, savior, splendor, tumor and vapor, where the u has some color of right to appear, it is doubtful whether its insertion has much value as suggesting French derivation, for in the case of twelve of these words the ordinary reader would be quite certain to have in mind only the modern spelling — ardeur, armure, can- deur, faveur, honneur, labeur, odeur, rigueur, rumeur, splendeur, tumeur and vapeur — which have the u in- deed but no (and why should not one of these letters be dropped as well as the other?) — while endeavor, 2ii;7'2G 38 AMERICAN ENGLISH parlor and savior come from old French words that are themselves without the u — devoir, parleor and saveor. The u in all these words is therefore either useless or positively misleading. And finally in the case of color, clamor, fervor, humor, rancor, valor and vigor, it is to be remarked that the exact "Amer- ican" orthography actually occurs in old French! "Finally," I said, but that is not quite the end of British absurdity with these -our -or words. Insist- ent as our transatlantic cousins are on writing arbour, armour, clamour, clangour, colour, dolour, flavour, honour, humour, labour, odour, rancour, rigour, savour, valour, vapour and vigour, and "most un- pleasant" as they find the omission of the excrescent u in any of these words, they nevertheless make no scruple of writing the derivatives in the American way — arboreal, armory, clamorous, clangorous, colorific, dolorous, flavorous, honorary, humorous, laborious, odorous, rancorous, rigorous, savory, valorous, vapor- ize and vigorous — not inserting the u in the second syllable of any one of these words. The British prac- tice is, in short and to speak plainly, a jumble of con- fusion, without rhyme or reason, logic or consistency; and if anybody finds the American simplification of the whole matter "unpleasant," it can be only because he is a victim of unreasoning prejudice against which no argument can avail. In respect to at least one "Yankee" spelling, that of plow, and probably others, it should not be forgotten IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 39 that the prevalent practice in this country agrees with the universal custom of an earlier time, from which divergence without good reason has gradually grown up in England. And this brings us to another strongly marked characteristic of our American speech — its greater permanence and steadiness, so to speak, as compared with that of the mother country. This peculiarity will appear very clearly, where it might least be expected, on close examination of any list of words supposed to have been greatly distorted in their meaning, or even manufactured out of whole cloth, by erring Yankees, a very large proportion of which will almost always be found to be good old English, grown obsolescent or obsolete at home, but preserved in the New World in their pristine vitality and force; and conversely, on examining such a book as "The Lost Beauties of the English Language," by the well known Scotch litterateur Dr. Charles Mackay, more than a hundred of the entries therein listed being perfectly familiar in the United States, however definitely they may have been "lost" in Great Britain. Here are some examples, taken almost at random: Aftermath; bilk, to defraud; blare, to cry out, as with the sound of a trumpet; blear-eyed; blurt, to cry out suddenly; burly; chaffer, to haggle; cleave, to split; clump, to walk awkwardly; croon, to hum a tune; daze; deft; delve; don, to put on; drouth; drowsy; duds, old clothes; dumps, melancholy; gall, sore place; glint; flower; ^own; grip, to seize; hale, in good health; 40 AMERICAN ENGLISH hotfoot; laze, to idle; loathly; loon, a stupid lout; lovable; lubber; maul, a heavy hammer; mole, a spot on the skin; mother-tongue; overhopeful; raid, a predatory incursion on horseback; rift; roil; rung of a ladder; sag; slake; slick; smock; soggy; spunky; stalwart; stowaway; stubby; swelter; taut; thill; throaty; thud; tiff; toot; trig; watershed; yowl. Evi- dence pointing in the same direction may be found in Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaisms and Provin- cialisms, which contains, presumably, no word now in good use in Great Britain in the meaning given, but in which the American reader will discover a considerable number of terms — nearly three hundred, I should say — which he has heard all his life. I give the following examples, not including any that are marked provincial, the implication being that all these words were once good English, but are no longer in common use in the mother country: Adze (a carpen- ter's tool) ; affectation ("a curious desire for a thing which nature hath not given ") ; after clap; agape; age as a verb; air in the sense of appearance; amerce; andirons; angry, said of a wound; appellant (one who appeals) ; apple-pie order; baker's dozen; bam- boozle; bay in a barn; bay window; bearers at a funeral; berate; between whiles; bicker; blanch (to whiten); brain as a verb; burly; cast (to tie and throw down, as a horse) ; catcall; cesspool; chafe (to grow angry) ; clodhopper; clutch (to seize) ; clutter; cockerel; coddle; copious; cosey; counterfeit money; IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING^ 4I crazy in the sense of dilapidated, as applied to a build- ing; crock (an earthen vessel); crone (an old woman) ; crook (a bend) ; croon; cross-grained in the sense of obstinate or peevish; cross-patch; cross pur- poses; cuddle; cuff (to beat) ; deft; din; dormer win- dow; earnest, money given to bind a bargain; egg on; greenhorn; hasp; jack of all trades; jamb of a door; lintel; list (selvage of cloth); loop hole; nettled (out of temper) ; newel; ornate; perforce; piping hot; pit (mark left by small-pox) ; quail (to shrink) ; ragamuffin; riffraff ; rigmarole; scant; seedy ("miser- able looking"); shingles; sorrel (the color); out of sorts; stale ("wanting freshness") ; sutler; thill; toady; trash; underpinning. All these words, with many others equally familiar in the United States, are apparently regarded by Halliwell as having be- come obsolete in England. The preceding remarks on Halliwell are repeated from the present writer's earlier book, "Our Common Speech," and a curious side-light is thrown on the prevalence of dialectical diversities of speech in Great Britain by the fact that a kindly and courteous Eng- lish reviewer of that book, Mr. William Archer, was amazed at anybody's supposing that the words quoted are obsolete in Great Britain. "Most of them," he says ("America Today," page 222) "are in every- day use; how Halliwell ever came to class these words as archaic I cannot imagine." He did so class them nevertheless; and as he was F. R. S., Honorary Mem- 42 AMERICAN ENGLISH ber of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Ashmolean Society at Oxford, and connected with a dozen other associations of learned men, he certainly cannot be considered an ignorant person; and the only possible conclusion is that great numbers of words perfectly familiar to the dramatic critic never had come to the notice of a distinguished British lexicographer except in ancient writings, so that he supposed them to be entirely out of use. Find, if you can, any two American writers who entertain any such diversity of view about any list of words you can draw up. It would not be difficult, on the other hand, to com- pile quite a list of Briticisms,^ including words, re- cently invented, and seemingly without necessity, in Great Britain (where the "boldness of innovation on this subject," amounting to "absolute licentiousness," which Noah Webster noted and deplored in his pref- ace of 1847, still runs rampant) — such as navvy for laborer, randomly for at random, and bumper for enormous; and a larger list of old words now used in that country in a comparatively new and in some re- spects objectionable signification not generally recog- nized in the United States, such as knocked-iip for fatigued, famous for excellent, rot for nonsense, good 1 The present writer will not assert positively that he invented this now well accepted word; but believes that his use of it in a paper read before the Albany Institute, June 6, 1882 (Transactions, Vol. 10, p 341 ) is the first on record, antedating by fifteen months as it does the earliest citation given by Murray. IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 43 form for in good taste, trap for carriage, tub for bathe, assist for be present, gun for gunner, whip for driver, tidy for almost anything complimentary, and most emphatically expect for suppose, with no implication of anticipation of the future, "a misuse" which Mur- ray says "is often cited as an Americanism, but is very common in dialectical, vulgar or carelessly col- loquial speech in England." It occurs multitudi- nously in English books, even those of good writers, as everybody knows. You will find it a dozen times, for instance, in Anthony Hope's "The Great Miss Driver" — "I expect he liked the scholar and gentle- man part" (chap. 2), "I don't expect Aunt Sara shaved you much" (chap. 6), and so on. This mis- use is certainly the reverse of "very common" in this country; I question whether the American reader can remember ever hearing it except in Great Britain. It may be added that Mr. Hope is guilty, in the book re- ferred to, of several gross errors in syntax, like "he's been to so many queer places" (chap. 4), "Jenny and I had been to Fillingford" (chap. 11), and, perhaps worst of all, "really it must be her.'' It is not only, however, in recent coinages and anomalous assigning of new meanings to old terms that the English have made rather reckless changes in the body of our speech where the American practice adheres to the former standard. They have swung off in the opposite direction also, curtailing to no good purpose the significance of a number of words. 44 AMERICAN ENGLISH A "young person" is always a girl in England, the term never being applied to a boy. A latter-day Briton — notwithstanding an example so recent as Macaulay, "the richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not by riding in carriages" — is horrified at the idea of riding in anything built on the coach plan, unless possibly it may be an automobile, though he makes no scruple of riding in an omnibus or a street car; when you enter a vehicle at the end, you ride; when at the side, you drive. A beast is now in Great Britain always a member of the genus bos, and almost •always an animal that is to be fed for beef; English official market reports give prices for "beasts," "sheep," "calves," "pigs" and "milch cows," and I have read in a Dublin newspaper, speaking of an outbreak of rabies, that "two dogs, five beasts, one pig and one horse were killed during the week." Most remarkable of all is the queer British notion that an invalid must be described as ill, and by no means as sick, unless he happens to be nauseated. I call it queer, because no Englishman would charac- terize the person as an ill man or an ill child, or speak of him as confined to an ill-room or the ill-bay on a ship, or stretched upon an ill-bed; no Englishman would say that a soldier answered an ill call or went home on ill leave, or that a quarantine officer was called by flying an ill flag, or that anybody was home- ill or love-ill or heart-ill ; no Englishman would hesi- tate to say that somebody sickened or was sickly. IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING*? 45' The constant usage of centuries in Great Britain sup- ports our American practice of regarding sick as a general term. It is so used sixty times in the King James Bible, where also sickness in the same sense occurs 22 times; sick, with no implication of nausea, is found in Shakespeare 138 times, and sickness 48 times. The English prayer-book not only contains services for the "visitation of the sick" and the "com- munion of the sick" and specifies that "it appertain- eth to the office of a deacon to search for the sick," but requires those who use it to make intercession for "all sick persons" as often as the Litany is read. Notwithstanding all that, the present fashion in Great Britain absolutely forbids you to say that anybody is sick, unless his stomach is upset. Another peculiarity of recent British speech and literature is the insertion of superfluous words that an American speaker or writer would never think of put- ting in. So important an authority as Henry J. Nicoll says — "Landmarks of English Literature," Introduction, page 18 — "Every critic occasionally meets in with works of great fame of which he can- not appreciate the merit." Beaconsfield writes, "En- dymion," Chap. 100, "He was by way of intimating that he was engaged in a great work." So Trollope, "Dr. Thorne," Chap. 19, "Is he by way of a gentle- man?" In Herbert Spencer's "Education," Chap. 10, we read that "in Russia the infant mortality is something enormous," and in one of Charles Dickens' 46 AMERICAN ENGLISH letters to Mr. Forster: "The daily difference in (a ship's) rolling, as she burns the coals out, is some- thing absolutely fearful." It need hardly be re- marked that the italicized words in these sentences have to be removed before they become intelligible, or at least agreeable to persons appreciating really correct speech. The peculiar misuse of the affix ever, as in asking, "Whate2;er are you doing?" that one so often notices in the conversation particularly of Eng- lish ladies, is another instance of the same failing. And who has not been annoyed and disgusted by the innumerable gots with which so many English pages fairly bristle, the ugly word, perhaps the most ca- cophanous of the language, being constantly stuck in (as in "Endymion," Chap. 50 — 'T have got some House of Commons men dining with me") where the idea of getting is not intended in the slightest degree to be conveyed, but only that of present possession. The general American dislike of this ugly word, and our practice, where the past participle of the verb get must be used, of employing the old and softer form gotten (now very unfashionable in England), certainly mark tendencies in the reverse direction to that of ruining the language. A misuse of the progressive form of verbs which is becoming somewhat fashionable in this country but I believe to have originated rather recently in England, may be noted here, a misuse confined chiefly to writ- ing. That is the expression "I am sending you" when IS OUR ENGLISH DEGENERATING" 47 one should say "I send you," or "I am giving a din- ner next week" when one should say "I give (or am to give) a dinner." The progressive form indicates either action often repeated, as in the correct phrase "I am sending reports every week," or else continuous action, as one might say 'T am writing" when he is actually engaged in writing at the moment. To use that form for other purposes is unidiomatic and inad- visable, as blurring the definite meaning. To sum up, it appears to me that the chief points of difference between the speech of the United States and that of Great Britain are that (1) we have no dialects, either geographical or social, whereas there are any number of them in Great Britain; (2) that our pronunciation, while sometimes regrettably harsh, is much clearer and more systematic than that of our transatlantic cousins; (3) that our spelling, in every case where there is well established difference, is to be preferred to that of England on any possible basis of comparison; and (4) — a point that will be some- what elaborately developed in the third chapter of this book — that the mother tongue suffers far less in this country than abroad from freakish changes of fashion, whether in regard to the vocabulary itself or the sig- nificance attached to hundreds of words. As a dis- tinguished and eloquent Irishman, the late Rev. Dr. John Hall, wrote in the New York Ledger of Aug. 28, 1880 — and it is just as true today: 48 AMERICAN ENGLISH "English people sometimes speak of Americans as if they had a degenerate variation of the English tongue. The preju- dice is less strong than it used to be, but it still lingers in many quarters. The American portion of the family left the mother country when the language was free of many recent and undesirable additions; and it consisted, moreover, in a marked degree, of educated persons. The result is that Ameri- can English contrasts favorably, as a whole, with that spoken in the British Isles; and it is not too much to say that in Lon- don, the place of the present writing, there is more barbarous and indefensible English uttered than in all the United States." CHAPTER TWO TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES "Here, it is said, is a dictionary of Americanisms, compiled by an American, a large, closely printed octavo. To what a condition has the English language been brought in America! I have heard such remarks made more than once by intelligent Englishmen; I have seen them more than once in print." — Richard Grant White, Atlantic Monthly, April, 1878. "A collection of unauthorized words and phrases to be found in the pages of respectable English writers of the present day, on the plan of Pickering's Vocabulary, would be a very ac- ceptable service rendered to our literature." — Eclectic Review, London, April, 1820. Neither the general drift of the preceding chapter nor any allegation or argument it contains is to be taken as evincing the smallest inclination to dispute or minimize the obvious truth that a considerable num- ber of new, and in many cases uncalled for, words and expressions have been invented and now pass current in the United States, or that the meaning of various others has been gradually warped, to the injury of the language, just as has occurred in England. This part of the subject has been laboriously investigated by a line of diligent students, so laboriously that there is little left to say about it except in the way of cor- 49 50 AMERICAN ENGLISH rections and additions. Not to speak of articles in periodicals, brief essays, and single chapters, no fewer than fifteen books devoted entirely to so-called Americanisms in speech have from time to time ap- peared — ten of them of special importance — Picker- ing's "Vocabulary," published in 1816; Webster's "Letter," in 1817; Elwyn's "Glossary," in 1859; De Vere's "Americanisms," in 1872; Bartlett's "Diction- ary," first edition in 1848, second in 1859, third in 1860, fourth and last in 1877; Farmer's "American- isms," in 1889; Norton's "Political Americanisms," in 1890; Clapin's "Dictionary of Americanisms," in 1902; Thornton's "American Glossary," in 1912; and Mencken's "American Language," in 1919. It is worth noting that Norton's little compilation and Mencken's monumental treatise are the only works later than Bartlett's for which the world is indebted to a native American; for Mr. Farmer is an Englishman who had never, I believe, even visited this country before he wrote ; Mr. Clapin is a Canadian, though he passed several years in the United States; and Prof. Thornton is English by birth, an American citizen however by naturalization and a resident of this coun- try for half his life, having been a member of the faculty of the Oregon University for nearly twenty years, and being still a member of the Philadelphia bar. The student of language will find much to in- terest and not a little to amuse him in each of the collections of monstrosities named, for collections of TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES ^] monstrosities — with the exception of Webster's "Let- ter" — they mainly are. John Pickering's "Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases" which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States, originated in the au- thor's practice, while living in London during the first two years of the last century, of noting down, for the purpose of avoiding them, such of his own verbal expressions as were condemned for American errors by his British friends. After returning to this coun- try, he communicated a paper on the subject, consist- ing of an essay and a list of words, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and shortly after, hav- ing largely amplified the vocabulary, submitted the whole to the candor of his countrymen for their in- struction and admonition. The poor man was deeply concerned for the future of the language in America, and very much in earnest in his work. It might in- deed be a long time, he thought, before it should "be the lot of many Americans to publish works which will be read out of their own country; yet all who have the least tincture of learning will continue to feel an ardent desire to acquaint themselves with Eng- lish authors. Let us then," he proceeds, "imagine the time to have arrived when Americans shall no longer be able to understand the works of Milton, 52 AMERICAN ENGLISH Pope, Swift, Addison and other English authors justly styled classic without the aid of a translation into a language that is to be called at some future day the American tongue! . . . Nor is this the only view in which a radical change of language would be an evil. To say nothing of the facilities afforded by a common language in the ordinary intercourse of busi- ness, it should not be forgotten that our religion and our laws are studied in the language of the nation from which we are descended; and, with the loss of the language, w^e should finally suffer the loss of those peculiar advantages which we now derive from the investigations of the jurists and divines of that country." To do what lay in his power to avert a calamity so appalling, was the object that Mr. Pickering had in view; and lest his own impressions should be faulty, or his imperfect knowledge of pure English should prove inadequate to the task of properly branding all the principal American corruptions, he took the pains of submitting his list to several well-informed friends, and particularly to two English gentlemen whose au- thority he considered beyond question, although he admits that as they had lived some twenty years in America, "their ear had lost much of that sensibility to deviations from the pure English idiom which would once have enabled them to pronounce with de- cision in cases where they now felt doubts." As finally published, the "Vocabulary" contains over five TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 53 hundred words, of which not more than about fifty are really of American origin and at any time in gen- eral respectable use. As examples of these may be cited: Backwoodsman, belittle, bookstore, breadstuff, caucus, creek in the sense of brook or small stream, gubernatorial, intervale, salt-lick, portage, rapids, samp, section of the country, sleigh, and staging for scaffolding. The other nine-tenths of the book con- sists of mere vulgarisms and blunders, unauthorized expressions invented by eccentric writers and never generally adopted, and words really British in origin though perhaps not current in good London society. II Noah Webster's "Letter to the Honorable John Pickering on the subject of his Vocabulary" is a duo- decimo of sixty pages, dated "Dec. 1816." The lexi- cographer regarded himself, or the principles that he taught, as at least indirectly attacked by the "Vocab- ulary" without necessity or reason. As for Mr. Pick- ering's apprehension that American speech might be- come in time so depraved that English authors could not be read in this country without translation, he says he "might oppose to this supposition another, which is nearly as probable, that the rivers in America will turn their courses, and flow from the sea to the tops of the hills." Whatever change may be taking place, moreover, he thinks it quite vain to attempt to 54 AMERICAN ENGLISH stop, especially as changes are occurring in England as well: "You take some pains," he says, "to ascer- tain the point, whether the people of this country now speak and write the English language with purity. The result is, that we have, in several instances, de- parted from the standard of the language, as spoken and written in England at the present day. Be it so — it is equally true, that the English have departed from the standard, as it appears in the works of Ad- dison. And this is acknowledged by yourself. It is equally true that Addison, Pope and Johnson deviated from the standard of the age of Elizabeth. Now, sir, where is the remedy?" Wherever else it may lie — if remedy is desirable or possible — it certainly does not lie. Dr. Webster thought, in slavish imitation of British practices. "With regard to the general prin- ciple that we must use only such words as the Eng- lish use," he proceeds, "let me repeat, that the re- striction is, in the nature of the thing, impracticable, and the demand that we should observe it, is as im- proper as it is arrogant. Equally impertinent is it to ridicule us for retaining the use of genuine English words, because they happen to be obsolete in London, or in the higher circles of life. There are manv in- stances in which we retain the genuine use of words, and the genuine English pronunciation, which they have corrupted; in pronunciation they have intro- duced more corruptions, within half a century, than were ever before introduced in five centuries, not even TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES ^^ excepting the periods of conquest. Many of these changes in England are attributable to false princi- ples, introduced into popular elementary books writ- ten by mere sciolists in language, and diffused by the instrumentality of the stage. Let the English remove the beam from their own eye, before they attempt to pull the mote from ours ; and before they laugh at our vulgar keow, geown, neow, let them discard their po- lite keind, and geuide; a fault precisely similar in origin, and equally a perversion of genuine English pronunciation." Brave and sensible words are these; their teaching may well be laid to heart to-day! Ill Dr. Elwyn's "Glossary of Supposed Americanisms" was undertaken, as the preface informs us, "to show how much there yet remains, in this country, of lan- guage and customs directly brought from our remotest ancestry" — a purpose quite different from that of Mr. Pickering; but the chief value of the book is in the contribution it makes to our knowledge of Penn- sylvania provincialisms, of which the author was evi- dently a careful observer. About four hundred and sixty words are included, of which a clear majority would be quite as little understood in decent American as in decent British society; but it seems that we have been accused of manufacturing the whole list, while the fact is that they are one and all of foreign origin. 56 AMERICAN ENGLISH The book is carelessly written, and not accurately alphabetized. IV Scheie de Vere's "Americanisms," a small octavo of something less than seven hundred pages, differs from the other works mentioned in not adopting the dic- tionary form, but presenting our verbal peculiarities as arranged in various classes — those invented by the Indian, the Dutchman, the Frenchman, the Spaniard, the German, the Negro, and the Chinaman; expres- sions peculiar to the West, to the church, to politics and to trade; marine and railroad terms; cant and slang; new words and nicknames, etc. The author has been accused of plagiarizing from Bartlett, and doubtless did avail himself freely of the labors of that lexicographer; but he added a good deal of original matter, and his book possesses an interest of its own. About four thousand items appear in the index. Bartlett's "Dictionary" (or, to give the full title, "Dictionary of Americanisms, a Glossary of Words and Phrases usually regarded as peculiar to the United States," by John Russell Bartlett) is, in its latest edition, a bulky octavo of over eight hundred pages, exceedingly well printed, and containing some- thing above 5600 entries, but hardly representing, I TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 57 think, more than about 450 genuine and distinct Americanisms now in respectable use — less than one- twelfth of the whole number of articles. Of the re- mainder, nearly four hundred words and phrases are set down by the author himself as of British origin, some being used in this country in exactly the same manner as on their native soil, while others have been slightly altered in meaning, application or sound. At least 750 more are also certainly British, though Mr. Bartlett was not aware of it. The rest of the dic- tionary — say three quarters — is made up, partly of expressions never in general use, or long since an- tiquated; partly of mere mispronunciations, gram- matical errors and unauthorized contractions; partly of vulgar slang; and partly of wearisome repetitions. Yet I by no means desire to be understood as setting down the work for a mass of rubbish. On the con- trary, it contains a vast fund of interesting informa- tion, which any man devoted to the study of English dialects might well be proud to have brought together ; and it is still indubitably, forty years after the last edition appeared, the standard work on the subject, for certainly neither Farmer nor Clapin could seri- ously be regarded as having displaced it, and Thorn- ton and Mencken worked on an entirely different principle. Only it is a pity that the diligent com- piler, in his anxiety to make a big book, allowed himself such extreme latitude in his conception of what constitutes an Americanism in speech, and con- ^8 AMERICAN ENGLISH sequently buried his grains of wheat under so ap- palling a mountain of chaff. It may be worth while to present some samples of the words that are improperly included in Bartlett's "Dictionary," as showing the way in which a tremen- dous number of pseudo-Americanisms have been, first and last, accumulated by people who find satisfaction in counting them up. Of the 385 words and phrases that the author him- self sets down as of British origin, the following ex- amples may be mentioned : To beat one all-to- pieces, or all-to-smash; allow, for assert; argufy; awfully, for very; bail, the handle of a bucket; barm, for yeast; bound, for determined or resolved; a bull, on the stock exchange; bump- tious, for self-conceited; can't come it; cap sheaf; cheek, for impudence; chowder; clip, a blow, as "he hit him a clip"; to collide; to cotton to a man; cracker, for a small biscuit; cute; to cut stick; a deck of cards; deputize; doxologize; dreadfid, for very, as "dread- ful" fine; every once in a while; fall of the year; first-rate; fix, to put in order; flapjack; flummux; freshet; gallivant; galoshes; given name; goodies; to gulp; hand-running; hard up; heft, for weight; help, for servants; homely, not handsome; hook, to steal; immigration; jeopardize; jidep; to keep com- pany; to loan; mad, for angry; mighty, for very; old fogy; over the left; pair of stairs; pled, for pleaded; pry, a lever; to pull up stakes; to reckon, meaning to TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 59 think, believe or suppose; reliable; rooster; no great shakes; sophomore; spell of weather; spry; spunk; starvation; stricken, for struck; sundown; swap; to take on; talented; teetotaller; ugly, for ill-tempered; to wallop, and to whale; whopper; to whittle, and to wilt. In many cases no reason whatever is assigned for including these words in a list of Americanisms; very seldom is any better cause mentioned than that they are provincial or antiquated in Great Britain; and sometimes the pretext is of the most trivial char- acter, as in the case of the word whittle, which is put in, forsooth, because both the verb and the practice are thought to be more common in America than in England! But the most surprising instance among this class of words has yet to be mentioned — the use of the adverb "immediately," in place of the phrase "as soon as" — "the deer fell dead immediately they shot him." This wretched expression, Mr. Bartlett writes, is creeping into use from England. What possible sense there can be in counting as an Ameri- canism a villainously ungrammatical construction which is "creeping into use in this country from Eng- land," it would puzzle Fitzedward Hall himself to explain. The words and phrases erroneously (though in most cases very naturally) supposed by Mr. Bartlett to be peculiar to this country, appear in the list of "Exotic Americanisms" that constitutes the third chapter of this book. It would be unprofitable to detail exam- \ 60 AMERICAN ENGLISH pies of the mere errors, vulgar expressions and slang terms which he enumerates as distinctively American. A few instances of his ill-advised repetitions, enlarg- ing the book to no possible good, may be mentioned: "Bankit (French Banquette)" is defined as a side- walk in Louisiana. Immediately below we have "banquette, the name for the sidewalk in some of our southern cities." "Bowie," and "bowie-knife" are separately entered. "Breakbone" is "a species of fever," and then follows "breakbone fever," with full definition. "Bulldoze" is "to intimidate," and on the next page we have "to bulldoze, to intimidate by ' violent means." A "filibuster" is a freebooter; "fili- bustering" is "f reebooting" ; and "to filibuster" is "to acquire by f reebooting" ; three separate entries. "A loafer" is an idle lounger, and "to loaf" is "to lounge." "To lynch," "lyncher" and "lynch law" are sepa- rately explained. "Muss," a corruption of "mess," is first elaborately defined as a noun, with examples, and then as a verb. A "pony" is a translation, and " to pony" is to use a translation. "To post" a per- son is to inform him, and then we are told that "posted" means informed. "To red up," meaning to set in order, is twice defined — once on page 517 and again on page 520. "To run" is "to cause to run," with the phrase "to run a church" as an example; and just below w^e find another entry — "to run a church," "to have the charge of a church." "To spin street yarn" (page 636) is "to go gadding about the TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 6l streets"; and on page 798, under the heading "street yarn," we learn that "to spin street yarn" is "to fre- quent the streets without any definite object." A "stove pipe" is a tall hat; and then follows a second entry, "stove pipe hat, a tall hat." A "suck in" is "a cheat," and "to suck in" is "to take in, to cheat." Many more instances might be mentioned; but it is hardly necessary to go further than this, in order to show how the book is filled up and expanded, without rhyme or reason. Mr. Bartlett would have done bet- ter to take pattern from Halliwell's admirable diction- ary, a work that contains nearly ten times as many entries as the "Dictionary of Americanisms," but fills less than fifty more pages. VI Mr. John S. Farmer's work, "Americanisms New and Old," is a "foolscap quarto" of about 590 pages, "privately printed" in what was intended to be a very ornamental (but is far from being a tasteful) style, elaborately bound, and sold, each copy signed and numbered, at a high price and to subscribers only — at least it went that way at first, and with the guarantee that this would be the "only complete edition," though I regret to say that a verbatim reprint, apparently from the original plates, appeared shortly after on the market in plainer binding, at a small fraction of the price that the subscribers paid. A striking feature 62 AMERICAN ENGLISH of the book is the vagueness of the author's ideas of American geography and history. He calls this country "the future mighty commonwealth of the southern seas"; counts Maine and Vermont among the original Thirteen; names "Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, Georgia" — these four only — as the Southern States; and with similar accuracy in- forms us that the "Midwestern States" are "W. Vir- ginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas"; the Northwestern States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska ; the Pacific States, California, Nevada and Oregon; and that Pennsylvania is called "the mother of presidents." The last named statement is founded on a quotation from an American book, which Mr. Farmer misunderstood, as seems frequently to have occurred when he was preparing definitions. Perhaps the funniest case of such misunderstanding is under the word jag. Reading in the Albany Journal of a man who came in very late after an unsuccessful attempt to unlock the front door with his umbrella, and found himself next morning, "overcoat, hat, jag and all, stretched out in the bath tub," Mr. Farmer defines jag as "a slang term for an umbrella, pos- sibly from that article being so constantly carried." Similarly, he explains pink saucer as "a special dye used in coloring tights," on the strength of having read in the New York World that an actress said she laundered her own flesh tights, coloring them with TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 63 what is called "pink saucer." Then Mr. Farmer copies some errors from Bartlett, such as "freezer, a refrigerator," "handglasses, spectacles," and "hostiles, enemies," to which might be added "Maine law," of which term (as in the case of hostiles) Bartlett's definition is so incomplete as to be misleading. Of errors that appear to be original with Mr. Farmer may be mentioned: Bellybender, weak ice; frac- tional currency, nickel and copper coins; jay, the genus dude or masher; paroled, released or remanded on bail; sack coat, a tweed cloth coat; and sarcopha- gus, a leaden coffin. Elsewhere he informs us that the Knights of Pythias constitute an order of the same kind as the Knights of Labor, "similar to an English trade union"; that "maybe is invariably used for per- haps" ; that "tickets of admission are commonly called permits"; that coins are said to be plugged when counterfeited; that huckleberry is "a kind of black- berry," and that "all berries are called plums in New England"; that the term bulldoze originally referred to "an association of negroes formed to insure, by vio- lent and unlawful means, the success of an election"; that spelling bees originated in the Western States; that bank bill is "the name by which Bank of Eng- land notes are generally known throughout the States "; that "a cent piece" is "made of nickel"; that the word "friends is employed where in England the word relations would be used"; that "previous to 1878, greenbacks do\Mi to ten cents were current," and that 64 AMERICAN ENGLISH "greenb ackers were those who, previous to the resump- tion of specie payment for the smaller amount just named, opposed the change." The book is in fact utterly useless as a source of information; no reliance can be placed on any statement made in its pages. Credit should nevertheless be given to Mr. Farmer for his entire freedom from the insular superciliousness that one might naturally expect to find him combin- ing with his ignorance of the United States. He is studiously courteous as well as fair; and he goes out of his way to remark that "American English, taking the people all round, is much purer than the vernacu- lar of the mother country." On the whole, therefore, and considering the fund of amusement that his "por- tentous catch-guinea" (as the New York Post called the book on its appearance) is certain to afford them, Americans have reason to be grateful to Mr. Farmer. Would that all our British critics possessed the same elementary qualification for discussing the peculiari- ties of the American language ! VII Col. Norton's "Political Americanisms" contains some 350 entries — among which it is a little surpris- ing to find boycott, "an adaptation from the Irish Nationalists, with the same general meaning." An occasional slip — such as the statement that the term half-breed was "originally applied to certain Repub- TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 65 licans of New- York who wavered in their party al- legiance during a bitter contest over the U. S. senator- ship in 1881" — will be noted by the critical reader; but the work is on the whole remarkably well done, though it belongs of course to rather a different class from that of the general treatises on Americanisms, and hardly calls for extended review. VIII Sylva Clapin's ''New Dictionary of Americanisms" contains 5258 entries, of which number at least 750 are certainly expressions of British origin. Of the remainder, a large proportion are the names of things peculiar to America, or first introduced to notice here, and of these a large proportion are words of foreign language, words in many cases that no American would consider English. The rest of the book is largely transferred from Bartlett and Farmer, with an occasional clipping from Norton; and not a few of the errors of these compilers are adopted by Mr. Clapin without correction. In addition, he makes blunders enough of his own, some of them very odd. A mudsill, he tells us, originally denoted a timber "laid down to form a foundation for a railway track"; the New Netherlands is "the State of New York, through a grateful remembrance of its obliga- tions to the Dutch"; a pipe dream is "an intensified form" of a slang phrase indicating, "in newspaper 66 AMERICAN ENGLISH parlance, an assignment which a reporter knows will fail"; to place a person is to "call to mind the place of his birth"; the word push "is in quite common use to characterize the followers of racing, base-ball, row- ing, athletics, &c." If the promise of the prelim- inary circular, that "every page, before going to press, will pass through the hands of trained experts of the American Dialect Society" for criticism, was faith- fully kept, it would appear that the trained experts, like Jupiter, occasionally nodded. IX A work of very different character, different indeed from all the others, and the only one since Bartlett that is not founded on the labors of that diligent compiler, is Thornton's "American Glossary, an At- tempt to Illustrate Certain Americanisms upon His- torical Principles." Emphasis in the modest sub- title is to rest, not on the word attempt, considering that the author is decidedly successful in accomplish- ing his purpose, but on the word certain, for the book is by no means intended to give anything like a com- plete list of Americanisms, however one may be pleased to define that term, Prof. Thornton's plan hav- ing been to select expressions "of recognized standing or special interest" and trace their pedigree; "the reader who wishes to investigate such phrases as Adam-and-Eve-on-a-Rajt or get-a-wiggle-on will TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 67 have to pursue his research elsewhere." In view of this limitation, it must be said that some of the entries in the book are a little surprising, such for instance as the eagle from Harper's Ferry, a fast horse, fingers and toes, hanging shelf, Hartford Convention, higher law, not worth a row of pins, Ohioan, to ask no odds, pipe-laying, Wilmot proviso and wooden nutmegs. These constitute, however, as do the perhaps 450 words of British origin, a very petty fraction of the entire number, this being about 3500, which are illus- trated by no fewer than 14,000 citations, every one accurately dated. It is not strange that they are not very well balanced, regrettably few in some cases and rather unnecessarily multiplied in others. Perhaps 61 is not too many under Yankee, considering the im- portance of the word and the obscurity that surrounds its history; but one must wonder whether it was really worth while to give 33 for half -horse-half -alligator. The wonder, however, is that the compiler got so many together; and he writes me that he has gathered enough material for a third volume, the present work consisting of two. How he got it all I do not know; it is really a marvelous collection to be brought to- gether by a single author; and it throws a flood of light on hundreds of points that were previously ob- scure. It reminds one in a way of Richardson's Eng- lish dictionary, the first later than Johnson that was not founded on his labors, and the first to give "a collection of usages, and those usages explained to suit 68 AMERICAN ENGLISH the quotations." After somewhat careful study of Thornton, I have discovered only one single error, his defining chunk as "a worthless horse," and this is due to a not unnatural misunderstanding of the soli- tary case in which he noted the use of the word. The work is certainly of very high and quite unique value. X "The American Language, a Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States," by H. L. Mencken, is a tall octavo of over 380 pages, planned much after De Vere, not a vocabulary but a work of history and review. After an interesting gen- eral introduction, the author sketches the beginnings of "American" and the period of its growth; considers the differences between British and American English today and the probable tendencies of "American"; adds some supplementary matter relating to proper names in this country, and American proverbial ex- pressions and slang, concluding with a prophecy that American practice is likely to determine the final form of the language. A valuable bibliography is ap- pended. The work is a mine of information, as may be inferred from the fact that the index of words and phrases noted contains over 5000 entries, and it is written (like De Vere's, which it quite eclipses and supersedes) in a readable style that entertains as well as instructs. Aside from a very few errors in fact, TEN IMPORTANT TREATISES 69 really the only fault that the present writer finds with it is Mr. Mencken's rashness in making a good many general statements altogether too sweeping and uni- versal. A few instances will show: "Lawn fete" he says, is "commonly pronounced feet" ; "Americans almost invariably accent" the word inquiry on the first syllable; "We change the ph (/) sound to plain p in diphtheria, diphthong and naphtha" ; "Cog still retains a pure o, but one seldom hears it in log" ; "Two sons-in-law is never heard — one always hears two son-in-laws" ; "In common speech, the word is always deef" ; and, most amazing of all, this libel on the grammar of the United States: "Such phrases as 'I see nobody' or 'I know nothing about it' are heard so seldom that they appear to be affectations when en- countered; the well-nigh universal forms are 'I don't see nobody' and 'I don't know nothing about it.' " Such statements are likely to be pounced upon by British writers as complete admissions by a leading American authority (for as such Mr. Mencken is sure to be recognized) of the distinct inferiority of our speech to that of Great Britain on points on which no such inferiority really exists among Americans as a whole, the blunders noted being either extremely vul- gar or extremely local. Undoubtedly in his next edi- tion (and it is to be hoped that several editions of this great work will be called for) Mr. Mencken will make a number of his statements less sweeping. CHAPTER THREE EXOTIC AMERICANISMS "Every one knows an Americanism when he sees it." — The King's English, Oxford, 1906, page 25. "Those whose pleasure it is to call America 'God's own country' tell us that they are the sole inheritors of the speech which Chaucer and Shakespeare adorned. It is their favorite boast that they have preserved the old language from extinc- tion. They expend a vast deal of ingenuity in the fruitless attempt to prove that even their dialect has its roots deep down in the soil of classical English. And when their proofs are demanded they are indeed a sorry few. A vast edifice of mis- taken pride has been established upon the insecure basis of three words — fall, gotten and bully." — Charles Whibley, American Sketches, Edinburgh, 1908, page 209. This is a list of more than eleven hundred expres- sions supposed by Bartlett, Farmer, Clapin or Thorn- ton to be peculiar to this country, with evidence (gen- erally in the form of a quotation from a British writer) that most of them are certainly, and all of them probably, of foreign origin. "Evidence," I say, prima facie evidence, not conclusive proof, especially when the citation is of comparatively recent date; the term in question may be of American birth. How- ever, the instance quoted is in every case the first 70 EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 7I known occurrence in print of the word or phrase, and it would seem that that fact must be regarded as set- tling the matter until an earlier American citation can be given. I am of course not unmindful of the contention of many English writers that an old English word, or use of a word, becomes an Americanism if it loses favor in Great Britain while retaining it in the United States — a position stoutly maintained by the Messrs. Fowler, compilers of^he "Concise Oxford Diction- ary," who insist, in the first chapter of their work on "The King's English," that "guess," "a favorite ex- pression of Chaucer's, though good old English, is not good English," adding: "If we use the phrase — parenthetically, that is, like Chaucer and the Yankees — we have it, not from Chaucer, but from the Yan- kees," and therefore it is to be classed with Ameri- canisms. It of course follows that if the Messrs. Fowler were compiling a glossary to Chaucer, they would have an entry something like this: "Guess, Americanism for believe, think, fancy." Similarly, if it were a glossary to Shakespeare, there would be an item: "Baggage, Americanism for luggage." And they must hold that a passage from the fourth chapter of Matthew ought to be printed in the Eng- lish Bible after this fashion: 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, (a) teaching in their synagogues, and preaching (b) the gospel of the kingdom, (c) and heal- Mark i, 21. •* Or, good tidings. " Mark i, 34. 72 AMERICAN ENGLISH ing all manner of (d) sickness, and all man- "i Americanism ° \ / ) for nlness. ner of disease among the people. 24. And his fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto him all {e) sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were (/) pos- sessed with devils, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them. * Americanism for ill. ' Or, demoniacs. Because, you see, there is only one alternative: A word, or a use of a word, must either (1) be, or else (2) not be, an Americanism. If it is fish in a Chi- cago newspaper, it cannot be flesh in a British book, especially one that everybody is supposed to know. However, readers can judge for themselves. Here is the list with the evidence, "submitted," as the Dec- laration of Independence says, "to a candid world." The utmost brevity has been sedulously observed, but not, it is hoped, at the sacrifice of clarity, though the numbers that appear after most of the quotations may need a word of explanation. They indicate as nearly as possible the position of the extract in the book or periodical. Thus "4.6.15" may be volume, chapter and page; or act, scene and line; or chapter, section and paragraph — the exact application de- pending of course on the nature and arrangement of the work quoted. The figures in parentheses give the year of publication. By "Halliwell" is meant the Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, by James Orchard Halli- EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 73 well, London, 1855; by "Davies," a Glossary Supple- mentary to Halliwell, by T. L. O. Davies, London, 1881; by "Jamieson," Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language, Edinburgh, 1808; by "Elwyn," Elwyn's Glossary of Supposed Americanisms, Phila- delphia, 1859; by "Grose," Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. When "Murray" is quoted, the ref- erence is to that invaluable storehouse of knowledge, the badly-named "New English Dictionary," edited by Sir J. A. H. Murray and called "The Oxford Dic- tionary" on the temporary slip covers of the parts, though the latter title does not appear anywhere in the completed volumes. It is only proper to add that by no means all the citations that appear here and appear in Murray were taken by the present compiler from that great work, many of them having been noted by himself during thirty or forty years of (more or less intermittent) attention to the matter of collect- ing them. According to Gunter. As Gunter, inventor of surveying instruments, who died in 1626, was an Englishman, it is safe to say that this expression is of transatlantic origin. Account. "Of no account" — Of no value. "That he his father in disdain hath taken and set at no account." — Gower, Confessio Amantis, 1.217 (1393). 74 AMERICAN ENGLISH "Are all these of no account?" — Fordyce Sermons to Young Women (1767). Accountability. "Magistrates exposed to annual accountability." — Crote, Greece (1849). Acting — Performing temporarily the duties of. "Trowbridge will tell you his opinion of the present acting captain of the San Josef." — Nelson, Nicolas' Des- patches, 4.287 (1801). Addressee. "Of five thousand addressees, nine tenths declined to notice his letters." — De Quincey, Works, 6.328 (1858). Admire — 1. To wonder at. "I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints; and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration." — Rev. 17.10 (1611). 2. To like greatly (with an infinitive); "I should admire to go with you to Boston." "A man of the Commonwealth period would readily understand much in the phraseology which now strikes an English ear as peculiar in these Eastern States. He would know what the genial host meant when he told him that he 'did admire' to see him eat." — New Englander, July, 1880, p. 430. "Your rapt eyes would then admire to see him use his thighs in strength and swiftness." — Chapman's Odyssey, 17.418 (1615). Adulterer — One who adulterates. "Usurers, cheats, coiners, and adulterers of wares." — Urquhart, Rabelais, 3.295 (1650). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 75; Affiliate — Fraternize. "The sharpers with whom I had been affiliated." — Smollett, Gil Bias, 1.1.71 (1761). Afternight — Evening. Said by the Rev. Dr. John Hall, in the "New York Ledger," to be "common in Ulster." Agee — Askew. "I wore my hat agee." — A. Carlyle, Autobiography (1800). Aim — Intend. "That rest that the king aimed to enjoy." — Selden, Laws of England, 2.26.116 (1649). Airy — Conceited . "Airy saints, our hypocrites we mean." — Warner, Al- bion's England (1612). "I will never deny myself honest solace for fear of airy censure." — Feltham, Resolves, 1.29 (1627). Alarmist. "The panic of this alarmist is very great." — Sydney Smith, Works, 1.2 (1802). Alcoholism — ^Liquor habit. "The valuable publication on chronic alcoholism by Magnus Huss." — W. Marcet, Chron. Ale. Intox., Intro- duction (1860). Alienage — Condition of an alien. "Alienage is a plea in abatement, now seldom used." — Tomlin's Law Dictionary, "Abatement" (1809). All-Fired — Extremely. "I be so all-fired jealous." — Tom Brown at Oxford, 40.446 (1861). 76 AMERICAN ENGLISH Alley — Kind of marble, child's plaything. "A large bag of marbles and alleys." — Defoe, Duncan Campbell (1720). Alligator — Large amphibian reptile, resembling the crocodile. "Aligartos, which we call in English crocodiles." — Purchas, Pilgrims (1613). "The crocodiles, now called Alegartos." — Raleigh, His- tory of the World (1614). Allow — Think or say. Elwyn says this is "an old Sussex provincial- ism," and it is entered in Parish's Sussex Diction- ary — "he allowed that it was too bad." It ap- pears as an Isle-of-Wight peculiarity ("I 'lows we'd better go at once") in one of the "Original Glossaries" published by the English Dialect So- ciety in 1881. Baret's "Alveary" (1580) de- fines: "Alowe, to declare to be true." Allspice — A condiment. "Ambergrease, nutmegs and allspice." — Anatomy of Melancholy (1621). Almshouse. Defined in "Promptorium Parvulorum" (1440). Along, in phrase "get along." This very phrase, as well as "go along," is used by Mrs. Guppy in "Bleak House," chap. 64. Alumnus. The American use of this word as restricted EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 77 to a graduate, marks only a slight limitation of the meaning, a pupil, which was established in England as far back as the time of Evelyn, 1645. Amenability — State of being amenable. "Not in the English dictionaries," says Bartlett. It ought to be. "The mysterious faculty of free-will and consequent personal amenability." — Coleridge, The Friend (1810). Ampersand or Andpersand — The character & rep- resenting the conjunction and. Halliwell says: "The expression is, or rather was, common in our nursery books. In Hamp- shire it is pronounced amperzed, and very often amperse-and. An early instance of its use is quoted in Strutt's 'Sports and Pastimes,' p. 399." Strutt published in 1801. Annunciator. "Annunciator, an officer whose business it was to give notice of the feasts." — Chambers' Cyclopedia, Supplement (1753). Antagonize — Excite the antagonism of. "Doing this work antagonizes certain people." — Echo, Feb. 20, 1882. Any — At all; "people speak of not being angry any" — so Farmer. "You are not to go loose any longer." — Merry Wives of Windsor, 4.2.128 (1598). Appellate — Relating to appeals. "The Earls of Derby exercising appellate jurisdiction," — Blackstone, Commentaries, 1.105 (1768). 78 AMERICAN ENGLISH Applecart. To upset one's applecart — to get into trouble. Halliwell says that "down with his applecart" is a provincialism in the north of England, mean- ing "knock him down." Appointable — That may be appointed. "Rites and ceremonies appointable by superior powers." — Fox, Acts of the Church (1562). Argufy — To argue or to signify. Halliwell says this word in the sense of argue occurs in various dialects of England, and adds that he believes he has heard it used in the sense to signify. He certainly might have read it, used in that sense: "I've done," she muttered; "I was saying It did not argufy my playing. Some folks will win, they cannot choose, But think or not think, some must lose." William Shenstone (1737-'63), To a Friend. ASININITY. "Ears beyond the usual dimensions of asininity asinine." — Frazer's Magazine, August, 1831. Assign — To sign. Murray gives a citation of 1563. At superfluous after where. "Where did I break off at?" — Browning, Clive (1883). A-Tremble — Quivering. "My hands a-tremble as I had just caught up my heart to write with, in the plan of it." — Aurora Leigh, Book 6 (1856). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 79 Attitudinize — To "strike an attitude," to pose. "He called once to a gentleman who offended him in that point, 'Don't attitudinize.' " — BosweU's Johnson, 5.220 (1784). Authoress. Murray traces this silly word back in its pres- ent form to 1718, and in various other spellings to 1494. Avails — Proceeds of a sale. Used by Bishop Pecock, in "Repressor of Over- much Blaming," 392 (1449). B Back and Forth. "He would go back and fore along the rope." — Sir Thos. Urquhart, Rabelais, 1.23 (1653). "Young girls dance over the candle back and forth." — Camden Society, Early English History (1836). Back Out. "Johnson was determined that Morris should not back out of the scrape." — Scott, Rob Roy, b (1818). Backward — Bashful. "The females were nothing backwarder in beholding." —Swift, Tale of a Tub (1704). Bad — Much. "Haunted almost as bad as Mompesson's house." — Jos. Glanvill, Sadducimus (1681). Baggage — Called now in Great Britain luggage. "To get him baggage, put himself in press." — Political, Religious and Love Poems (circ. 1430). 80 AMERICAN ENGLISH "Was left not one, horse, male, trusse, no baggage." — Chaucer, Dream {circ. 1450). "It will let in and out the enemy with bag and bag- gage."— PFw^e/5 Tale, 1.2 (1611). "Mrs. Arnold offered to send for my son's baggage." — Vicar of Wakefield, 20 (1766). "With bag and baggage thus did Dido once decamp." — Browning, Ring and Book, Bottinius (1869). Bail — Handle of a bucket. Said in Forby's Glossary to be provincial in Norfolk, and in Halliwell to be peculiar to the east of England. According to Murray it meant originally "a hoop or ring, a half -hoop for sup- porting the cover of a wagon or cradle," and dates back in this significance, practically the same as the "American" usage, to 1447. Baiting — An informal luncheon. "Beyting of horse, pabulacio." — Promptorium Parvu- lorum. "Never themselves refreshing, except the bayting of their horses." — Sir Thos. More, King Edward V (1513). "Travellers that have benighted themselves by their bait- ings." — Hartlib, Commonwealth of Bees (1655). Balk — Refuse to move, as a horse. "If he balked, I knew I was undone." — Defoe, Moll Flanders (1721). Bam — To cheat. Certainly dates back to Gibber's "Double Gal- lant," 1707, and is defined in the 5th edition of "Dyche's Dictionary," 1748. exotic americanisms 8l Banana. Seems to be West African word. Used by Garcia ab Horto, "Plants and Drugs of India" (1563). Bang Up — Remarkably fine. "A bang-up theatrical cotillion." — Smith, Rejected Ad- dresses (1812). Banjo — A musical instrument. Said to be an African corruption of a word from Southern Europe. First known instance of its use is in "The Negro and his Banjer," title of one of Charles Dibdin's "Sea Songs," circ. 1790. As "banjore," it is explained in Maria Edge- worth's "Belinda," 2.18.7 (1801). Banquette — Sidewalk, in some southern cities. Simply an importation from France, heard only in regions once largely populated by Frenchmen. Does a European word, used — without change in spelling, pronunciation or meaning — in a re- stricted section of the United States, become an Americanism because it is not familiar to British ears? Barbecue. "Let's Barbicu this fat rogue," — Mrs. Behn, Widow Ranter, 2.4.356 (1690). Bark a Tree. "If any person unlawfully bark any apple trees." — Aa 37 of Henry VIII (1545). 82 AMERICAN ENGLISH Barrens — Barren tracts of land. Merely a natural and simple contraction. The adjective barren has been applied to land, in England as in the United States, for certainly more than five hundred years. Baseball. The modern game is an American invention, no doubt; but the term occurs on p. 238 of ^ Moor's "Suffolk Words and Phrases," 1823, where it is used in describing a country game. Basilar — At the base. "The seventh bone is the bone basylare." — Copeland, medical treatise (1541). Bat — To strike. "Mariners, who with their spirits, poles and oars beat and batt their carcasses." — Philemon Holland, Suetonius (1606). Bear — To endeavor to depress the value of property. Murray says this term, applied to stock, ap- peared early in the 18th century, "and was com- mon at the time of the South Sea Bubble." Beard of shelfish. "These threads, termed the beard of the mussel." — Goldsmith, Natural History, 2.4.6 (1774). Beau — A lover. "Her country beaux and city cousins, lovers no more, flew off by dozens." — Goldsmith, Double Transformation (1777). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 83 Beaver Dam — Barrier in stream, erected by beavers. "The beavers gnaw down trees, wherewith they make beaver dams." — Philosophical Transactions, 11.626 (1676). Bedrock — Solid rock, underlying looser strata. "The richest ground is usually found in contact with bedrock." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 10.745 (1879). Beef — An ox. So defined by Halliwell, who adds: "Beefet, Young Ox." "More than 20,000 beasts, swine, beufes, kene and moutons." — Berner's Froissart, \st, 393.675 (1523). "The pygargue, the wild beef." — Douay Bible, Deut. 14.5 (1609). Being — Because. Noted by Halliwell as occurring in "various dialects." "You loiter here too long, being that you are to take soldiers up.''— Henry IV, 2d Part, 2.1.199 (1597). Beliked — Admired. "Those that are beloved and beliked of princes." — Sit Thos. North, Guevara (1557). Belongings — Personal possessions. "Jewels, liveries and such other belongings of wealthy people." — John Ruskin (1857). Bender — A spree. Said (by a writer in Blackwood, October, 1867, p. 403) "to have been originally introduced by the Scotch." The word is defined as "a hard drinker" in Jamieson. 84 AMERICAN ENGLISH Best — To defeat. "I cannot stand quiet and see the Dissenters best the establishment." — Trafford, World in Church (1863). Biddy — Hen. Occurs in "Twelfth Night," 3.4.128 (1601). Bilberry. "There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry." — Merry Wives of Windsor, 5.5 (1598). Bile — Boil. The old Anglo-Saxon word, "still used," says Halliwell, "in the provincial dialects." BiLiNG — "The whole bilin' of 'em." Possibly of American origin; but Dickens makes a London lodging-house keeper use it, "On Duty with Inspector Field." Bilk — An especially contemptible cheat. "Johnny Wilks, thou greatest of bilks." — Sheridaniana (1790). "The wagoner drove off, cursing him for a bilk." — Marryat, Japhet, 9 (1836). Billy — A weapon. The earliest known appearance of this term is in the London Times of April 28, 1865. Bindweed. "Convolvulus is called in English byndeweede." — Turner, Names of Herbs (1548). Blackberry. This word, exactly as used by Americans, "has been in constant use in England," according to EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 8^ Richard Grant White (Galaxy, Jan. 1, 1879), "from the days of King Alfred." Blackleg — A disease of cattle. "They have a distemper in Leicestershire which they call blacklegs." — Lisle, Husbandry, 347 (1722). Blacklist — Catalog of discredited persons. Occurs in a translation, published 1692, of Milton's Defensio pro Populo. Blacky — ^Negro. Used by Moore (1815), Thackeray (1854), and the Athenaeum. Seldom if ever heard, I think, in the United States. Blatancy. "Who can be secured from base carping blatancie?" — Folkingham, Art of Survey (1610). Blotter — Book for temporary notes. Defined in Craig's Dictionary, 1849. Blow — To boast or brag. "Not blowing everywhere all that I know." — Chaucer, Court of Love, 14th Century. "He brags and he blaws of his siller." — Burns, Tom Glen (1789). Blowout — An ambitious entertainment. "She sent me a card for her blowout." — Scott, St. Ronan's Well, 33 (1832). Blue Blood — 'High breeding. "One of high rank and birth, of the blue blood." — Miss Edgeworth, Helen, 15 (1834). 86 AMERICAN ENGLISH Blue Book — An official list or report. "The second, called the blue book, begins with the first year of Queen Mary." — Ashmole, Order of Garter, 6.155 (1715). Bluefish. Murray gives citation from Philosophical Transactions of 1734. Blufe — Steep river bank. Defined in Latham's "Johnson" as "a high bank, generally overlooking the sea." Blur-Eyed — Blear-eyed. Murray gives, as one definition of the verb blur, "to dim the sight or other senses," with a quotation of 1620. Bones — Castanets. "Wilt thou hear music? Let us have the bones." — Midsummer Night, 4.1 (1590). BOOHOO. Used by Skelton, 1525. Bottom — Endurance. "The savages held out and had better bottoms." — Goldsmith, Animated Nature, 2.106 (1774). Bottoms — Rich lowlands. Occurs repeatedly, chaps. 1, 5, 7 and 27, in Gaskell's "Life of Charlotte Bronte" (1857). She calls it a Yorkshire provincialism. Bound — Determined. "They are bound that they shall not diminish but in- EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 87 crease all things." — Tyndale, Prologues to Five Books, 15th Century. Bowling Alley. Murray gives a British citation of 1555. Brainy — Having an active mind. Used by Leigh Hunt, "Correspondence," 2.104, Letter to R. Bell (1845). Brickly — Brittle. "Brickie," in the same significance, occurs twice in the original Douay Bible, though printed "brit- tle" in modern editions. Brief — A legal paper. In use in England, though at first in a sense slightly different from ours, since the 13th Cen- tury. Bright — Intelligent. "I would rather be in his company than that of the brightest man I know." — Steele, Tatler, No. 208 (1710). Bring Up — Stop. "I was all at once brought up by an invisible fence." — Blackwood's Magazine, 8.317 (1820). Brown in phrase "to do a thing up brown." "He'll come out done so exceedin' brown that his friends won't know him." — Pickwick Papers, 43 (1837). Bruiser — Ruffian. "He let into the pit great numbers of bear-garden bruisers to knock down everybody that hissed." — Horace Walfole, Letters to Mann, 2.116.6 (1744). 88 AMERICAN ENGLISH Brummagen — Worthless. Anybody might see that this variant of sundry old English forms could not be an Americanism. "To hear hardened Brumicham rascals prate." — D'Ur- fey, Sir Barnaby Whig (1681). "I coined heroes as fast as Brumingham groats." — Rev. Thos. Browne, chaplain to Charles I (1688). "That peculiar taste which is vulgarly called Brum- magem." — Bulwer, My Novel, 3 (1853). Buck — 1. To butt, as a goat. "Many of these kickers are very prone to buck other cows." — Britten, Old Country Words (1750). 2. To spring suddenly from the ground, as a horse. "That same bucking puzzles me." — Henry Kingsley, Geojfrey Hamlyn (1859). Buckle — To bend, generally referring to metal. "Ninepences are a little buckled, to distinguish in their currency." — Thorns' Anecdotes, 54 (1525). Bug — Coleopterous insect of any kind. "God's rare workmanship in the poorest bug that creeps." — Rogers, Naaman the Syrian (1642). "Blatta, A shorn bug." — Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary (1783). "May beetle, also called May bug." — Halliwell. Bugaboo — Imaginary terror; hobgoblin. "Bugibu," as a proper name for such a creature, oc- curs in a French poem of the 12th Century, given in Ancien Poetes de la France. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 89 Bully — Excellent. "From such bully fishers this book expects no other reception." — Chetham, Angler's Vademecum (1681). "Here, bully mates." — Hood, Lamia (1852). "Lady Dufferin, bully for her."— Punch, July 28, 1883. Bunk — Berth. "I should represent Charles as falling down the com- panion ladder, and pass over the rest of his voyage by saying that he was confined to his bunk.." — Henry Kings- ley, Ravenshoe. Bureau — Chest of drawers. So defined in Walker's Dictionary, 1805. B URRO — D onkey . Frequent in Southey, dating back to 1800. Bust — Burst. Halliwell has an entry, "Busted, burst, west- ern." Buzz — To talk. "Having buzzed his venomous suggestions into their ears." — Stuhhs, Anatomy of Abuses, 36 (1583). Buzzer — A pickpocket. "To give them opportunity of working upon the prig and buz, that is, picking of pockets." — Geo. Parker, Life's Painter (1789). By and Large. "They soon find out one another's rate of sailing by and large." — Fraser's Magazine, 8.158 (1833). 90 AMERICANENGLISH c Caboose — Conductor's shelter on freight train. Defined in Falconer's Marine Dictionary, 1769, as a "a box or house to cover the chimney of some merchant ships." Our use of the word is merely an extension of this. Cache — Hiding place for valuables. "The inhabitants, having intelligence of our coming, hid their treasure in casshes." — Drake's Voyages (1595). Cade — A calf, a pet — so Bartlett. "It's ill bringin' up a cade lamb." — Adam Bede, Chap. 10. Cadeau — A gift. Bartlett cites a single instance of this Gallicism from a New York daily paper of 1861. It ap- peared in the "Ingoldsby Legends" some fifteen years earlier. Calaboose — Jail. "(He threatened me) with the horrors of the callibouse if I disputed his authority." — Fra Baity, Journal of Tour, 289 (1797). Calabash — Gourd. "He called for his calabaza or gourds of the gold beads." — Raleigh, Guiana (1596). Calash — 1. Light carriage. "The pope taking the air in a rich caleche." — London Gazette, 104 (1666). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 9I 2. Woman's head dress. "Give no ticket to any that wear calashes." — Wesley's Works (1791). Calculate — To believe, think, suppose. "He has brought you a Fox's Book of Martyrs, which I calculate will go in the parcel today." — Thos. Carlyle, New Letters. Calloused — Hardened. "The English mind calloused against its effects." — Fraser's Magazine, 10.658 (1834). Candidate used as a verb. Considering that any English noun may be so used, this could not properly be called an Ameri- canism, even though it were true that it first ap- peared in this country, which is not the case. Murray gives citation from "Feltham's Resolves," 1628, more than 250 years earlier than the first known American instance. Candidateship. Is in Perry's Dictionary, 1775. Candlelighting — Early evening. "She and I, it being candlelight, bought meat for to- morrow." — Pepys' Diary, Aug. 29, 1663. Cantaloupe — Kind of melon. Mentioned in Penny Cyclopedia, 15.86 (1839). Cant Hook — Lever for canting. Is in Halliwell, marked "northern," but de- fined as meaning a finger, "Cant, to set up on 92 AMERICAN ENGLISH edge," is in the same dictionary, marked "east- ern." Canvass — Official count of votes. Seems to be practically the same sense, that of deliberate examination, in which the word was used by Bishop Hall in his "Epistles," 5.4.369 (1608). Cap in phrase "to cap all," to cap the climax, break the record. According to a writer in the New England Magazine, October, 1888, p. 590, "that caps me" is an old Yorkshire expression. "That caps the globe" occurs in "Jane Eyre," chap. 32. Car on a railroad. There is really nothing American in calling these vehicles by this name. The word is uni- versally applied in England to those of street rail- roads, though when the conveyance is drawn across the country by steam, the British prefer to speak of it as a carriage or a coach. Carf — Cut into a tree or piece of timber. Used in England from time immemorial, though in various spellings — cyrf (1000), kyrf (1340), kerfe (1393), carffe (1400), carfe (1559); and defined, with the present orthog- raphy, by Halliwell and Jamieson. Carman — Driver of a cart. "Serve in Thames Street in a civil war against the car- EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 93 men." — Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humor, 3.2 (1598). Carom in billiards. The present British name, cannon, is simply a modern corruption. The 1779 edition of "Hoyle's Games" describes the stroke as being "called a carambole, or for shortness a carrom." Carry Away — To move to ecstasy. "This ravished or carried me away, whether I would or nor— Huloet (1570). Carry On — To frolic, act boisterously. "How Lady Carmine's daughter is carrying on with young Thriftless." — Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry (1856). Cast — Hue; tinge of color. "A robe of a yellowish cast." — Spectator, 425.5 (1712). Catamount. "A cat-of-mount which came out of the forest of Or- leans did infinitely endamage the county of Berry." — World of Wonders, London, 1607, p. 9. Catch — Quantity of fish taken at once. "The expense of fishing must be paid, after which the benefit of the catch is supposing to accrue to the pro- prietors." — Robertson, Agriculture of Perth (1799). Catch a train — Be in time for it. Merely one application of a very old use of the verb, Disraeli's use of it in "Vivian Grey" (1826) : "I was afraid my note might not have caught you." 94 AMERICAN ENGLISH Catechise as a noun. "The articles, creeds, homilies, catechise, liturgy." — Gauden, Tears of the Church (1659). Catfish. Murray gives British citations as early as 1620. Caution — "Example, usually in a ludicrous sense" — so Thornton. Obviously only a rather special use of an old English term. Thornton's first example has the sense of warning, in which sense the word is de- fined in Cockeram's Dictionary, 1523. Cave — To cave in, physically or figuratively. Halliwell credits this expression to various di- alects. It occurs in Chap. 28 of Kingsley's Geof- frey Hamlyn, 1859. Certain — Certainly. "Else certain had they been to blame." — Canterbury Tales, Prologue (1386). Chained Lightning. "Lightning, chained or forked, was visible." — All the Year Round, 17 (1859). Chance — To risk. "Oh, chance the towels; we can run about till we're dry." — Canon Farrar, Eric (1859). Check for baggage. The word has long been used in England as a token in evidence of ownership. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 95 Cheese — Best thing of its kind, as in phrase, "That's the cheese." Occurs, according to the English Slang Dic- tionary, in the London Guide of 1818. Chess — Weed infesting wheatfields. Murray gives citation from "W. Ellis, New Experiments," 1836. Chipper — ^Lively. Defined in Dictionary of Isle of Wight dialects ; and an English friend tells me the word in this sense was familiar to him in his boyhood in Leicestershire. Chirk — Lively. "This word," says the London Daily News, in an article reprinted in the New York World of July 12, 1893, "is used by Swinburne in 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe, and no doubt he has old authority." The word, the writer adds, is "not American at all, but English." Chisel — To cheat. Jamieson has this entry, though the spelling is chizzel. Chock Full. "He is drunk, top-heavy, chock full." — Gentleman's Magazine, December, 1770. Choke Ofe — Put quietus on a speaker. "The duke's seven mouths made the Whig party choak off Sheridan."— Co&&e«, Political Register (1818). 96 AMERICAN ENGLISH Choker — Cravat. "A sham frill and a white choker." — Book of Snobs, 1 (1848). Chop — Quality, as in phrase "first chop." "I must make up my table with literary men and sec- ond chop." — Buckingham, Court of George IV (1823). Chore — Small piece of work. So defined in a number of vocabularies of Brit- ish dialects ; seems to be very old. Chucklehead — Stupid fellow. Defined by Bailey, 1731. Chute — Steep channel, with or without water. Mixture of sense of English shoot and French chute. Spelled shoot in Defoe's "Voyage round the World," 287 (1725), shute in Parsons "Trav- els in Asia," 11.241 (1808). Earliest recorded use of chute as an English word is, however, American— "Evangeline," 2.2.15 (1847). CiviSM — ^Love of country. "A term of the French Revolution," says Mur- ray. Clearing-House. The London institution so-called antedates by many years any in America. Clevel — Grain of corn or wheat. "They set their millstone so high that it breaks off only the tops of the clevel." — Bradley's Family Diction- ary, s. V. Brewing (1727). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 97 Clever — Good natured. Not in good use in the United States, and not an American perversion. Defined by Halliwell as a south-of-England provincialism. Occurs in "She Stoops to Conquer," 1.2 (1773). Clevis — U-shaped piece of iron, for various pur- poses. "My best pair of clevis, my best plow." — Lancashire and Cheshire Wills, 3.39 (1592). Climb Down. Occurs in Cursor Mundi (1320). Clinker-Built. "A flat-bottomed, clinker-built pram." — Falconer, Ma- rine Dictionary (1769). Cloud — A woman's garment. Farmer appears to think this word of Ameri- can invention, as he includes it in his list, though remarking that it is "as well known in England as in the States." It occurs in an English novel, "Blotted Out," 1.6 (1877) ; and seems to be prob- ably of British origin. Coach — Trainer; instructor in athletics. Earliest known use in Clough's "Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich," 113 (1848). CoACHWHip — Kind of snake. Described under that name in Philosophical Transactions, 39.256 (1736). 98 AMERICAN ENGLISH Cocky — Conceited. "I think I may be cocky since fortune has smurtled on me:'— Rose, Helenore, 150 (1768). C0LL.4R. The phrase, to wear somebody's collar, i. e., to take orders from him, may possibly have been first used in the United States, though it seems very improbable that it was; and even if that is the case, it is a simple and self-explanatory meta- phor rather than any sort of an ism. An Eng- lishman hearing it for the first time could not fail to understand it if he had ever read the first chapter of 'Tvanhoe." Collarette. "A scarf beset with a great lace, a colleret." — Evelyn, Mundus Muliebris (1690). Collateral — Security. The only Americanism is in using the adjective as a noun. The expression "colaterall sureties" occurs in the 26th Act of ''Henry VIII" (1534). Comb — A hill. Jamieson defines kaim as meaning comb and says it denotes "the crest of a hill or those pin- nacles which resemble a cock's comb." Combine — Combination. Ugly newspaper slang, but as old in England as 1610, when the word was so used in Folking- ham's Art Survey, EXOTIC AMERICANISMS QQ Come Out — ^Make one's first appearance in formal society. "She has never been presented yet, so she is not come out, you know; but she's to come out next year." — Mme. D'Arblay, Cecilia, 6.2 (1782). Come Over — To delude. "Yellowley had been come over by a Scottish earl." — Pirate, 4 (1822). Commander — A beetle. So defined in Baret's "Alveary," 1573. Commencement — Closing exercises of college year. So used in England as long ago as 1387. Commons — Meals taken together by students. "The priests had a college, a commons, lodging and mansions during their service." — Bishop Montagu (1641). Commune — Participate in the Lord's Supper. So used by Wyclif in 1380; see his "Selected Works," 3.357. Compare intransitive — "This does not compare with that." Murray traces this locution back to 1450. CoMPROMiT — Compromise. "Westmoreland and Plompton have compromitted them to stand to the award." — Plompton Correspondence, 51 (1441). Confectioner — Pastry cook. Percival's Spanish Dictionary, 1591, so trans- lates the old Spanish word conficianador, now confeccionador. lOO AMERICAN ENGLISH Connection in phrase "in this connection." "The same argument stated in the same connection." — HazUtt, Political Essays (1807). CONSEQUENTIOUS. "The matter was not consequentious." — Sir Thos. Her- bert, Travels (1634). CONSOCIATE. "The band that doth consociate the parents toward their children." — Painter, Palace of Pleasure, 1.80 (1566). Consociation. "We must find that consociation in the Gospel." — Bil- son, Government of Church (1593). Constitutionality. "Solely on the ground of constitutionality." — Annual Register (1801). Contemplate — To intend. "Evidence that her usurper had ever contemplated to make her beautiful." — Lord Broughton, Letters (1816). Continuance — Adjournment of legal proceedings. "John hath ceased of his suit, taking continuance of the same unto Christians." — Paston Letters, 5.1.21 (1425). Contraption. Said by Halliwell to be a West-of-England word. Contrive followed by a noun — Make, do, accom- plish, plan. Murray has citations from the 14th Century. Cook (an account) — Falsify. "Some falsified accounts, artfully cooked up." — Pere- grine Pickle (1751). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 101 COOKEY. " 'Cookie' in the ears of a Scotchman is familiar as the name of a light tea cake." — /. F. W. Johnston (of the University of Durham), North America, 23.296 (1850). Copse — A small thicket. "Agrimonie groweth in hedges and copses." — Lyte, Dodoens, 1.39.57 (1578). Corked — Tasting of the cork. "This wine is corked." — Marryat, King's Own, 34 (1830). Count — Reckon, suppose, think, intend. No American (colloquial) use of this word is anything more than a slight extension or varia- tion of sense in which it has been heard in Great Britain for centuries. Counterjumper — Clerk in retail store. "I'm only a tallow-faced counterjumper." — Warren, Ten Thousand a Year, 1.1.3 (1841). Cove — Strip of prairie extending into woodland. Merely a special application of an old British term. Coverlid — Coverlet. Used in England in various spellings — cover- 1yd, couerled, coverled, coverlaid and the like, as well as coverlid — from the 15th Century. Cowhide — Whip. "He got his skin well cowhided by Charles XII." — Carlyle, Miscellanies, 4.356 (1832). 102 AMERICAN ENGLISH Crack and Cracksman. Bartlett defines these words as relating to fraud by forgery and similar methods, which I think a mistake, believing them to refer to direct robbery, in which sense they are at least as old in England as 1725 and 1812 respectively. Cracker — Srnall biscuit. So defined in Halliwell. Used in this sense in the British Naval Chronicle, 24.459 (1810), and by De Quincey in "Speculations" (1847). Cradle Scythe — "A scythe with frame to lay the corn smooth in cutting." So defined in Halliwell. Cram — To study hard, especially in preparing for examination. "An uninstructed man when crammed for an occasion." — Fonblanque, Westminster Review, 4.394 (1825). Cranky — 1. Unsteady. "The boat is very cranky." — And. Wynter, Social Bees, 358 (1861). 2. Queer, crochetty. "A cranky old brute of a hut keeper." — Henry Kings- ley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, 27 (1859). Creeper — Shallow iron dish. "I can no better compare you than with the brass and irons, and us ministers to the low creepers." — Rome for Canterbury, Harleiian Miscellanies, 4.379 (1641). Crevasse — Break in river bank. An old French word adopted into English at EXOTIC AMERICANISMS IO3 least as early as the time of Chaucer, who wrote "House of Fame," 3.8.167): "It gave outcreep at some crevasse," Crib — 1. Structure of timber; part of a raft. Both senses clearly extensions of the original meaning of the word, a barred receptacle. 2. A translation, surreptitiously used. "I could translate it through the medium of a Latin version, technically called a crib." — Bulwer, Pelham, 1.2.2 (1827). Crisscross. "To criscross the letter." — Keats, Life and Letters, 1.112 (1818). Cruel — Very. A Devonshire correspondent of the London Times says this use of the word is very common in his county. The West Somerset Word Book gives the definition, with example: "Cruel good to poor volks." Did the reader ever hear an American use the word in the sense of very? Crush (hat) — Soft. See "Nicholas Nickleby," 19 (1838) and "Book of Snobs," 1 (1848). Cull — "In New Jersey, to assort, in speaking of oysters" — so Clapin. The word is not confined to New Jersey, or to oysters, but generally used as meaning to pick out inferior specimens of anything, exactly as it has 104 AMERICAN ENGLISH been used in England for five or six hundred years. Cultivate — To use a cultivator. "The stubble was 'cultivated' and sown." — Journal Royal Agricultural Society, 7.2.288 (1846). Cunning — Neat and pretty; tiny. "A man of the Commonwealth would 'sit a spell' with his hostess and compliment her baby on looking 'cun- ning.' " — Pattison, New Englander, July, 1880, p. 430. Curious — Excellent. Murray gives British citations of the 17th Cen- tury and some not quite so certain back to the 15th. "Curious old wine," meaning very fine old wine, is a British trade expression of un- known antiquity. Cuss — Curse. Said by Elwyn to be an Essex provincialism. Customable — Liable to duty; "dutiable." Occurs, according to Thynne's "Animadver- sions," in an oath taken by the Comptroller of the Customs in 1529. Customer — Person. "Such a country customer I did not meet with once." — Peter Heylin, Cosmographie, preface (1652). Cuteness. "Who could have thought so innocent a face could cover so much cuteness?" — Goldsmith, Goodnatured Man, 2.1 (1768). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS IO5 Cut Up — Distressed. "Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event." — Christmas Carol, 1 (1844). "Poor fellow! He seems dreadfully cut up." — Tom Brown at Oxford, 32 (1861). D Daddock — Body of a rotten tree. "How long would it be before you could make a piece of dadocke wood to flame?" — Bishop Smith, Sermons, 136 (1624). Daddy Longlegs — An arachnid. "These insects are well known under the names of daddylonglegs, &c." — Westwood, Cuvier's Animal King- dom, 619 (1840). Dandified. "He was dressed in the most dandified style." — Vivian Grey, 4.1 (1826). Darnation — Damnation. Is in Moor's Suffolk Glossary. Dead — Word of strong emphasis in various com- pounds; "I'm dead sure of it." "I had them a dead bargain." — Vicar of Wakefield, 12 (1766). Dead Beat — Exhausted. "So dead beat as to be compelled to cry for quarter." — Pierce Egan, Tom and Jerry (1821). Dead Set — Resolute purpose or its result; complete check. lo6 AMERICAN ENGLISH "The Duchess of Drinkwater at a dead set!" — Surr, Winter in London, 3.211 (1806). Deal — Transaction. "You love a secret deal."~Willobie, 19 (1594). Demean — Humble, debase, A blunder as old in England as 1601, date of publication of Abbot's "Kingdom of Christ," which speaks of the Saviour's being "far de- meaned beneath all kingly state." Demonstrate — Show one's self. "The Spanish army has been so long allowed to demon- strate on the Portuguese frontier." — Examiner, 297.1 (1827). Depot — Railroad station. "When there are warehouses attached to a station, the whole is called a depot." — Wishaw, Railways, 286 (1837). Derail — To throw off the track. "The last carriage of the express train was derailed." — Lardner, Railroad Economy, 327 (1850). Derrick — Crane. Described under that name in "Rigging and Seamanship," 1.165 (1794). Desk — Pulpit. Murray gives British citations of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Despisement — Scorn. "Contempt and despisement of worldly wealth." — Hol- land, Plutarch's Morals, 155 (1603). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS IO7 Detail — "A marking or telling off for any given pur- pose" — so Farmer. Merely a broader use of a term familiar in . Great Britain in military matters since 1700 or earlier. Detrain — ^Leave, or cause to leave, a train. "The corps are detrained at Ascot." — London Globe, July 9, 1881. Dewberry. "The fruit is called a dewberie." — Lyte, Dodoens, 6.4.661 (1578). "Feed him with apricocks and dewberries." — Midsum- mer Night's Dream, 3.1 (1590). Did Not Have. This locution is not included in either of the four vocabularies from which are taken the other words and phrases in the present list; but is pro- nounced by the London Saturday Review "at once the ugliest and the most inexplicable of Ameri- canisms." As to its being "inexplicable," every reader of course sees that it is perfectly regular and a very common form of the negative pre- terite. As to its being ugly, that is a matter of taste; but if one must always, to avoid an ugly form, say "had not," it of course follows that one must always say "I went not," "I drank not," "I gave not," "I shook not," "I fell not," and so on indefinitely, instead of the usual form — did not go, did not drink, did not give, did not shake, did 108 AMERICAN ENGLISH not fall. As to its being in any sense an Ameri- canism, I have grave doubts. Are we to believe that an Englishman would say, ''I could not give it, because I had it not," and that only an Ameri- can, with no sense of the beautiful in language, would say, "I could not give it, because I did not have it"? Difference in the stock market. "You'll pay the difference of that stock we transacted ioT."—Mrs. CentUvre, Bold Stroke for Wife, 4.1 (1717). DiFFicuLTED — Perplexed. "I would be difficulted to read the King of France 'the most Christian King.' " — Robert Wodrow, Correspondence, 1.464 (1713). Dig — A blow. "And divers digs and many a ponderous pelt." — Moore, Tom Crib, 51 (1819). Digging — Excavation. "Let us not project long designs, crafty plots, and dig- gings so deep." — Jeremy Taylor, Holy Dying, 1.2.3 (1650). Dime. The specific use of this word for a coin as being the tenth part of the unit of our currency is of course peculiar to this country ; but the word itself, meaning one-tenth, is as old as the 14th Century, for it occurs in "Piers Plowman." DiNGEE, Dinky — Kind of boat. "Dingas are vessels used at Bombay." — Rigging and Seamanship, 1.242 (1794). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS lOQ DiNGLiNG — Tottling, insecure. "Dingle dangle, dangling down." — John Florio, Spen- dolone (1598). Dipper — Vessel to dip with. "Dipper, spoon made in a certain form." — Mason's Supplement to Johnson's Dictionary (1801). DiPSY — Float of fish line. Seems to be corruption of deep sea, and Bart- lett's definition quoted above looks like an error. The earliest known use of the word is in Mar- ryat's "Dog Fiend," 43 (1837), where it is ap- plied to the sinker. DiSFELLOWSHiP — Exclude from fellowship. "Kneeling at the Lord's feast is a carriage of abase- ment and inferiority, and such as iraporteth disfellow- ship with him." — Hieron, Defence, 3.7 (1608), Disgruntled — Much displeased. "Hodge was a little disgruntled at that inscription." — Cave, History of Popery, 4.79 (1682). Disguised — Drunk. Elwyn says this is found in Beaumont & Fletch- er's "Philaster" (1620). Disremember — To forget. "The lines of the author he feigns to disremember." — Mahoney, Father Prout, 373 (1836). DiSUNIONIST. First appeared in Worcester's Dictionary of 1846, with citation from "North," almost cer- no AMERICAN ENGLISH tainly a British writer, perhaps "Christopher North." DiTE— "A little thing, a doit"— so Bartlett. Merely a slight mispronunciation of a very old word. DivoRT — Watershed. Appears in Murray as a verb, "to turn away, separate," with citation of 1581. Dog — To hunt with dogs. "Being overheated in being dogged to their confine- ment." — T. Stone, Agriculture of Lincolnshire, 62 (1794). DoLESS — Inefficient. "Hard is the fate o' ony doless tyke that's forced to marry one he disna like." — E. Picken, Poems, 148 (1788). DoLiTTLE — Idler. "What woman would be content with such a do- little husband?" — Kennet, Erasmus' Folly, 45 (1683). Donation — Gift. "They had a donation given unto each of them." — Bullinger's Decades, 960 (1577). Do-NoTHiNG — Idler. "It is not for a do-nothing that this office is ordained." — Tomson, Calvin's Sermons (1579). Dory — Small boat. Occurs in the Naval Chronicle of 1798. Doted — Half rotten. Traced back by Murray, as applied to the fail- ing intellect of an old man, to the 14th Century. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 111 Double — Having petals greatly multiplied in number by cultivation. "By often setting they wax very double." — Lyte, Do- doens, 2.10.159 (1578). Doughface — Person of no "backbone"; a "trim- mer." "The doughfaced spectres crowded forth." — Wolcott, Tears of St. Margaret (1792). Doughnut. Is in Halliwell, spelled donnut, and credited to Hertfordshire. Dove — Dived. Murray characterizes this preterite as "modern dialect," formed after the analogy of drive, drove. Down — A low condition. "Wit has her ups and downs." — British Apollo (1710). Down Upon. "To be down upon is to seize with avidity," says Bartlett. "We should be down upon the fellow one of these dark- mans, and let him get it well." — Guy Mannering, 28 (1815). Drat It! " 'Drat that Betty,' says one of the washerwomen." — Sporting Magazine, 46.13 (1815). Dreadful — Very. "Some look dreadful gay." — Creech's Lucretius, 52 (1682). 112 AMERICAN ENGLISH Dressing — "Stuffing, forced meat, gravy," says Bart- lett. Murray's definitions of the word include "the seasoning substance used in cooking; stuffing, &c.," with quotations as early as 1504. Drive — A gathering of a large number of animals. "Those taken in the second drive." — Sir J as. E. Ten- nent, Ceylon (1859). Driver — He that drives. "Buffoons, stage players and chariot drivers." — Savile's Tacitus (1581). Droger — ^Vessel intended for heavy goods. "If they are not employed in droghers, means shall be furnished to depart for the neutral islands." — Annual Register (1782). Drummer — Solicitor of orders for goods. "The numbers of Lodge's book were left by some drum- mer of the trade on speculation." — Scott, Sharpe's Cor- respondence, 2.398 (1827). Drunk — A drinking bout. "Both houses made preparations for a general drunk." — London Times, April 10, 1862. DUBERSOME Doubtful. Halliwell says, under duberoiis: "Perhaps the more usual form of the word is dubersome." Dummy — Imaginary holder of a hand of cards that is played by the partner. "She shall not handle a card; dummy shall be sub- stituted in her place." — Swift, Quadrille, in Works, 7.374 (1736). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS II3 Dumpy — Sad. "Dumpier none than the tobacconer; none sadder than the gladdest of their host." — Sylvester, Tobacco Battered, 643 (1618). Dust — "To depart rapidly," says Bartlett. Ware copies the entry (in "Passing English"), defining it "to walk quickly," and adding the comment: "Indirect proof of the dry nature of American weather"! The word in this application is two or three centuries old in England. "Let folly dust it on or lag behind." — H. Vaughan, Silex Scintillans, 75 (1655). Dutiable — Liable to duty. "The number of dutiable articles." — A. Young, Po- litical Arithmetic (1774). E Ear Bob — Ear drop. "Her ear bobs of some considerable jewels." — Gage, West Indies (1648). Edibles. "Birds, fishes and other edibles." — Lovell, Hist. Anim. and Min., Introduction (1661). Educational. "Is there not an everlasting demand for intellect in the educational departments?" — Sartor Resartus, 2.11 (1831). Eel Spear. "He beareth eel spears argent." — Guillim, Heraldry, 235 (1610). 114 AMERICAN ENGLISH Egg On — To urge. "Still in use in the north of England," says Halliwell, implying that the expression is of great antiquity. Elect followed by an infinitive. "She must elect to take under the will or against the will." — Lord Chancellor Thurlow (1785). Electioneering — Solicitation of votes. "Officers are to manage their troops by electioneering." — Burke, French Revolution, 315 (1790). Empt — To empty. "Thereby shall he not win, but empt his purse." — Chaucer, Chanones Yemanne's Tale, 22 (1386). Engage — Promise to do something. "Hazarding rather to consume than engage themselves to feminine embracements." — Florio, Montaigne, 493 (1603). Engineer — Engine driver. "I am not able to speak of the engineers in his majesty's ships." — Robinson, Nautical Steam, 174 (1839). Enjoy Bad Health. Richard Grant White heard the custodian of St. Mary's Hall, Coventry, say that "the mayor enjoyed very indifferent health"; and quoted (At- lantic Monthly, July 1878) from a London book called "English Matrons": "It is not the man- ual workers alone who, as they say in Leicester- shire, enjoy very poor health." Enweave — Inweave. "This is with two kinds of fibres enwoven." — Banister, History of Man, 5.70 (1578). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS II5 Erupt — Burst forth. "Its roots, from which some sprigs erupt." — Tomlin- son, Renou's Disp., 223 (1657). Esq. — Complimentary addition to a man's name, sig- nifying nothing. Used ten times in England, especially in di- recting letters, for once in the United States. Expect — Believe, conjecture, with reference to the present or the past. The appearance of this misuse of the verb in Farmer's book is not remarkable, considering that that writer had never visited America; but its in- sertion by Bartlett, from whom Farmer took it, is less easy to explain, for it needed only reference to Elwyn or to Halliwell to show him that the blunder is distinctly British in origin, though I do not know whether it was true when Bartlett wrote, as it is certainly true now, that you will hear it at least a hundred times in England for once in the United States. I do not believe yoy can find as many instances of the misuse in any dozen American books as occur in Hardy's "Jude." And I have happened to notice it in the Cornhill Magazine, the Author's Circular ("Offi- cial Organ of the English School of Journal- ism"), Gardening Illustrated, and many other English periodicals. It would take a long time, I believe, to find one single instance in any American paper. Il6 AMERICAN ENGLISH Exposition — Exhibition. "The Universal Exposition of 1867." — Sala, Paris Ex- hibition, 2.15 (1868). . Fair — To clear up, said of the sky. "We are to go, if it fairs, to take tea." — Mrs. Carlyle, Letters, 1.182 (1842). Fair and Square — Honorable; straightforward. "There will be no living for the Portugal unless he do that which is fair and square." — Cromwell, Letters, 146 (1649). Fake — Swindle. "The ring is made out of brass gilt buttons; it's faked." — Mayhew, London Labor, 352 (1851). Fall (a tree) — To fell. Pickering says the word was so defined by Ash, Sheridan and Walker; that it occurs in the Eng- lish part of Ainsworth; and that by ''Geo. Ill, c. 18," it was enacted that "all timber growing upon such ground is to be fallen by such owner within one month." Family — Wife and children, or children only. "Of sixty persons forming the household of the Duke of Hesse, no one outside his own family has been at- tacked." — London Spectator, Dec. 14, 1878. Fandango — Lively dance. "The fandango requires sentiment to dance it well." — Mme. D'Arblay, Early Diary, 1.286 (1800). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS II7 Farina — Wheaten grits; fine flour. "The meal was called farina." — Googe, Heresbach's Husbandry, 1.29 (1577). Fast — Dissipated. "In consultation how to repair the defects of fast liv- ing." — Heywood, Female Spectator, 2.273 (1745). Fay In — Fit in. Fay, meaning to adapt, is one of the very old- est English verbs, dating, in the form fey, from the 11th Century. Fearful — Much, great, strongly, Halliwell has "fearful — tremendous; various dialects." The Northwest Lincolnshire Glossary gives citation: "There's a fearful lot of apples t'year." Federal — Founded on a compact between independ- ent states. Term made familiar in this country by the writers who appealed to the public in the dis- cussions over the adoption of our national con- stitution ; but it had already been in use for a long time in England, and it is defined by Johnson. Federalize — United in compact. First known use of this word is as a transla- tion of federalizer in Dupree's French Dictionary (1801). Feed — Grass or the like. "When as the one is wounded with the bait, the other Il8 AMERICAN ENGLISH rotteth with delicious feed." — Titus Andronicus, 4.4.92 (1588). Feel as in phrase "feel to do" — Feel inclined. "When he wants one, he takes it; when he does not feel to want one, he goes without it." — London Society, October, 1866. Fellowship as a verb. As in the case of candidate, this locution is merely an illustration of the law that any English noun may be properly used as a verb. The verb fellowship occurs as far back as Chaucer's "Boe- thius," three times, one case being where he says that Thought "fellowshippeth the way of old Saturn." Fen — To forbid or bar out; boys' word, used in games. (When the present writer was a boy, it was "fan.") Noted in Moor's "Suffolk Words," 125 (1823). Fence (made of wood). Clapin's counting this use of the word among Americanisms is one of the oddities of his book. It has been used in England in the same general way, without reference to the material of which the barrier is constructed, as long as the word has been used at all. In Ps. 62.3, a "fence" is dis- tinguished from a "wall." EXOTIC AMERICANISMS II9 Fence — Receiver of stolen goods, or his establish- ment. "You covetous, avaricious, in-sa-ti-a-ble old fence!" — Oliver Twist, 13 (1838). "The keeper of the fence loves to set up in business here." — Illustrated London News, May 22, 1847. Few in phrase "a few" — A little. "Having a few pottage, made of the broth of the same beef." — Lever, Sermons (1550). Fid — Plug or small piece of tobacco. Defined in Grose. Filibuster. Merely corruption of the old word flibutor, used in England, in precisely the same sense, at least as early as the 16th Century. Seems to be allied to freebooter. Fills (of a wagon) — Thills. "An you draw backward, we'll put you i' the fills." — Troilus and Cressida, 3.2 (1606). Find used as noun. "A good find he had." — Southey Letters, Aug. 30, 1825. FiNEFiED — Dandified. "Her rotten trunk and rusty fan she finified." — War- ner, Albion's England, 2.10 (1586). FiPPENY, Fip — Fivepence. "Phippunny," same meaning, is included in a vocabulary of Lancashire words in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1746. 120 AMERICAN ENGLISH Fire — To throw or cast. "The archers firing on them all the while." — Ockley, Saracens, 143 (1708). Fire Out — Eject. "Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt, till my bad angel fire my good one out." — Shakespeare, Sonnet 144 (1592). FiREDOGS — Andirons. Dog, in the same sense, is defined in Brockett's "Vocabulary of North Country Words," London, 1846. Fire-eater. Occurs in "The Newcomes," chap. 29 (1855). No American instance of earlier date is known. Fire-Hook — Appliance for pulling down a burning building. Murray gives quotation of 1647. Fire- Wood — Wood intended for fuel. Occurs in Nottingham Record, 3.290 (1496). First Class applied to persons. "First class servants who had fallen into second class circumstances." — Surtees, Ask Mamma, 45.199 (1858). First Rate. "A few first rate frigates." — Evelyn, Memoirs, 2.66 (1671). Fishy — Incredible. The first known appearance of this adjective is in Disraeli's "Coningsby," 1.9 (1844). It EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 121 does not seem to mean exactly incredible there, but something not widely different, perhaps slip- pery or questionable, as we speak of a man or a story as being "fishy." Fit — Fought. "There were two gentlemen fit yesterday." — Garrick, Miss in Her Teens (before 1768). Fix — Undesirable position. Defined ("a difficulty") in Davies. Occurs in the "Ingoldsby Legends" (1844); in stories by Marryat and Black; in Punch at least as far back as April 9, 1864; and in the Pall Mall Gazette of Oct. 28, 1860. Fix — To put in order. "I found the arms well fixed, charged and primed." — Pepys' Diary, July 12, 1663. Flakes — Poles supporting drying fish. "Flakes whereon men yearly dry their fish." — Whit- bourne, Newfoundland, 57 (1623). Flapdoodle — Nonsense. Said by Halliwell to be a West-of-England word. Flare — Curve out. Defined in Seaman's Dictionary (1640). Flashboard — Addition to a milldam. "The miller has shoots stopped by flashboards." — Abra- ham Tucker, Light of Nature, 1.32 (1768). 122 AMERICAN ENGLISH Flash in Pan — Fail. "Cannons were so well bred in his metaphor as only to flash in the pan." — Elkanah Settle, Dryden, 20. (1687). Flat — Complete, unqualified. "The answerer must use flat denying." — Wilson, Logic, 61 (1551). Flat Boat. "Almost every inhabitant hath his flat boat, wherein they recreate upon the lake." — F. Brooke, Le Blanc's Travels, 209 (1660). Fleabane — A plant. "Conyza may be called in English flebayne." — Turner, Names of Herbs, 30 (1548). Flip — Intoxicating drink. "Eat biscuit and drink flip." — Congreve, Love for Love, 3.4 (1695). Flurry of snow. Only a slight variation of an expression ap- plied in England to wind at least as far back as 1698. Flying Fish. A simply descriptive expression that it seems rather absurd to number among any sort of isms. However, it was first used in England, as long ago as 1511. Folks — People, persons. Johnson's Dictionary defines the word, "peo- ple, in familiar language," and quotes Sidney: EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I23 "Other folks' misfortunes." Precisely the collo- quial, rather vulgar, Americanism. FooTY — Foolish. "Many a critic has foisted in some footy emendation." — W. Dodd, Beauties of Shakespeare, Preface (1752). For — In honor of; to name a child for his father. Murray says this locution is "now only U. S.," implying that it was formerly British. Forehanded — In easy circumstances. "They that are forehanded are able to give time and forbear long." — Gurnall, Christian in Armor, 2.576 (1658). Forge Ahead — Advance. A ship was spoken of as forging (i. e., moving) as long ago as 1611 in England. First known appearance of phrase forge ahead is in Mar- ryat's "Peter Simple," 35 (1833). FoTCH — Fetch. This southern negro word is merely an obso- lete form which was good English in the 14th Century, though then spelled joche. Fox — Repair a shoe. So defined in the Antrim and Down Glossary. Fox Fire — Light from decaying wood. Murray gives citation of 1483. Foxy — Scheming, deceitful. "An hole or den of false foxy hypocrites." — Roy, Rede Me, Dedication (1528). 124 AMERICAN ENGLISH Fraud — A rascal. "The begging-letter writer is one of the most shameless frauds." — Dickens, Reprinted Pieces, 120 (1850). Freak — Odd person or animal. "An association of natural curiosities called freaks, be- ing an abbreviation of the term 'freaks of nature' by which these monstrosities are described." — London Daily News, Sept. 11, 1883. Free to Con^fess. Bartlett's earliest citation for this phrase, North American Review, October, 1858, is antedated 17 years by an English novel, "Cecil," by Mrs. Gore, published 1841. Fresh — Forward; bold. "When a fellow is sixteen, he is very fresh." — Kenelm Chillingly, 1.9 (1873). Fresh — A stream. "A fresh or brook that falleth into the Nure." — Han- mer, Ireland, 63 (1571). Froe — Cleaver. "A frower of iron, for cleaning of lath." — Tusser, Hus- bandry, 17.36 (1573). Frolic — A party. "I intend to wait on you and give you a frolic." — J as. Howell, Letters, 6.37 (1645). FuGELMAN, Fugleman — Leader. Used by the London Morning Chronicle in 1804. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 125 Funeral — Funeral sermon. "Mr. Lawrence preached his funerals." — Fuller, Church History, 9.3.2 (1655). Funk — To exhibit fear. "One or two of the Boyle party began to funk." — De Quincey, Richard Bentley. Gabblement — Chattering. "The old gander again set up his gabblement." — Mi- chael Scott, Tom Cringle, 18.515 (1833). Gallinipper — An insect. "Smaller flies, from the gallinipper to the moschetto." — Sporting Magazine, 1.261 (1818). Gallus — Showy. "Put it on your face so gallus thick that the devil him- self won't see through it." — J as. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 244. Galoot — Fellow, chap (with connotation of con- tempt), "Four greater galloots were never picked up." — Marryat, Jacob Faithful, 34 (1835). Galumph — "Go bumping along," says Farmer, add- ing that "the furious driving of the one-horse cars in the streets of American cities has become a no- torious scandal." Verily a prophet is not with- out honor save in his own country. Think of an Englishman's not knowing that galumph is a word invented by an English clergyman, the Rev. 126 AMERICAN ENGLISH C. L. Dodgson, "Lewis Carroll," who uses it in the first chapter of "Alice through the Looking Glass"! I do not believe that this will be new information to one single American who reads it here. Gange — Attach a hook to a line. "The line was ganged with flexible brass wire." — Couch, British Fishes, 1 .38 (1861). Garmenture — Clothing. "All the green garmenture of summer was gone." — G. P. R. James, Henry Masterton, 37.420 (1832). Garnishee — Person holding property of judgment debtor. "If they were delivered upon other condition, the gar- nishee is at no mischief." — Sir H. Finch, Law, 373 (1627). Garrison — Fort. This is the older meaning of the word, in use in England in the 15th Century. The applica- tion to the troops stationed in the fort, now the only meaning, is of later date. Gat or Gate — A strait, an opening. "Three ships took through the gat or opening between sand banks." — A. Carlyle, Autobiography, 163 (1805). Gather — Take up a single object. "A gathered Mlyr— Titus Andronicus, 3.1.114 (1588). Gaunted — Thin. Used in Staneyhurst translation of ^neid, 2.55 (1583). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 127 Gee — Fit, suit, agree with. Defined in Dictionary of the Canting Crew (1700). Gent — Genteel. "Duck in his trousers hath he hent, not to be spied of ladies gent." — Pope, Imitation of Chaucer. Gent — Gentleman. "My humble tenement admits all persons in the dress of gent"— Byron, Polidori, 59 (1817). Get — Offspring. "Mine own get is from me taken." — Brunne, Medita- tions, 817 (1320). Girdle (tree) — Cut belt around. "Trials have been made by girdling the tree." — History of Royal Society, 1.101 (1662). Give Out — Fail. "These plows give out too suddenly." — Fitzherbert, Husbandry, 2 (1523). Glimpse — Get glimpse of. "Glimpsing in some things the difference between Rom- ish and Protestant." — Forrest, New Guinea, 292 (1779). Globe Trotter. Used in first chapter of Stevenson's "Silverado Squatters" (1883). Glorify — To boast. So used in "Ayenbite of Inwit," 25 (1340). Go-ahead — Progressive. "You would fancy that the go-ahead party try to re- store order." — Kingsley, Two Years Ago, 14 (1857). 128 AMERICAN ENGLISH Go-CART — Hand cart. "Bantam's sheep have their tails trundled along in a co- cart."— GoW^mtY/^, Bee, 2 (1759). Going — Traveling; "the going is bad." "The going to the galleries should have been by steps." — Leoni, Palladio's Architecture, 1.94 (1715). Go It — Go at a task; undertake it. "The French went it for guavas." — Arber, English Garner, 7.365 (1689). GoLDENROD — A plant. "Virga aurea may be called in English goldenrod." — Turner, Herbal, 3.78 (1568). Go TO Grass! Occurs in Beaumont & Fletcher, "Little French Lawyer," 4.5 (1625). Gondola — Flat bottomed boat. Used in England and as an English word cer- tainly as early as the middle of the 16th Century. Gone With — Become of. "What's gone with the pie?" — Great Expectations, 5 (1858). This is tlie earliest citation I can give, and the phrase seems to have been used in the United States at a much earlier date, but as it also occurs in dialect talk in old issues of Punch, and as it is very improbable that either Dickens or Punch got it from America, it would seem that the phrase is almost certainly of British origin. Goober — Peanut. Said by Mrs. Walter T. Currie, missionary at Chisamba, Bike, West Africa, to be a native word of that region. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I29 Goody — 1. Well disposed but small minded person. "This may be goody weakness and twaddle." — Sterling, Letter of Nov. 16, 1837, in Carlyle's Life, 2.5.144. 2. Middle-aged woman of humble station. One need only remember Goldsmith's "Goody Two-Shoes" and Wordsworth's "Goody Blake" to appreciate the fitness of classing this term as an Americanism. Gosh in ejaculation, "By Gosh!" This elegant form of oath is given in Moor's "Suffolk Glossary," London, 1823. Go-to-Meeting — Very choice, the best one has, es- pecially as applied to clothes. This has a New England air, but is defined by Davies, with citations from Thomas Hughes and Charles Kingsley. Go TO THE Bad. Defined in Hotten's "Dictionary of London Slang." Gotten. The decided preference of Americans for this old (15th Century) and comparatively euphonious form, which has been largely supplanted in Eng- land by got, is something to be thankful for; many modern writers in England concur in it. "The triumphs of his gotten victory." — Chalmers, Con- gregational Sermons, 2.54 (1820). "Compelled to disgorge his ill-gotten gains." — Macau- lay, England, 17.5.45 (1859). 130 AMERICAN ENGLISH "On gotten goods to live contentedly." — Gladstone, Horace's Odes, 36 (1894). Gouging — Twisting out an antagonist's eye. "There were frequently up-and-down fights, sometimes with the horrid additions of pawsing and gouging." — Gaskell, Life of Charlotte Bronte, 2.26 (1857). Governmental — Relating to government. Murray gives a British citation of 1744. Grade — Degree or rank. "Having jumped through all the inferior grades, he be- came colonel." — Barrett, Miss-led General, 32 (1808). Grain — Little bit; "I don't care a grain." "When our hearts grow a grain too light, God seeth it needful to make us heavy through temptations." — Trapp, Commentary, I Peter, 1.6 (1647). Grant with infinitive, as said to be used in prayer at the South: "Grant to hear us." "Do you grant to hold and keep the laws?" — Sir Nich- olas Bacon, Government of England, 1.200 (1647). Grass — Asparagus, "Boil some grass tender, cut it small, and lay it over the eggs." — Glasse, Cookery, 14.234 (1747). Context makes it clear that asparagus is meant. Grass Widow — Wife separated from her husband. "These ladies are known as grass widows." — Vigne, Travels in Kashmir, 1.38. Gravel — Confound, embarrass, nonplus. "What graveled him most was that his opponents in- sisted upon a miracle." — Life of Mohammed, in anon- ymous translation of Koran, London, 1718, p. 12. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I3I Graveyard — Cemetery. The first known use of this word is in an Amer- ican book pub. 1825; but as it occurs in Macau- lay's "England," 16.3.621 (1855), it is probably an old British term, though perhaps local. Great Big — Very large. "In her bulk bestow a great big burden." — Chapman's Hesiod, 2.1.405 (1618). Greek — Irishman. "Irishmen call themselves Greeks." — Jon Bee, Diction- ary of the Turf (1823). Green — Public square, common. Occurs in Aberdeen Register, 1.35 (1477). Greening — Kind of apple. "Russetings and Greenings." — Evelyn, Pomona, 4.13 (1664). Greens — Vegetables. "Fresh provisions, such as roots, greens and fowls." — De Foe, Voyage round World, 91 (1728). Grind — Hard student. Earliest known appearance of this noun is American, 1896; but the word was used as a verb, meaning to work hard, long before that time, in Great Britain. Grit the Teeth — Grind them. The verb grit, meaning to produce a grating sound, is used by Goldsmith, "Citizen of the World," 30 (1762). 132 AMERICAN ENGLISH Groceries — Commodities sold by grocers. "A deal box to bring home groceries in." — Vicar of Wakefield, 12 (1766). Gruxter — 1. Kind of fish. "Their creeks are well stocked with grunters and drum- fish." — Sheh'ock, Voyage round World, 55 (1726). 2. A pig. "Grunter's gig, smoked hog's face." — Grose. Guess. There is not a single sense or shade of meaning in which this verb is ever heard in the United States for which British usage of hundreds of years might not be cited. The following quota- tions could be multiplied indefinitely. I restrict myself to two only for each application of the word, one showing such application to be so old that it certainly was not imported from this coun- try, and the second, of the 19th Century, showing that it is current in Great Britain down to our own time. 1. To estimate; 'T guess it's a mile." "Her yellow hair was braided in a tress behind her back, a yarde long I guess." — Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1051 (14th Century). "The eye being liable to be grossly deceived in guessing the direction of a perpendicular." — Tyndall, Glaciers, 2.10.277 (1860). 2. To conjecture; 'T guess he wrote it." "You cannot guess who caused your father's death." — Richard Third, 2.2.19 (1597). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I33 "I little guessed the end." — Mrs. Browning, Romaunt of the Page, 16.1 (1844). 3. To judge, believe, suppose; "I guess that's enough." "Thou guessest the gift of God should be had for money:'— Wyclif, Acts VIII.21 (1382). "There's somebody gone after them, I guess." — Wuther- ing Heights, 12 (1847). 4. To solve a riddle; "here's a conundrum you can't guess." "The riddle is not hard to read; I guess it." — Prior, Beauty, 37 (1718). "Have you guessed the riddle?" — Alice in Wonderland, 7 (1869). 5. To announce a decision; "I guess you may send me this hat." "Better far, I guess, that we do make our entrance sev- eral ways." — First King Henry VI, 2.1 (1593). "I guess the best return I can make will be to take my- self oSJ'—Wildfell Hall, 32 (1848). 6. To emphasize a statement; "I guess you can't make me do that." "Why meet him at the gates and redeliver our authori- ties there? I guess not!" — Measure for Measure, 4.4.6 (1603). "I know the way well enough; I've been at the Cleeve before now, I guess." — Trollope, Orley Farm, 2.23 (1862). Gully as a verb. Like candidate and fellowship, this is only an exemplification of the law, about as old as the 134 AMERICAN ENGLIiSH language, that any English noun may be used as a verb. It may be noted that the not-well-author- ized reversal of the rule, by using a verb for a noun, is likewise of transatlantic origin, the Brit- ish having set the example by calling a meeting a "meet," as some Americans improperly call a combination a "combine." Gum — Nonsense, humbug, hoax. "There's no occasion to bowss out so much unnecessary gum." — Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, 16.1.115 (1751). Gummy ! — An exclamation. Elwyn says that "gum, a vulgar oath, is from Essex." Gump — Foolish fellow. Defined as "numscull" in Supplement to Jamie- son's English Dictionary (1825). Gumptious — Having gumption, old English word for shrewdness. The adjective may have been first used in the United States. Gunning — Shooting game. "There is less clanger in it than gunning." — Fletcher, Rule a Wife, 1.2 (1624). GuNSTiCK — Ramrod. "The sulphur, though of great thickness round the gun- stick." — Philosophical Transactions, 44.32 (1746). Guttersnipe — Child that frequents street gutters. "Female guttersnipes that gain precarious living by hunting for unconsidered trifles." — London Echo, Feb. 11, 1869. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I35 H Hackberry. Murray calls this "a variant of hagberry," in use in England as far back as 1597. Had Have, as in phrase: "Had we have known." Richard Grant White says this blunder "may be heard daily in any part of England." Hake — Kind of fish. "A fish which we call hakes." — Eden, Decades, 273 (1555). Half-baked — Silly. "He must scheme, this half-baked Scotch cake!" — St. Ronan's Well, 31 (1824). Hammock — Hummock. "Right above that and into the land a round ham- mock." — Hakluyt, Voyages, 104 (1556). Hand — Adept; "I'm a great hand at dancing." "He might be one of our first hands in poetry." — Cow- per. Letter, March 30, 1792. Handshake. "I gave him a hearty handshake." — Tristram, Moab, 18.244 (1873). Hang — To stick fast. "A noble stroke he lifted high, which hung not." — Paradise Lost, 6.189 (1667). Hang Out — ^Make one's home. "The traps savey where we hang out." — Lexicon Bala- tronicum (1811). 136 AMERICAN ENGLISH Happen In — ^Make a call without special purpose. Murray gives ''happen in with, to meet casu- ally," as Scotch and English dialect. Happify — Make happy. "This prince one short mishap forever happifies." — Sylvester, Henry the Great, 642 (1612). Hardhead — Kind of fish. "Scorpius major, our fishers call it hardhead." — Sib- bald, Fife, 128 (1803). Hard Money — Coin. "Your mother has a hundred pound in hard money." — Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, 4.3 (1706). Hardwood — Wood of solid texture. "Deciduous trees, what is here called hardwood." — Robertson, Survey of Kincardine, 343 (1813). Harness Cask — Tub for salt meat. "Thieves, breaking open a harness cask, stole about one cwt. of beef." — Aberdeen Journal, Dec. 2, 1818. Hasty Pudding. "I can think of no fitter name than hasty pudding." — Buttes, Drie Dinner, F.I I (1599). Haul — "To convey by drawing." Thornton has this entry because, as he says, "in the English use of the word, force or violence is included." It seems to me that force is always exerted when hauling is done, whether it be of a load of stones or of a drunken man, and that any supposed peculiarity in our use of the word, as applied to hauling inanimate loads, is purely fanciful. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I37 Hawhaw — To laugh heartily. Richard Grant White says (Atlantic Monthly, March, 1879) that Englishmen familiar with the general speech of their own country will be aston- ished at seeing this word in a compilation of Americanisms. Hay Tedder. The word tedder has been used in England, first for a man who makes hay and afterwards for the machine, since the 15th Century. Haze — "To riot, frolic" — so Bartlett, with newspaper quotation of Dec. 2, 1848: "Hazing about the street at night." Tate's Magazine, 8.592 (1841), seven years earlier than the American instance, has: "It would be idle to follow her in hazing about — a capital word that, and one worthy of instant adoption — among the sights of London." Headstall — Knitted worsted cap. Merely a changed use of a word applied in England for centuries to a part of a horse's halter. Heap — A great many; much. "No county in England hath such a heap of castles." — Fuller, Worthies, 3.53 (1661). "This heap of artificial terms first entering with the French artists."— ^ir Thos. Browne, Tracts, 116 (1682). Heave — To throw. "The pirates heaved me overboard." — Robert Greene, Orpharion (1592). 138 AMERICAN ENGLISH Heavy as applied to sums of money — ^Large. "The heavy betters began to quake." — Sporting Maga- zine, 48.181 (1816). Het — Heated. The old participle, in good use in England in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries. Hetchel — To worry, annoy. "Bewitted, fleeced, hatchelled, bewilderedw" — Carlyle, Cagliostro (1833). Hire — "Improperly applied to renting a house," says Bartlett, most absurdly; for "renting a house," like "leasing a house," may mean either hiring it or letting it. Wyclif (1382) translated Mark Xn.I: "A man planted a vineyard and hired it to the tilieris." Really it was the tillers, and not the owner, who hired it. Hitch — Entanglement; impediment. "There seems to be some hitch in Legge's embassy." — Horace Walpole, Letters (1748). Hobble — To tie a horse's legs. Merely variant of the old English hopple. Used by Dickens, "Uncommercial Traveller," 11 (1860). Hobo. "The tramp's name for himself and his fellows is 'hobo.' " — Contemporary Review, August, 1891. Hockey Stick. Murray gives citation of 1527. exotic americanisms i39 Hod Carrier. Occurs in Smollett, "Humphrey Clinker" (1771). Hogbacks — "Ridges of upheaval." "A rugged hill, joined by a hog's back ridge to the mountain." — Sir W. Napier, Peninsular War (1834). HOGFISH. "The crocodiles fear to meddle with the hogfish." — Topsell, Serpents, 137 (1608). Hog Plum. "They have abundance of hogplum trees." — Dampier, Voyages, 1.123 (1697). Homely — Ugly. "Who can tell if such men are worth a groat, when their apparel is so homely?" — Wilson, Rhetoric, 164 (1553). Homespun. "One being clad only in homespun cloth." — Florio (1591). Hominy. Elwyn found this word, defined "Indian corn," "in an old book in the Philadelphia Library, printed in London, no date." Hopping Mad — In a violent rage. "I used to make him hopping mad." — Chas. Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, 52 (1675). Horn — A drink. "He went to Queen's College and had a horn of beer." — Anthony a Wood, Life, May 31, 1682. 140 AMERICAN ENGLISH Horn — "In a horn," — over the left. Defined in Moor's "Suffolk Glossary," London (1823). Horrors — Depression of mind. "He is coming this way, all in the horrors." — Gold- smith, Goodnatured Man (1768). Horse Colt — Male colt. Occurs in Wyclif's "Ecclesiasticus," 23.30 (1382). Horse Mint. Traced back by Murray to the 13th Century. Hose — Stockings. "Some go with their hose out at heels." — Wilson, Rhetoric, 82 (1553). Hound — To pursue. "It is by hounding nature in her wanderings." — Lord Bacon, Advancement of Learning (1605). Hounds — Part of a wagon. The earliest known uses of this word are Amer- ican; but as it is defined in the "Sussex Glossary" and the "Somerset Word Book," it is almost cer- tainly an old English provincialism. House in compounds like wash-house, where an Eng- lishman would say laundry — so Bartlett. Sam Weller says the young grampus ate his dinner "in the wash 'us." According to Richard Grant White (and the present writer's impressions are to the same effect) "such compounds are much more common in England than they are here." EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I4I How? — Please repeat. So used by Massinger, "Duke of Milan," 3.3 (1623) and "Believe as You List," 2.2 (1653). Huckleberry Above the Persimmon. Merely development of an old English phrase exemplified by De Quincey, "Murder as a Fine Art": "It passes my persimmon." Huggermugger — To keep concealed. "His uncle had saved money, and it was huggermug- gered away." — Mary Charlton, Wife and Mistress, 4.25 (1803). Hulking — Bulky. Defined "unwieldy" by Halliwell. Hulky, in the same sense, occurs in "Middlemarch," Chap. 56. Hull — To remove hulls. "Pollenta is com peeled and hulled." — John of Trevisa, Bodleiian MS. (1398). Hulls — Husks of peas. Occurs in one of Wyclif's sermons, 14th Cen- tury. Human as noun — Human being. "Mars, plague of -men, smeared with the blood of hu- mans." — Chapman's Homer, 5.441 (1603). Humanitarian. "The sect of the humanitarians." — Moore's Diary, Jan. 30, 1819. 142 AMERICAN ENGLISH Hummock, Hommock, Hammock — Knoll by the coast. "This island is a round hummock, containing not a league of ground." — Hawkins, Voyages, 180 (1622). Hung, past participle, for hanged, as applied to crim- inals and suicides. "You suppose he should have hung himself?" — Ben Jons on, Every Man out of His Humor, 3.2 (1599). Hunk — ^Large piece. Defined in "Dictionary of Isle-of-Wight Dia- lect." Hunkers — An extinct political party. This applica- tion of the word is American, no doubt; but Hal- liwell gives the word itself as a North British pro- vincialism. Hurricane. "The dreadful spout which shipmen do the hurricane call." — Troilus and Cressida, 5.2.172 (1606). Hush Up — Be quiet. "Resolved to have all things hushed up." — Hayward's Eromena, 125 (1632). Hypo — Abbreviation of hypochondria. "A treatise of the hypochondriac passion vulgarly called the hypo." — Bernard de Mandeville, title of work (1711). I Ice Cream. "All such fruits, ice creams, &c., as the season afforded," —London Gazette, 2383 (1688). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I43 III — ^Vicious. Murray says this use of the word is obsolete except in dialects, which implies that it is old British. Illy for ill. A gross blunder, of course, but not an Ameri- can blunder. Murray has a British citation of 1549. Immense — Very fine. "Here's cream, damned fine, immense." — Gentleman's Magazine, 86.2 (1762). Improve land by erecting buildings on it. Murray calls this "the ancient sense" of the verb, adding that this "was retained in 17th-18th c. in the American colonies," apparently suppos- ing that it has gone out of use here. In for into: "We get in the stage." "And brought him home with him in his country." — Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 11 (1386). In as noun — Person holding a position. "There will be something patched up between the ins and the outs:'— Chesterfield, Letters, 4.379.201 (1764). In Our Midst. "If we could have had Dr. Bell in our midst." — Southey, Life of Bell, 1.205 (1794). Indebtedness. "To profess my deep indebtedness unto you." — Rev. John Trapp, Commentary, Epistle Dedicatory (1647). 144 AMERICAN ENGLISH Infair, Infare — Reception party of newly married couple. "He brought his wife to his house in the old town, where there was a goodly infare." — Spalding, Charles First, 2.54 (1670). Institution — Any prevalent practice. "His lordship a lecture addressed to the children. This institution I greatly admire." — Dr. Beatty to Sir Wm. Forbes, Elegant Epistles (1784). Insurrect. "They mean to insurrect here." — Byron, Diary, Jan. 9, 1821. Interview as a verb. "Their friends exhorted them to interview." — Hall's Chronicle, Henry VI, 175 (1548). Involvement — State of being involved. "Orpheus, within the folds and involvements of fables, hid the mysteries of his doctrine." — Mythomystes, 30 (1630). Irrupt — To appear suddenly. Defined in Hyde Clarke's English Grammar and Dictionary (1858). Merely variant of the old British word "erupt." Inwardness — Interest, purpose — so Bartlett. "His fables had no such inwardness in his own mean- ing." — Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 2.4 (1605). Iron WEED — A plant. "Ironweed, content to share the meanest spot that spring can spare." — John Clare, Shepherd's Calendar, 47 (1827). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 14^ Island — Anything surrounded by flat land, as if the latter were water. "The pillars standing in island as we say, the work could not securely bear a roof." — I. Jones, Stonehenge, 53 (17th Century). Item — Information. ''Getting item thereof, he departed." — Hearne, Duct. ' Hist., 2.14 (1704). J Jab — To strike or thrust at. Defined in Jamieson's Dictionary (1825) with citation, "Ettrick Shepherd." Jack at a Pinch — As a last resort. Defined by Halliwell. Jackstraws. "Condescendingly to look at a game of jackstraws." — Edge-worth, Belinda, 19 (1801). Jam of logs. Perfectly natural application, without the slight- est change in meaning, of an old word, familiar in Great Britain. Jay — Greenhorn, or other person regarded as con- temptible. "The intending larcenist will strike up a conversation with a likely-looking jay." — Pall Mall Gazette, Dec. 29 1884. Jeans — Coarse clothing material. Merely variant of the old English geanes. 146 AMERICAN ENGLISH Jeopardize — Jeopard. "We jeopardize our soul's safety." — N. Barnet, Growth in Grace, 47 (1646). Jew or Jew Down — To cheat, overreach, insistently beat down price. "Is it that way you jewed one?" — Ingoldsby Legends (1845). Jibber — Balky horse. Defined in Halliwell as occurring in "various dialects" of Great Britain. JiGAMAREE — Trivial thing. Defined in Halliwell, though he says it means "a manoeuvre." Jigger — An insect. Merely a (possibly American) corruption of chigoe or chego, used in England at least as far back as 1691. Jimmy — Burglar's implement. "Jemmy, a crow used by housebreakers." — Lexicon Balatronum (1811). Jog — Projection from straight line or even surface. "The beginnings are rude till the jogs are rubbed off." — Translation of Panciroli, Rerum Memorahilium (1715). JosEY — Woman's outer garment. "Joseph," in the same sense, is as old as 1659 in Eng- land. Jounce — To shake. Defined in Promptorium Parvulorum (1440). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I47 Judas Tree. Given as synonym of Cercis in Lee's Botany App. 316 (1760). Judiciary, noun. The special application of this word to all judges collectively may have begun in the United States, but the practice of using it as a noun in various meanings dates back in Great Britain at least to the 16th Century. Jug— Jail. "He shall be kept in the stone jug like a gentleman," — Oliver Twist, 43 (1837). Jump a Claim — Disregard it. "Claims are jumped daily." — Melbourne Argus, March 21, 1854. Junk — Miscellaneous second-hand stuff. Simply extension of the use of the word for old rope, current in England for centuries. K Keeler — Tub for household purposes. The "Promptorium Parvulorum" has kelare as translation of frigidarium. Keep — Keep shop. Special application of intransitive, or semi- transitive (the object being suppressed), use of the verb that was common in the literature of the 16 th Century. 148 AMERICAN ENGLISH Key — Flat, generally small, island. "These islands, or keys as we call them." — Dampier, Voyages, 1.22 (1697). Kick — Object. "Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice?" — First Samuel, 11.29 A. V. (1611). Kid — Child. "I am old, you say; yes, parlous old, kids." — Middle- ton & Massinger, Old Law, 3.2 (1599). Kind O' — Somewhat. So defined in Moor's Suffolk Dictionary, Lon- don, 1823. Kink — Accidental twist in a rope. Said by Halliwell to be a northern provincial- ism of Great Britain. Kit — Baggage. "The kit is the contents of his knapsack." — Grose. Knee — Piece of timber naturally formed in bracket shape. Murray has British citation of 1497, and an- other, less conclusive, of 1352. Knob — Round knoll "The ground is said to rise up in a round knob." — Worcester's Apophthegms, 30 (1650). Knock Down — Assign to bidder at an auction. "It was knocked down to the last bidder." — C. Johnson, Chrysal, 3.205 (1760). exotic americanisms 149 Knock-kneed, Defined by Davies, with citation from Sir Henry Taylor, "St. Clement's Eve." L Lagoon — Sound or channel. Used from time immemorial by English-speak- ing visitors at Venice, first in the Italian form, laguna, 1612, then lagune, 1697, and in the pres- ent spelling at least as far back as Capt. Cook's Journal of 1769. Lambaste — To beat. "Stand off a while and see how I'll lambaste him." — Jones & Davenant, Britannia Triumphans, 18 (1637). Landscapist — Painter of landscapes. "The professed landscapists of the Dutch school." — • Ruskin, Modern Painters, 2.1.7 (1843). Landshark — Dishonest taker of advantage of pov- erty. Defined by Davies, with citation from Kings- ley's "Two Years Ago." Lathy — Slender. "A lean, lathie moxi^—Wood, Life (1672). l^Kw Day — Court day. Used in England, in the spelling laghdaghes, in 1235, lawdayis in 1444, and in the modern spelling in 1467. 150 AMERICAN ENGLISH Lawing — Going to law. "I fear lest there be found among you lawing." — Tin- dale's II Cor. XII.20 (1526). Leastways — At least. "That at the least way the shadow of Peter," — Tindale, Acts V.15. Likely (men or animals) — Pleasing, handsome, promising. Murray gives citations of this use of the word, covering every sense in which it is ever heard in this country, from the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries, the earliest dated 1454, the latest 1883. LiMSY — Weak, flexible, limp. Limpsy is defined as flaccid in Forby's "East Anglia Vocabulary" (1825). Live — Quick, active — so Farmer. This abbreviation of alive has long been in use, in every American sense, by British writers. Loan Office. "Subscriptions for erecting loan offices." — London Ga- zette, 5859 (1720). Locate — "To place, to set in a particular spot" — so Bartlett. "This was amongst the motives that led me to locate myself at Tunbridge Wells." — Cumberlajid, Memoirs, 2.186 (1807). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I5I Loggerhead — Long piece of iron, clubbed at the end. Occurs in a survey of London published in 1687. LoGiciZE — To reason. "I can't logicize, but I'll pilfer with any." — Blackwood, 38.525 (1835). Lucifer Match. "The plaintiff invented another match, which he desig- nated with the name of lucifer." — John Bull, Nov. 28, 1831. Lyceum^ — Literary association or the place where it meets. "A literary establishment has been opened at Paris un- der the title of the Lyceum." — Gentleman's Magazine, 56.1.262 (1786). Lynch Law. The Pall Mall Gazette, as quoted in the New York Tribune of Jan. 27, 1881, says this expres- sion owes its origin to a Mayor Lynch of Glas- gow, who near the end of the 15th Century hanged a murderer with his own hands. M Mad — Angry. So used in England as far back as Cursor Mundi, 1320, not to speak of comparatively mod- ern writers like Pepys. So defined in Ash's Dic- tionary, 1795. 152 AMERICAN ENGLISH Make-up — 1. The whole as distinguished from the several parts. "Some distinctions in the make-up of French and Eng- Hsh minds."— Examiner, 708 (1821). 2. An actor's personal adornments. "The zouaves, with their make-up as women." — George Eliot, in Cross Life, 2.61 (1858). 3. Arrangement of type in form. "This is the make-up of the third and fourth sheets of the magazine." — Smedley, Lewis Arundel, 15 (1852). Manor — "Land occupied by tenants who pay rent to proprietor" — so Bartlett. Fancy calling this an Americanism! It has been in continuous use in England for cen- turies. Mansard Roof. Defined in Builder's Dictionary (1734). Materialize. "Virgil having materialized, if I may so call it, a scheme of abstracted notions." — Addison, Tatler, 154 (1710). Meadow — Land on which grass is raised for hay. So used in Great Britain from time immemorial. So defined in the first English dictionary intended to include "the generality of words," Bailey, 172L Mean — Poor, bad, worthless. "Piers Plowman," 6.185 (1377), refers to "mean ale." EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I53 Meeting — Religious assembly. "Sept. 24, being Lord's day, he was going home from the meeting." — W. Hubbard, Narrative, 2.51 (1677). Meeting-house — Place of worship. "There was a concourse of people at the Dissenters' meeting-house." — Evelyn, Diary, April 10, 1687. Mend in phrase "on the mend" — Convalescent. So used by Coleridge, as quoted by Mrs. San- ford, "T. Poole," 277 (1802). Merchandize as verb. "And said to them, 'Merchandize till I come.' " — Wy- dif, Luke XIX.13 (1382). Merchant — Small shopkeeper. "A peddling shopkeeper that sells a pennyworth of thread is a merchant." — Burt, North Scotland, 1.66 (1730). Mess — Quantity. "You have very good strawberries; I require you to let us have a mess of them." — Sir Thos. More, Richard Third, 46 (1513). Metheglin — A beverage. "Metheglin, which is most used in Wales, is hotter than mead." — Sir Thos. Elyot, Castle of Health, 36 (1533). Misery — Bodily pain. So defined in Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia (1825). Misrecollect — Remember wrongly. "If I do not misrecollect, I remember instances." — JBew-c tham, Defense of Usury, 6.49 (1787). 154 AMERICAN ENGLISH MiSREMEMBER ForgCt. "Misremembering one word." — Sir Thos. More, Answer to Poisoned Book (1533), Mistake in phrase, "and no mistake" — Undoubtedly. "He is the real thing and no mistake." — Lady Sydney Morgan, Autobiography, 15 (1818). MOBOCRACY. "Another mode of civil policy, which cannot be called by a better name than mobocracy." — Murphy, Gray's Inn Journal, 95 (1754). Molasses — Treacle. British writers have melasus (1582), molassos (1588), molassos (1599), molossos (1663), me- lasses (1731), and the present spelling as early as 1764. Moonrise. "A luminous arch which extended itself almost from sunset to moonrise." — Philosophical Transactions, 35.454 (1728). Moonshine (liquor) — Surreptitiously made without paying tax, or imported without paying duty. Defined by Grose. MoRPHODiTE — Hermaphrodite. "She was little better than a morphodite." — Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, 4.3 (1706). Mortal — Very. "The peril is so mortal strong." — John Lydgate, Rea- son and Sense, 3665 (1407). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 1^^ Most — Vulgar contraction of almost. "Her forehead was most covered with her hat." — Lady Wroth, Urania, 541 (1621). MouRNSOME — ^Mournful. "A noise very loud and mournsome." — Lorna Doone, 3 (1869). Move — Change one's residence. "He was afterwards the occasion of his leaving college and moving towards London." — Bishop Patrick, Auto- biography, 244 (1707). Muddle — Confusion. Defined as "a confused or turbid state" in Todd's Dictionary (1818). Mudsill — Foundation timber laid on or in the earth. A manuscript estimate of repairs for a bridge in Essex, England, 1741, includes an item for "mudsells 19 foot long." Mulatto. Earliest known use of this word (which seems to have been adapted, by European explorers, from the Spanish mulato, young mule, hence one of mixed race) is in Drake's "Voyages," 1595. Mumblepeg — Child's game. "Nor scourge-top, nor trusse, nor leap-frog, nor nine- holes, nor mumble-the-peg." — Hawkins, Apollo Shroving, Prologue, 5 (1627). MUSKMELON. Correction of Tusser's muskmillion, "Hus- bandry," 94 (1573). 156 AMERICAN ENGLISH Muss — Squabble. Said to be old British by a writer in the Nation, 5.428, Nov. 28, 1867. Mux — Mess. "My mother and Snowe had muxed up everything." — Lorna Doone, 62. (Earlier American citations can be given, of course; but Blackmore's use of the word seems to estabHsh it as an old Devonshire provincialism.) N Nabber — Thief. So defined in Jamieson. Nankeen. "Make his trousers of nankeen." — Percy Society, Songs on Costume, 239 (1755). National — Relating to the nation at large. "The civil and national laws of any country." — How- son, Sermons, Dec. 24, 1597. Neck — Peninsula. "Upon the innermost neck to the landward." — Eden, Decade of Voyages, 352 (1555). Ne'er — No; not. "There's ne'er a gentleman in the county has the like humors." — Jonson, Every Man out of His Humor, 2.1 (1599). Negative — To veto. "Having obtained the outlines of a treaty, negativing it would not carry." — Earl Malmesbury, Diaries, 1.194 (1778). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I57 Never Say Die — Do not despair. Used by Nancy Sikes, "Oliver Twist," Chap. 26. Newsy — Full of news. "Mille graces for a newsy letter." — Jekyll, Correspond- ence, 9.304 (1832). Nice — Fair, good, agreeable. "I intend to take a nice walk." — Miss Carter, Letters, 2.34 (1769). "The nice letter which I have received from you." — Jane Austen, Letters, 1.126 (1796). "Whom my aunt asserted to be a very nice woman." — .Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey, 1 (1847). Nigger — Negro. "How graceless Ham laughed at his dad, which made Canaan a nigger." — Robert Burns, Ordination, 4 (1786). Word used repeatedly by Carlyle and Thack- eray, and at least once by Ruskin, "Laws of Fe- sole," Chap. 6. You will hardly find it in any American writer of any such standing as either of these great Britons. Nip — A drink. Defined by Grose. Nipper — A drink. Contraction of nipperkin, which is at least as old in Great Britain as Mrs. Behan's "Amorous Prince," 1671. 158 AMERICAN ENGLISH Nipping — Mincing. "So nipping, so tripping, so cocking, so crowing." — Jacob and Esau, 2.2 (1578). Nobby — Stylish. "The herds of mony a knabby laird, war's training for the shambles."— Picifeew, Poems, 178 (1788). "I'll meet your wishes respecting this matter and the nobbiest way of keeping it quiet." — Bleak House, 54 (1852). Noggin — A drink. "Every one that treats him with a noggin of cool nants." — Humors of the Town, 101 (1693). Nohow — By no means, generally used ungrammat- ically, to strengthen previous negative. "You don't call that justice nohow." — Douglas Jerrold, St. Giles, 10.98 (1851). Noodles — Preparation of vermicelli. "Noodle soup, made with veal with lumps of bread." — Lady Mary Coke, Journal, 3.243 (1779). Nooning — 1. Noontide, hour beginning at noon. Occurs in "Towneley Mysteries," 24.65 (1460). 2. Midday luncheon. "Seven constant ordinaries every night, noonings and intermealiary lunchings." — Browne, Mad Couple, 7.2 (1652). Notify a person — Give notice or information to (the English being supposed always to make the no- tice or information the direct object, to notify something to a man, whereas we notify the man of the thing). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I59 "If any appointment be broken and the king be notified thereof." — Wars in France (1440). "The clatter of hoofs notified the concierge that Baron Grandesella's family were on the point of arrival." — Olyphant, Altiora Peto, 1.66 (1883). Notional — Whimsical. "The old dogmatists and notional speculators." — Power, Exp. Phil., 3.193 (1664). Notions — Small wares. "Notions framed in foreign looms." — Young, Night Thoughts, Night 2 (1742). o Obligate. "My station obligates me to render obedience to her commands." — Athenaeum, June 2, 1668. Obligement. "This I would endure, to cancel my obligements to him." — Dryden, Rival Ladies, 2.2 (1664). Obsolescent. Used by Johnson, s. v. hereout. Obtusity. "A terrible thing obtusity of sight would be to me." — Scott, Fam. Letters, 2.19.165 (1823). Of after gerund. "Not the clothing or feeding of Christ but the housing of him." — Donne, Sermons, 4.9.171 (1631). Or after verbs of sensation. "She smelled of it and ate it." — Defoe, Robinson Cru- soe, 1.4 (1719). l60 AMERICAN ENGLISH Office — "Small house or hut to accommodate over- flow of family" — so Clapin. "To be sold, a freehold house, with attached and de- tached offices of every description." — London Times, June 28, 1798. Oleomargarine. The first known use of this word was by a French chemist, Berthelot, in 1854. Once — As soon as. "Once I had got it, it was easy to unlock her breast." — Frances Sheridan, Sidney Biddulph, 2.96 (1761). Once and Again — Sometimes, repeatedly. "Once and again iterated." — /. King, Jonas, 642 (1597). Operate. Used in England, in every sense in which we ever employ this verb, from early in the 17th Cen- tury. Orate — Make a speech. "Oh, let it be lawful for me to orate." — Timon, 2.4.32 (1600). Ordinary — Homely, not handsome. "There is those that do it for four shillings apiece, but very ordinary work." — Primatt, City and C. Build., 71 (1667). Orphanage — Orphan asylum. "There is an orphanage in which there are forty chil- dren." — London Standard, Feb. 7, 1865. Orts — Refuse fodder. In "Promptorium Parvulorum" (1440). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS l6l Out — Unfavorable condition or feeling. "Launcelot and I are out." — Merchant of Venice, 3.5.34 (1598). Out — To take or put out. "The lord by knight's service might have outed a farmer." — Kitchin, Courts Leet, 261 (1598). Outsider — Person not in a party or an organization. "There was a whist and a casino table, and six out- siders." — Jane Austen, Letters, 1.245 (1800). Over a signature. "Used in a very appropriate man- ner, as 'to write a letter over one's signature,' " says Clapin. I disagree as to the propriety of the usage. It seems to me that one makes a state- ment under his signature, whatever may be the relative position of statement and signature on the paper, exactly as a soldier fights under a cer- tain flag though he may be on a mountain top and the colors in the valley far below him, or as a man does business under a certain firm name, though his sign may be on the first floor and his shop on the second. Be that as it may, the expression was first used in England, so far as is known. It occurs in "Notes and Queries," 2d Series, 4.87 (1857). Over and Above — Very, very much. "Mrs. Blifil was not over and above pleased." — Field- ing, Tom Jones, 3.6 (1749). Overcoat — The English greatcoat or topcoat. Defined in Craig's Dictionary, 1848. l62 AMERICAN ENGLISH Overly — Excessively. Occurs in Wolfstan's 13th Homily, early in 11th Century. Overrun — Run over hastily. Bartlett's only citation is from the New York Tribune, June 16, 1849: "Rapp's community was lately overrun by a traveller." One of Mur- ray's definitions of the word, with citations of 1000, 1300, 1538, 1577 and 1656, is: "To pass in rapid review, glance through rapidly." Overture, verb — Propose. "It had become you rather to have overtured a way." — True Nonconformist, 100 (1671). Oyster Plant. "Mertensia maritima is called oyster plant." — Hogg, Vegetable Kingdom, 542 (1858). Pancake. P Used in "Two Cookery Books," 1.45 (1430). Panzer — Bustle. "The excrescences worn on the back are spoken of as paniers." — Punch, July 31, 1869. Paragraphist. "Every paragraphist is noticing the advantages which await the issue." — Spirit Public Journals, 2.350 (1798). Peaky — Sickly looking. A correspondent of the London Times says this word is the purest old Devonshire. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 163 Peddle — "Sell anything in small quantities" — so Cla- pin. "The best trade that can be driven is only a sort of peddling." — Philosophical Transactions, 17.792 (1688). Peltry — Raw skins of wild animals, with fur on. "They bring all manner of peltry." — Fortescue, Works, 553 (1451). Permit — Written permission. "The goods shall be again visited and the permit exam- ined."— ^oo/^ of Rates, 122 (1714). Pernickity — Fastidious. Defined in Jamieson. Pettifog as a transitive verb. Cotgrave's French-English Dictionary (1611) defines: "Chicaner, to wrangle or pettifog it." Pick — To select. Used by Gower, "Confessio Amantis," 1.296 (1390). Pick — "A thread; the quality of the cloth is denoted by the number of picks it has to the inch" — so Bartlett. Clearly only an extension of the old British use of the word to indicate a throw of the shuttle. Pigeonhole — Receptacle for documents. "I put the papers into a pigeonhole in the cabinet." — Transactions Society of Arts, 2.156 (1789). Piker — "Cautious gambler," says Clapin. I think it is slang for a stingy person. It occurs, in the sense of thief, in "Piers Plowman" (1393). 164 AMERICAN ENGLISH Pile — Arrow. Used, in various spellings, by British writers as early as the 11th Century. Pimping — Little, petty. "Out of a little pimping comer of Britain." — T. Brown, Saints in Uproar, \.T1 (1687). Pinky — The little finger. Defined in Jamieson. Pitch and Toss — A game. "The germ of gambling sprouts in pitch and toss." — Sir A. Boswell, Edinburgh, 54 (1810). Pitcher — "American for jug," says Farmer. This Americanism may be found in British writers of the 13th and every subsequent century to the present time. I have tried in vain to as- certain what distinction is made between the two words by the English people who now call a milk pitcher a "jug" but make no scruple of saying that "little pitchers have big ears" or of speak- ing of the pitcher that went once too often to the well. It seems to me that we Americans do well to discriminate as we always do, a pitcher with us being a vessel of any material but having a comparatively wide mouth, perhaps covered but never tightly closed, whereas a jug is made of earthenware and has a small mouth intended for a cork or some other sort of stopper. Pitch In — To attack. Defined in Halliwell. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 165 Plane Tree. Used in Great Britain, and applied to several different plants, since the 15th Century. Plantain. "I am exalted like a plantayne tree by the waterside," — Coverdale, Ecclesiasticus, 24.14 (1535). Plantation — "Estate appropriated to the production of staple crops by slave labor" — so Bartlett. Murray defines: "A settlement in a new or conquered country," with citation of 1614. Play Actor. "If play actors or spectators think themselves injured by any censure." — Prynne, Histriomastix (1663). Pleasure — As verb, to please. "He meant to give sentence against her to pleasure the king."— i?. Hall, Life of Fisher (1559). Pluck — "Heart, liver, lungs, &c., of slaughtered ani- mal" — so Clapin. So used in Cotgrave's French-English Diction- ary (1611). Ply — Sail back and forth. "A detachment which plies between the Godavery and camp." — Despatch of the Duke of Wellington (1803). Poach — Tread soft ground. "The horses keeping the furrow, to avoid poaching the land."— Piof, Oxfordshire, 247 (1677). l66 AMERICAN ENGLISH Poke, often with prefix "slow" — ^Lazy person, daw- dler. "Do you think I can live, poking by myself?" — Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 2.3 (1796). Poke — Bag. Dates back in England at least to the 14th Cen- tury. Chaucer's "Reeve's Tale" has "two pigs in a poke." Poke Bonnet. "Another street nuisance is your poke bonnet ladies." — Hermit in London, 92.5.35 (1820). Poky — Dull, stupid. Defined in Davies as "poor, shabby." PoLT — A blow. Defined in Davies, with citation of 1800. PoMPiON — Pumpkin. "Pompions in May." — Tusser, Husbandry, 95 (1573). Pond. "We give this name," says Bartlett, "to col- lections of water in the interior country, which are fed by springs, and from which issues a small stream." I do not think the "small stream" neces- sary to constitute a pond in the American sense. Johnson defines: "A small pool or lake of wa- ter." Poorly — Badly, ill. "Some cattle wax faint and look poorly." — Tusser, Hus- bandry, 79 (1573). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS l6j Pop — Pistol. So defined by Defoe, "Street Robberies," 33 (1728). Posh — Mud. Defined in the English Dialect Dictionary. Pot Hole. "Eight feet of the workable stone may be considered free from pot holes." — Civil Engineer's Journal, 2.373 (1839). Potter in phrase "to potter round." Defined in Craven Glossary (1828). POTWALLOPER SculHon. First occurs, with slightly different meaning, in the 1769 edition of Defoe's "Tom," 2.2.2i. Prayerfully. "They should prayerfully examine the question." — Faber, Romanism, 39 (1826). Precinct — Subdivision of county or city. In use in England, in practically the same sense, since the 15th Century. Predicate "is constantly confounded with predict," says Bartlett. Truly it is; and so it was in Eng- land as far back as 1623, when Cockeram pub- lished his dictionary including the definition: "Predicate, to foretell." Preferential. "Their preferential connection with this or that an- tecedent condition." — Mayo, Popular Superstitions, 76 (1849). l68 AMERICAN ENGLISH Presidency. Given in Percival's Spanish Dictionary (1591) as translation of presidencia. Presidential — Pertaining to a president. In this sense, says Bartlett, the word is an Americanism. "A president of the law vaunted himself to have hud- dled up together two hundred strange places in a presi- dential law case." — Florio, Montaigne, 3.12.629 (1603). PRESTIDIGITATE. This verb may have been invented in the United States; but Southey used the noun prestidigitateiir as an English word in the "Commonplace Book," 4.603 (1843). Pretty as a noun. "Back to back, my pretties." — Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer (1773). Pretzel. A word brought here from their mother coun- try, exactly in its original form, by German immi- grants. Primp — "To dress up in a finical manner" — Bartlett. "Just i' the newest fashion primped." — Beattie, Par- ings, 14 (1801). It seems to me this word is merely a corruption of prink, which has been used in England in the same sense from the 16th Century. Professor of Religion — Communicant. Prof. Lounsbury says (International Review, 8.5.482) EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 169 that "the word with this meaning can be found in the greatest of Milton's prose treatises." Properly — Very much. "Such variety of pictures that I was properly con- founded." — Pepys, June 24, 1664. Publishment. "The cardinal rebuked them by open publishment." — Fabyan's Chronicle, 7.229.259 (1494). Pull Through — ^Narrowly escape disaster. "I shall pull through, ray dear." — Bleak House, 37 (1852). Pulpiteer — Preacher. "By the incitement of these fiery pulpiteers." — Howell, Twelve Treatises, 16 (1642). Puny — Weak. "A puny subject strikes at thy great glory." — Richard Second, 3.2.86 (1593). Push — Party, combination of men, "crowd." "A push, alias an accidental crowd of people." — Hig- gin. True Disciple, 13 (1718). Put, Put Off, Put Out — Start, go, depart. Said of a ship or a man. "My honest friend had hoisted sail and put to sea to- day."— Cowec^y of Errors, 5.1.21 (1590). "They did shoot such abundance of arrows that they made our men put off." — Lichefield, Castanheda's East Indies, 1.79.162 (1582). "If any ship put out, then straightway." — Comedy of Errors, 3.2.190. lyO AMERICAN ENGLISH Put-up Job — Swindle or robbery carefully prear- ranged. "At least it can't be a put-up job." — Oliver Twist, 19 (1838). Q QuASHiE — ^Negro. Who ever heard an American use this term? "Quashie himself, or a company of free blacks." — M. Scott, Tom Cringle, 246 (1833). Quit (with gerund expressed or understood) — To stop. "Persons who rent seats, after they quit sitting in them." — Liverpool Municipal Records, 2.166 (1754). Quite in such phrases as "quite a while," "quite a house." "It is quite a pleasing retirement." — Toldewy, Two Orphans, 3.49 (1756). "Quite a comfortable dwelling." — Southey, Letters, 1.84 (1799). (The senseless expression "quite a few," mean- ing not very few but a considerable number, is believed to be an Americanism, humiliating as it is to an American to make the confession.) R Racker — "A kind of pacing horse" — Bartlett. "One old racking nag." — Richmond, Wills, 166 (1562). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I7I Rail — Part of a fence. "For sawing reyles to the pale." — Nottingham Records, 3.272 (1494). Railroad — Railway. "It seems practicable to carry the coals upon a rail- road." — Smeatin, Report, 2 AW (1775). Raise — Cause to grow, rear, as said of plants, ani- mals and children. "Your railroad is only a device for making the world smaller." — Ruskin, Modern Painters, 3.4.17 (1856). "The alaternus is raised from seeds." — Worlidge, Agri- culture," 99 (1669). "Directions when to raise up goslings." — Massinger, City Madam, 2.2 (1632). "The child is the picture of his father, and she would endeavor to raise it for his sake." — Bishop, Life and Ad- ventures, 268 (1744). Rakehelly — Intensely bad. "The rakehelly route of our ragged rhymes." — Spenser, Shepherd's Calendar, Dedication (1579). Range — Ground over which ranging is possible. "Sir Launcelot came into the range." — Malory, Arthur, 10.41 (1470). Rare (meat) — Not cooked brown. Defined as "underdone" in Dictionary of Isle of Wight Dialect. Rattletrap — Something shaky and of little value. "She used to go round with these rattletraps." — Goody Two Shoes, 2.27 (1766). 172 AMERICAN ENGLISH Rave — Part of vehicle. Occurs in Palsgrave's French Dictionary (1530). Razee — Something (originally a vessel) cut down. "The captain of a twenty-four razee." — Sir R. Wilson, Life, 1.4.216 (1803). Reach — Part of a vehicle. "The reach is the most important portion." — Routledge's Boy's Annual, 478 (1868) Read Out — Expel. ' The first known use of this phrase is in a ser- mon by an English divine, John Hunt, 1865. Real — Very. "An opportunity of doing a real good office." — /. Fox, Wanderer, 17.116 (1718). Recommend, noun — Commendation. Recommendum is used in the same sense in Nashe's Lenten Stuffe, Harleiian Miscellanies, 6.180 (1599). The anglicized form, in a curious combination of singular and plural, the writer speaking of "a recommends to a friend," appears in Webster's "The Devil's Law Case," 2.1 (1623). Recoup. "The defendant shall recoup the third part of the prof- its."— Coi^e on Littleton, 39 (1628). Recoupment. "Recoupment in its original sense was a mere right of reduction." — Waterman, Law of Set-Off, 468 (1869). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I73 Red Tape — Tedious official routine. "One intellect still really human and not redtapish." — Carlyle, Latterday Pamphlets, 3.94 (1850). Rehash. "Ulric is the Giaour rehashed." — Maginn, Byron's Werner, 2.1.148 (1822). Reland. Go on shore after having embarked. "After they had delivered their cargo and relanded in the port of London."— Lj/e of N. Frowde, 39 (1773). Reliable. "Their judgment to be as reliable as if given by the Lords of Session." — Privy Council of Scotland, 1.667 (1569). Remind — Remember. "Let him remind what attributes were given." — Wither, Vox Pacif., 189 (1645). Rench — Mispronunciation of rinse. Said by Halliwell to be northern dialect. Rendition — Rendering, surrendering. "His rendition afterward to the Scotch army." — Milton, Eikonoklastes (1649). Renewedly. "I declare renewedly my firm resolution." — Richard- son, Clarissa Harlowe, 2.336 (1748). Reopen. "Roots can penetrate no farther into it unless it is re- opened by tillage." — Tully, Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, 1.8 (1733). 174 american english Repetitious. "The great charter is comprehensive and repetitious." — Penn, Eng. Pres. Int., 17 (1675). Reprobacy. "God smiteth these sinners with reprobacy of mind." — Trapp, Hebrews, 6.8 (1647). Requisition. "If either recover from France places belonging to the other, he shall upon requisition restore them." — Herbert, Henry VIII, 117 (1648). Researcher. Investigator. Used on title page of Maxwell's ''Admirable Prophecies" (1615). Residenter — Resident. "The justice-deputs v\^ere not ordinar residenters in town." — Mackenzie, Criminal Laws of Scotland, 2.8.1 (1678). Resolve, noun — Resolution. "A short vote or resolve of this house would haply give satisfaction." — Burton's Diary, 1.270 (1656). Result — Decision of a council. "If our proposals once again were heard, we should compel them to a quick result." — Paradise Lost, 6.619 (1667). Resurrect. "As fast as we knock them on the head, this Tunestrick resurrects them." — Annual Register, 174.1 (1772). Retiracy. "I enjoy a considerable portion of retiracy." — F. A. Kemble, Later Life, 2.228 (1842). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 175 Retrospect — To look back at something. "You and I have often retrospected the faces and minds of grown people." — Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, 2.8' (1748). Rich — Highly amusing. "What a rich scene of this would thy exquisite powers make!" — Sterne, Tristram Shandy, 4.7 (1760). RiDE-AND-TiE — Said of two persons who use the same horse by turns, one riding ahead a certain dis- tance and then tying the horse and leaving him for the other. "Mr. Adams discharged the bill, and they set out, hav- ing agreed to ride and tie." — Fielding, Joseph Andrews, 2.2 (1742). Rider — Supplement to a bill, added with the hope of thus securing enactment which could not be ob- tained separately. "Col. B. carried a rider, as it is called, being a clause to be added at the last reading." — Roger North, Examen, 3.6.60 (1734). Right — Very, as in phrase, "it rains right hard." Occurs in the A. V., Psalm 139.14, and in con- stant use in Great Britain in such phrases as "right honorable" and "right reverend," whereas in the United States it is only a southern collo- quialism. To Rights — Immediately. "Mr. Coventry and us two did discourse with the duke a little, and so to rights home again." — Pepys' Diary, June 8, 1663. 176 AMERICAN ENGLISH To Rights — In order. So defined in Dictionary of Isle of Wight Dia- lect, and so used in the "Antiquary," Chap. 3. Right Up — To set in order. "Having there wrighted up such ships of his." — Ussher, Annals, 391 (1656). Rip — ^Move with force or speed; "let her rip." "The sweeping scythe now rips along." — Bloomfield, Farmer's Boy, Summer, 141 (1798). Roarer. "Thou hast delivered me from roreris." — Wyclif, Eccle- siasticus, 51.4 (1388). That "roreris" is roarers appears from the Douay version, which reads: "From them that did roar." Rogue — Plant not up to type. "The rogues, as they call the plants that deviate from the proper standard." — Danvin, Origin of Species, 1.32 (1859). Rooster — Cock. Said by a writer in Harper's Monthly, April, 1883, p. 165, to be an old Sussex provincialism. Roster — ^List of officers or the like. "As each nation had a different number of battalions, their duty was regulated by a roster." — Bland, Military Discipline, 19.207 (1727). Rote — Sound of surf. "While the sea's rote doth ring their doleful knell." — Niccols, England's Eliza, 270.837 (1610). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I77 Roughs — Rowdies. "There'll be policemen to control the roughs." — Bar- ham, Life and Letters, 2.39 (1837). Roundabout — Boy's jacket. "To wear their light nankeen trousers and gingham roundabouts." — Marryat, Monsieur Violet, 44 (1844). Round Up (animals) — Gather together. "We rounded up the cattle till the moon should rise." — C. Sturt, Central Australia, 1.228 (1847). RousER — "Something very exciting or very great," says Bartlett. Obviously so called because it rouses attention or rouses sleepy listeners. In the literal sense, the word has been in use in Eng- land for centuries, and is still in use. Rubber — Caoutchouc. Howard's New Royal Encyclopedia, 1788, says that caoutchouc "is popularly called rubber." This is first known instance of this use of the word. Ruination. This noun may be an American invention ; but the verb ruinate is at least as old as the 16th Cen- tury in England. Ruination is in Latham's Dic- tionary, marked "rare or obsolete." Davies says: "I should have thought it common enough and in every-day use." Run — Small stream. "Chiefly U. S. and northern dialects," says Murray, giving Scotch citations as old as 1581. 178 AMERICAN ENGLISH S Sate — 1. Iron box for keeping valuables. "A pen knife and a letter were found lying near the safe, as if they had been lost by the robber." — Bethune, Scotch Peasant, 70 (1328). 2. Box for provisions. Used in "Promptorium Parvulorum." Sappy — Silly. Defined in Moor's Suffolk Glossary (1823). Sarcophagus — "Leaden coffin" — so Farmer (copied by Clapin) erroneously, the term always indicat- ing a coffin or the image of a coffin made of stone, just as the word has been used in England for centuries. "Several sarcophagi that had enclosed the ashes of men:'— Addison, Italy, 198 (1705). Sauce — Impudence. Dej&ned in Halliwell, "various dialects." Say-so — Unsupported assertion. "They are only say-soes and no proof." — Heylin, Lin- coln, 1.49 (1637). Scare — Fright, panic, stampede. Defined by Davies. Occurs in Holland's "Livy," 8.37.308 (1600). Scattering — Scattered. "A small village, inhabited in scattering wise." — Hol- land, Camden's Britannia, 1.439 (1610). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I79 Schnapps — Gin, or similar liquor. "Enjoy your schnaps." — Blackwood' s Magazine, 3.403 (1818). Scientist. Seems (from the way in which he uses the word, in Introduction to "Philosophy of Induc- tive Sciences") to have been invented about 1840 by Dr. William Whewell of Cambridge Univer- sity. Scoot — Run, decamp. "I set him a-scouting like a lusty fellow." — Capt. Tyr- rell, Annual Register, 2 (1758). Scrabble — Fight. This particular use may be American; but the word occurs in Matthew's Bible of 1537, First Samuel, 21.13. Scrap — Very small piece. "Shreds, or scraps as they are called." — Philosophical Transactions, 80.367 (1790). Scratches — Disease of horses. Given as translation of arestin in Percivall's Spanish Dictionary (1591). Screed — Long composition. "Mr. Manson threatens a long screed of poetry." — Ross, Helenore, 7 (1789). Screws in such phrases as "put on the screws," "turn the screws" — Bring pressure to bear on a person, compelling him to act against his will. l8o AMERICAN ENGLISH A despatch of the Duke of Wellington (1803) speaks of bringing "all the screws" to bear upon "this chief." Perhaps the reference is to the In- quisition and its thumbscrews. ScREWSMAN — Picker of locks. Defined in Vaux's Flash Dictionary (1812). ScRiBBLEMENT — Writing. "I am tired of this endless scribblement." — Cowper, Letter to Unwin, Oct. 20, 1784. Scringe — To flinch, cower. Defined in Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia (1825). Scruff — Nape of neck. Defined as "northern" dialect in Grose's Pro- vincial Dictionary (1790). Scuff — Rub feet on floor. Defined as "western" dialect in Halliwell. ScuLDUGGERY — Wire pulling; fraud. Doubtless only variant of old Scotch term spelled sculdudry by Jamieson. Sealer — Inspector of merchandise or of weights and measures. In use in Great Britain in acts of Parliament from the 15th century. Seeding — Sowing, especially of grass seed. "The rent, sowing and seeding of an acre of rye." — Kingsthorpiana, 81 (1542). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS l8l Seen — Saw (heard only among the very lowest classes). Said by a writer in Harper's Monthly, 66.395. 665 (April, 1883) to be a Sussex vulgarism. Seep — ^Leak through fine pores. "Rain seeps through the thack." — A. Wilson, Brother Pedlar, 173 (1790). Sell — Practical joke; hoax; "take-in." "Mr. Green having swallowed this, his friend was en- abled not only to use up old sells but to draw on his in- vention for new ones." — Verdant Green, 1.7 (1853). Sensationism. "In them we have sensationism pure and undisguised." — Dean Mansel, Letters, 242 (1863). Sensationist. "The motto of the sensationists." — W. H. Russell, Lon- don Times, Sept. 24, 1861. Serious — Religious. "Peter Bell, when he had been with fresh imported hell fire warmed, grew serious." — Shelley, Peter Bell Third, 1.1 (1819). Set — Get stuck. "When their wagons were set in bad roads." — /. Clubbe, Tracts, 1.83 (1756). Set — Determined, firm. "He was upon patience so set." — Gower, Confessio Amantis, 1.301 (1390). Set By, Set Store By, with variations — Value. "Disdaining and setting light by other bathing vessels." —Holland, Pliny, 32.12 (1601). l82 AMERICAN ENGLISH "I set no great store by the circumstance." — Dickens, American Notes, 4. Setback — Reverse, obstacle, hindrance. "When he is about his work, how many setbacks doth he meet with!" — Flavel, Husbandry Spiritualized, 1.20 (1674). Setting Pole — Pole used for propelling boats. Halliwell's sixth definition of the verb set is "to push, to propel." Naturally then a pole used for this purpose is a setting pole. Settle — 1. To be installed as pastor of a church. "Mr. Chambers being now settled, the communicants could not be deprived of him." — Wodrow, Correspondence, 3.253 (1726). 2. To install a pastor. "The presbytery having refused to settle the person pre- sented by the patron." — BoswelVs Johnson, May 1, 1773. 3. To pay a bill. "Let us settle accounts; you'll see no more of my money." — Foote, Commissary, 1.26 (1765). 4. To kill. "It settled him and set his spirit gone." — Chapman, Iliad, 13.587 (1611). Settle One's Hash — Give him his quietus. "My master is engaged in settling the hash of your master." — Muzzle to Trotter, Pickwick Papers, 25 (1836). Settler — Unanswerable proposition. "This was a settler; I could make no answer." — Hogg, Tales, 5.221 (1817). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 183 Shadow — Follow closely. "Thereupon he shadowed him up and down." — Row- lands, Greene's Ghost, 17 (1602). Shake Dice. "Dice are shaked." — Googe, Popish Kingdoms, 47 (1570). Shakers. "The new sect of Shakers." — Scottish Mist Dispelled, 17 (1648). Shakes, No Great — Not of much importance. "No great shakes at learned chat." — Moore, Tom Crib, 41 (1819). Shakiness. Bartlett's only citation is dated 1876. Four- teen years earlier, the Cornhill Magazine, 6.613, spoke of "shakiness of the hand." Shaky — Wavering, uncertain. "Our director was what is not to be found in Johnson's Dictionary, rather shaky." — Thackeray, Hoggarty Dia- mond, 10 (1841). Sharp — Bright fellow, sharper. "The long list of sharps who advertise their tips." — Pall Mall Gazette, Sept. 10, 1865. Sharp, adverb — Punctually. "They should dine that day at 3 o'clock sharp." — Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, 3 (1840) Sharp Practice — Unscrupulous bargaining. "The sharp practice of the world drives some logic into the most vague of men." — Helps, Friends in Council, 1.8 142 (1847). 184 AMERICAN ENGLISH Shave — Narrow escape. "I seem to have had a shave, if indeed I have weath- ered the point yet." — R. H. Froude, Reminiscences, 1.381 (1834). Shave — Take unfair advantage of, as by discounting notes at unreasonable usury. "He measureth miserably to his servants, shaving and pinching them." — Healey, Theophrastus, 48 (1610). "Brokers that shave poor men by Jewish interest." — Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, 6.40 (1606). Shaver — Extortioner. "I will not speak of thieves and shavers." — Whitinton, Tully's Offices, 3.144 (1534). Sheath Knife. "She purchases a sheath knife." — Carlyle, French Revo- lution, 3.4.1 (1837). Sheeeny — Sharp fellow, cheat, says Bartlett. I think this slang term means a Jew, as in Eng- land. The first known use of the word in this sense is in the "Spirit of the Public Journals," 85 (1824). Sheer — Very thin. "Tiffeny is the sheerest and cheapest lawn." — Best, Farm Books, 106 (1641). Shell (corn) — Remove grains from cob. Only special application of term applied to len- tils in England as long ago as 1652, it occurring in Turner's "Herbal," 2.33. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 185 Sherrivallies — Overalls. "You find them to be breeches patched and not actually sherry vallies." — Gen. C. Lee, Memoirs, 430 (1778). Shifty — Tricky. Given as translation of Latin astutus by Levius (1570). Shimmy — Chemise. Defined in Hereford Glossary (1839). Shindy — Spree, row. "What a prime shindy, my messmates!" — Egan, Life in London, 10.248 (1821). "Kicking up all sorts of shindies." — Ingoldshy Legends, Series 3, Hermann (1845). Shine — "Show, display, fine appearance." "Which things have a shine of wisdom." — Coverdale, Colossians, 2.23 (1535). "His name was well calculated to cut a shine." — Me- tropolis, 2.165 (1819). Shine — Distinguish one's self. "An ambition to excel, or, as the term is, to shine, in company."— ^^ee^e, Tatler, 244 (1710). Shiner — Kind of fish. "Young mackerel are called shiners." — Yarreli, British Fishes, 1.124 (1836). Shingle — ''Wooden tile, used for roofing" — so Cla- pin. Murray has citations as old as the 13th Cen- tury. l86 AMERICAN ENGLISH Shinny — Boys' game. Described in Brockett's "North Country Words." Shock — Group of stalks or sheaves of grain. Defined in "Promptorium Parvulorum." Shoddy. Only American as connoting ostentation. The word occurs in Thackeray's "Effects of Arts on Health," 67 (1832). Shoot — Shooting match. "The prince is much pleased with his shoot this year." —Hare, Two Noble Lives, 1.360 (1852). Shoot (rapids) — Dash down in a vessel or on a raft. "We turned down the river, shooting the overfalls." — Harcourt, Guiana, 49 (1613). Shorts — Small clothes; breeches. "Another wanted to act the ghost in white shorts and a nightcap." — Beaconsfield, Vivian Grey, 1.3.7 (1826). Shove — Hemp stalk. "Flax and hemp are broken from the stalks into large shoves." — Holme, Armory, 3.285 (1688). Shoveller — Kind of duck. "The shovelar with his broad beak." — Skelton, Sparowe, 408 (1529). Show — Opportunity; chance at something. "Gie's a shaw o' your snuff horn." — Picken, Poems, 58 (1788). Show Off — Make a display. "The display and show-off of the natural disposition." —Pratt, Pupil of Pleasure, 2.14 (1776). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 187 Sick as a general term, not implying nausea. To the remarks on p. 44 may be added the fol- lowing quotation from a book called "The Differ- ence between Words Esteemed Synonymous," published at Dublin in 1776, and it will be ob- served that the distinction drawn is precisely that which obtains in American practice: "The word ill is used when health is the least impaired ; sick, when the body is greatly diseased; we say, when we find heaviness upon the spirits, or want of ap- petite, that we are ill; but when the whole frame is disordered, we say, 'he is sick.' " Side Hill — Hillside 'Torty six acres of uplands or side-hill lands." — Lon- don Gazette, 4489 (1708). Sideling — Inclined to one side. Murray gives citations from the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. Sidewalk — Walk for pedestrians, at side of drive- way. "The sidewalks for foot passengers are raised a foot above the carriageway." — Labeleye, Westminster Bridge, 69 (1739). Sidew^ipe — Glancing blow, sometimes miscalled "side- swipe" by careless people. "Your third paragraph is a mixture of sidewipes and friendly intimations." — Mrs. Barbauld, Richardson, 6.279 (1757). l88 AMERICAN ENGLISH Sidle — Move sidewise. "She could not bear to see her go sidle, sidle, to and iror—Vanbrugh, Msop, 3 (1697). Signalize — To signal. "They were signalizing their consort with lights." — Byron, Letter to Muir, Jan. 2, 1824. Sin — Since. "The bodies long sin destroyed and converted into pow- der."— Caxton, Eneydos, 12.44 (1490). Sinews — Money. "These coins be called of wise men the sinews of war." — Common Weal of England, 87 (1550). Sing Out — Shout lustily. " 'Port your helm,' sung out the boatswain." — M. Scott, Tom Cringle, 1 (1833). Sirree — Sir. "I say, sirree, where be'st thee going?" — Knight's Quarterly, 1.300 (1823). SiSTERN — Sisters. "You have the brethren, sistern and nephews." — Wil- son, Rhetoric, 30 (1853). Sit Up With — Court. Defined in the Craven Glossary. Sizz, Sizzle — Hiss, as from the action of fire. "To siz, to hiss.''— Marshall, Yorkshire, 2.352 (1788). "Sizzle, the half hiss, half sigh of an animal." — Moor, Suffolk Words, 351 (1823). Skeary — Alarming or alarmed. "This sight so skeary beholding." — Stanihurst, Mneid, 4.438 (1583). exotic americanisms 189 Skedaddle. Said by Lord Hill, in letter to London Times, to be familiar in Scotland and the North of Eng- land. Skid — Timber for temporary support. "This tub was fixed upon skids (pieces of timber) six inches thick." — Philosophical Transactions, 51.292 (1759). Skipjack — Contemptible fellow. Murray gives citations from the 16th Century. Skipper — Cheese mite or similar creature. So defined in Cornwall and Cumberland Glos- saries. Skite — Run, move fast. "Like a shot starn that through the air skites east or west." — Ramsay, Rise and Fall of Stocks, 112 (1721). Skive — To cut thin. Defined in Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia. Skylark — Play in rude style. "By kicking Nelson when skylarking." — Naval Chron- icle, 21.84 (1809). Sky Parlor — Garret. Defined in Grose. Sky Pilot — Chaplain. Explained in Spectator of Dec. 30, 1893, as a sample of "sailors' parlance." Seems very un- likely to have been taken from American usage. 190 AMERICAN ENGLISH Slab, Slabbed, Slab Off, Slabsided. Slab, in the sense of a broad, flat and thick slice, such as the first cut from the outside of a log, is as old as Tusser's "Husbandry" (1573); and all American uses of the word and its com- pounds have clear reference to this original mean- ing. Slack Baked — "Deficient in sagacity." Merely metaphorical use of a term applied lit- erally (to bread and cake) in Great Britain for centuries. Slang — "Careless, foolish talk" — so Thornton. ''Thomas Throw knew the slang well." — Tolderoy, Two Orphans, 1.68 (1756). Slantendicular — Oblique. "Buttons at the knees in a slanting-dicular direction." — Hewlett, Peter Priggins, 2 (1840). Slide — "To go, be gone, be off." Wyclif translates I. Kings, 20.39: "Keep this man; the which if were slidden away." (The R. V. reads: "If he be missing." ) Slink — Sneaking fellow. "Ye were an unco slink." — Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encyc, 398 (1824). Slip — 1. Opening between piers; dock. Used in England, in essentially the same sense, from the 15th Century. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS IQl 2. Loose garment worn by women. "His sister the princess dressed also in a slip with hang- ing sleeves." — Annual Register, 228.2 (1761). Slop Over — Be too demonstrative. The metaphor may be American; but the verb slop (spill) is defined in the Hallamshire Glos- sary. Slope — Inclined surface, as "the Pacific slope." Used by Bacon, "Sylva," 537 (1626). Slosh — Soft mud. Defined in Jamieson, though he spells it "slush." Slouch in phrase "no slouch" — an adept. The word slouch was "frequently used in the 16th and 17th Centuries as a term of disparage- ment without precise significance," says Mur- ray. Slough — Swamp. Traced back by Murray to the very beginning of the English language. Slug — To strike. So defined in Robinson's "Leeds Dialect." Sluice — Pipe or trough for carrying water. Occurs, spelled scluse, in "Ayenbite of Inwit," 255 (1340). Slut — Substitute for candle. "Matches are maid after the manner that maids make sluts." — Butler, Feminine Monarchie, 151 (1609). 192 AMERICAN ENGLISH Smack — Slap. Said by Elwyn to be a Sussex provincialism. Occurs in Thackeray, "Shabby-genteel Story," 2 (1840). Smart — Keen, shrewd, active. Murray gives instances of the use of this word in the "American" sense as far back as 1300; and (contrary to what seems to be a general impres- sion) that sense has never become obsolete in Great Britain. Charlotte Bronte wrote ("Jane Eyre," chap. 4): "Bessie was smart in all she did." In 1899, an English story called "The Log of the Sea Waif," by F. T. Bullen, has the sentence: "We were mighty smart getting under way." The Chicago News prints a story from Charles Dickens' own lips in which he speaks of himself as telling a stranger who had done a foolish thing that he was "smart enough in some respects." On a single day in London, I cut from three newspapers evidence of present British usage as follows: The Sunday Special, July 17, 1898, had an advertisement beginning: "Smart youth wanted in newspaper office." The St. James Gazette, July 18, 1898, published an ar- ticle telling how some bank robbers got off "by being very smart" ; and the Chronicle of the same date, referring to the same crime, said that "there were two or three smart thieves in league." What sort of an Americanism is this? EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I93 Smitch — Very small quantity. Said by Murray to be a Scotch word. Smoke Stack — Iron chimney. This would seem to be merely an extension of the use of stack for chimney-piece noted by Halli- well as provincial in the west of England. It occurs in the London Telegraph of Aug. 30, 1864, which mentioned that a steamer had "her smoke stack carried away." Smooth — Meadow. Given in "Promptorium Parvulorum" as trans- lation of the Latin planities, which means a piece of level ground. Smouch — Cheat. Davies says smouch is "a cant term for a Jew." Cobbett wrote, in "Rural Rides," 514 (1826): "They smouch, or want to smouch, some of the taxes." Snake — Pursue a winding route. "Some of the beasts that go snaiken about i' the dark," — Hogg, Brownie of Bodsbeck, 7 (1818). Snarl — Tangle . Murray has citations from the beginning of the 17 th Century. Sneaking — Unavowed, timid, concealed. "I have a sneaking kindness for the sneaking fellow." — Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, 3.303 (1748). 194 AMERICAN ENGLISH Sneeze in phrase "not to be sneezed at" — not to be despised. "Three or four hundred pounds a year is not to be sneezed at." — Scott, in Lockhart, Aug. 24, 1813. Snide — Counterfeit, sham, bogus. "Get ready for the trial and look up the snyde wit- nesses." — Cornhill Magazine, November, 1862. Snip — Contemptible fellow. "This snip of an attorney." — Massinger, New Way, 2.2 (1625). Snippy — Finical. Halliwell says this word, in the sense of mean, is found in various British dialects. Snowbound. "I have been snowbound for nearly a month." — Leigh Hunt, Autobiography, 2.318 (1814). Snug — Projection. "All snugs and hubs and hills shall be took away." — Bunyan, Holy City, 15.107 (1665). Soapberry — Kind of tree. "The sopeberry is properly a plum." — Philosophical Transactions, 17.621 (1693). Soft (drink) — Not alcoholic. So defined in Antrim and Down Glossary. Soft Soap — Flattery. "A little soft soap will go a long way with him." — Tom Brown at Oxford, 2)2) (1861). SoG — Lethargy. Defined in West Cornwall Glossary. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS IQj So Long — Good-bye. Clapin says this is "an English provincialism." Some — Somewhat. "My well beloved is some kinder than ordinary." — Rutherford, Letters, 1.172 (1636). Soon — Early, as in phrase "soon in the morning." The identical phrase quoted may be found in Clough's "Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich," and may be traced back, with slight variations, to British writers of the 17th, 16th, and even the 14th, Cen- turies. SopSYViNE — Kind of apple. Corruption (through Sopsywine) of Sops-in- wine, which is as old as Tusser, "Husbandry," 96 (1573). Sot — Preterite and past participle of sit and set. In each case, survival of obsolete British use, and in each case still provincial in Great Britain. SOURKROUT. Merely misspelling of the old German sauer- kraut, which word was brought to us, just as we have it in pronunciation, by immigrants. Souse — Preparation of certain parts of the pig. Murray gives citations as far back as the 14th Century. Southerner. "Have I told you of the inconsistencies of these south- erners?" — Newman, Letters, 1.394 (1833), 196 american english Southron. "Wallace aft bure the gree frae Suthron billies." — Burns, to William Simpson, 10 (1785). SozzLE — To splash. Defined in Moor's "Suffolk Words" (1823), Cooper's Sussex Glossary (1836) and Robinson's Whitby Glossary (1876). Span (of horses) — Pair. A good Dutch word, brought to this country, exactly as they had used it abroad, by immigrants from Holland. Span Clean — Very clean. Chaucer has "span new" (Troylus, 3, 1665), being clearly the same use of span. Spanner — Kind of wrench. Occurs in many British works on mechanical subjects, from 1790 down. Spare Room — Chamber reserved for guests. "My intention is to have only two spare bedrooms." — Scott, in Lockhart, 2.11.361 (1811). Spat — A blow. Defined in Halliwell as a Kentish provincial- ism. Specie — Species (the latter word being supposed to be plural, same error as shay for chaise). "A list of each respective specie." — London Gazette, 4874 (1711). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS I97 Speck — Trifling quantity. Occurs in Fenner's paraphrase of Solomon's Song, 1.11 (1587) where the A. V. has studs. Specs — Spectacles. "Wi' specs on his nose." — Hogg, Mountain Bard (1807). Spell — To take one's turn at work. "Every gentleman taking their turns to row at to spell one the other at the hour's end." — Raleigh, Guiana, 44 (1595). Spending-Money. "Allowing them little spending-money." — Bernard's Terence, Heauton Timorumenos, 1.1 (1598). Spile — Pile. Occurs in Douglas' "^neid," 9.10.20 (1513). Spittoon. The earliest known appearance of this word is in a St. Louis paper of 1840. But Dickens used it in "Barnaby Rudge," chap. 10, 1841. And Mrs. Gaskell used it in a letter descriptive of a visit at the Brontes' in 1853 — "a spittoon, if you know what that is," she wrote — which letter first appeared in Mr. Shorter's introduction to the Gaskell Life of Charlotte Bronte in the World's Classics edition of "Gaskell's Works." It seems almost certain that the term is of British origin. Splendiferous. "Great and splendiferous." — G. Ashby, Dicta Philo- sophica, 1031 (1460). 198 AMERICAN ENGLISH Splorum — Great and useless fuss. Merely variant of Burns' splore, as in "Holy Willie," 13 (1785). Splurge. Said to be old English; see Nation, 5.428 (1867). Spoils (of office). Occurs, in the singular number but in exactly the same sense, in the "Junius letters," 41.232 (1770). Spook — Ghost. A pure Dutch word, brought to this country by Hollanders. Sportsman — Gambler. "A sportsman? Yes; he plays at Whisk eight-and- forty hours together." — Farquhar, Beaux' Stratagem, 1.1 (1706). Spouty (land) — Full of springs. "I find it thrive in spouty ground." — Earl Haddington, Forest Trees, 6 (1705). Spread — Repast. "Spreads on the grass for the better sort of people." — Gentleman's Magazine, 92.1.31 (1822). Spread Eagle. According to Ellis, Early English Pronuncia- tion, 1.46, there was a Spread-Eagle Court in London in 1704. Spree — Carouse. Defined in Moor's Suffolk Glossary, EXOTIC AMERICANISMS IQQ Sprout — Twig. Murray gives citation of 1300. Spruce — Kind of tree. "For masts, those of Prussia, which we call spruce, are the hesV— Evelyn, Sylva, 22.103 (1670). Spruce Beer. "Many shall have more spruce beer in their bellies than wit in their heads." — Nashe, Prognostication, 11 (1591). Spruced Up — Well dressed. "Salmacis would not be seen till she had spruced up." — Anatomy of Melancholy, 3.2.4.1 (1621). Squaddy — Short and fat. "He was a fat, squaddy monk." — Rich, Greenes News G.3 (1593). Squail — To throw something so as to make it skim the ground. Davies has "Squail, to throw at cocks." Square — 1. Unqualified. "Fit to direct himself with the square rules of wis- dom:'— Lithgow, Travels, 5.199 (1632). 2. Open space at junction of streets, not neces- sarily square in form. So used in London from time immemorial. 3, In phrase "on the square," meaning truth- ful, honest. "She's a most triumphant lady if report be square to her." — Antony and Cleopatra, 2.2 (1608). 200 AMERICAN ENGLISH Squash — A vegetable. Only American in application to a particular plant. See "Twelfth Night," 1.5.166. Squatter — Settler on land to which he has no title. Possibly of American origin, but according to Stormonth an Australian term. Squeaky — Creaky. "The loud, squeaky voice." — Miss Yonge, Countess Kate, 12.133 (1862). Squeal — Betray a confederate. So defined in the (British) Slang Dictionary. Squib — Speak sarcastically or contemptuously, "For squibbing and declaiming against many arts." — G. Harvey, Letters, 1.80 (1579). Squinny — Broad laugh. The word occurs, though not precisely in this signification, in various English glossaries. Stag — Rascal, ready to lie for a consideration. "Queer bail are stag, men hired at a guinea or two to swear they are worth vast sums." — Jon Bee, Dictionary of Turf (1823). Stag Party — One consisting exclusively of men. "Stag," in the sense of male, is traced back by Murray to the beginning of the 17th Century. Stale — Handle. Used to translate the Latin ansa in "Sidonius Glosses" (1200). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 20 1 Stanchel — Stanchion. Occurs in Register of Privy Council of Scot- land, 4.95 (1586). Stand in Hand — Behoove, concern. "It stands him in hand to be careful." "I take no reward of other men's case, but only of my own, that stand me most in hand." — Beryn, 3173 (1400). Star — Popular performer. "The little stars, who hid their diminished rays in his (Garrick's) presence, began to abuse him." — Warner, Selwyn, 4.30 (1779). Statehouse — Capitol. "Pacuvius locked the senators within the statehouse." — Raleigh, History of World, 2.23 A (1614). Stateroom (on ship). "The glance thrown round the little staterooms" (on packet that took her across the sea). — Mrs. Trollope, Man- ners of Americans, 34 (1832). Station House — Place of temporary confinement. "Tell them of hunger, the station house and the pawn- broker's." — Dickens, Newgate (1836). Stay-at-Home — Fond of domestic life. "The alarm pictured by stay-at-home travellers." — G. Pinckhard, West Indies, 3.342 (1806). Step-Ladder. "Step-ladders were fixed against the wall." — History of New Forest, 49 (1751). Stick — ^Log. Murray has a citation of the year 1200. 202 AMERICAN ENGLISH Stick-in-the-Mud — Slow, inert man. May have originated in the United States, but occurs in "Tom Brown at Oxford," chap. 10. Stinkard. "Out, thou stinkard, man's grand enemy." — Timon, 12.6 (1600). Stinkstone. "Stinkstone color is wood brown." — Jamieson, Mineral- ogy, 1.521 (1804). Stinkweed. "Farmers have given it the name of stinkweed." — Old Country Words (1793). Stitch — To form land into ridges. "They were run through with the potato harrow and made flat before they could be stitched up again." — Trans. Society of Arts, 23.31 (1805). Stive — To make hot, sultry. Halliwell has "stived, baked hard." Stock — To supply a farm with necessities. "He has bought the great farm and stocked it." — Fletcher, Prophetess, 5.3 (1622). Stock (short for live stock) — Cattle. "It is convenient that he rear two sow calves to uphold his stock." — Fitzherbert, Husbandry, 39 (1523). Stock and Fluke — Including everything. "The owner of the estate bought it stock and fluke." — Cobbeit, Rural Rides, 2.5 (1825). Stocking Feet — Without shoes. "This phrase," says Davies, "is not peculiar to Scot- land," implying that it is common in that country. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 203 Stocky — Short and stout. Listed by Halliwell as a West-of-England pro- vincialism. Stomp — Mispronunciation of stamp. "In gallant procession the priests mean to stomp." — Browning, Englishman in Italy, 272 (1845). Stoop — Steps at entrance of a house. A pure Dutch word. Stop — Remain for a while. "They wanted her to let Miss stop with them." — Ben- nett, Beggar Girl, 5.37 (1797). Store — Place where goods are sold, called in Eng- land a shop. Who ever heard the Army and Navy Stores in London called the Army and Navy shops ? Storm — To rain or snow. Murray says this use of the word is "now" peculiar to the United States, implying that it was formerly common in England. Stovepipe — Funnel. (The plants) "placed nearer or farther from the stove- pipes enjoy the degrees of warmth most agreeable to them." — Evelyn, Horticulture, 165 (1699). Stowaway — Clandestine passenger. "He had been seized as a stowaway." — Annual Regis- ter, 191 (1854). Strain — Sprain. "I am not able to ride, by reason of a strain." — Feuil- lerat, Revels of Queen Mary, 251 (1558). 204 AMERICAN ENGLISH Strand — 1. Landing place. Murray gives citation of 1205. 2. A fibre. "One of its strands is broken." — Falconer, Marine Dic- tionary (1815). Streak — 1. Vein or turn, applied to mental peculi- arities. "Broad streaks of folly now and then appear through the wisdom." — Annual Register, 32, 1762. 2. Layer, as in meat, fat and lean. "Marble having white streaks in it." — Higins, Junius' Nomenclature, 414 (1585). Stretch, in phrase "on a stretch," continuously. "So continued battering upon a stretch till five in the afternoon." — London Gazette, 2451.3 (1689). Strike — 1. Instrument with straight edge. "We have a strike to run over the mould, to make the bricks smooth." — Houghton, Improvement Husbandry, 2.6.188 (1683). 2. In phrase "by the strike," level measure. "Usage hath continued measure by heap, though some statutes order it by strike." — Jeake, Arithmetic, 70 (1674). Stuck Up — Haughty. "They are stuck-up gods and goddesses." — Edinburgh Review, L., 245 (1829). Stump — Part of tree remaining in ground after cut- ting. "Stump of a tree hewn down." — Promptorium Parvu- lorum, 481.1 (1440). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 20^ Stunner — Anything astounding. "Here was a new stunner." — Jane Eyre, 32) (1847). Stunning — Astounding. "A hubbub of stunning sounds." — Paradise Lost, 2.952 (1667). Stunt — An allotted task; a performance. Merely a variant of the old English stent, staint or stant, entered with many references in the (British) Dialectical Dictionary. Sub-Base — Mopboard, washboard. "(The screen) of St. Mark is open above the sub- base." — Pugin, Chancel Screens, 29 (1851). Sub-Treasurer. "The worthy sub-treasurer would have been puzzled." — Lamb, Elia, Old Benchers (1821). Sucker — 1. Tube for sucking. "The oil was separated from the water by means of a sucker." — Thomson, Organic Chemistry, 602 (1838). 2. A fish. The "sucker" or "suck fish," Remora, is de- scribed in the 1753 Supplement to Chambers' Cyclopedia. 3. Mean, low fellow; "sponger." "Flatterers of the king, suckers of his purse." — Hall, Chronicle, Henry VI, 151 (1548). Suicide, verb. "This new and barbarous form, having ob- tained considerable currency in America, has un- fortunately made its way to England," says 206 AMERICAN ENGLISH Farmer. There is nothing barbarous about using any English noun as a verb ; and the oldest known instance of such use of the noun suicide occurs in Lever's "O'Malley," 22.171, published nearly fifty years earlier than Farmer's citation from a St. Louis newspaper of 1888. Suit — "A set, a supply," says Thornton, instancing a suit of sails, a suit of curtains and so on. One of Murray's definitions is "a number of objects of the same kind or pattern intended to be used to- gether or forming a definite set," with citation of 1408, "a suit of trees." Sulky — Light two-wheeled vehicle. "A female in a sulky, pleased with having the whole vehicle to herself." — Connoisseur, 112 A (1756). Summarize. "We may summarize the natural sources of energy." — Sir W. Thomson, Nature, 244 (1881). Summons, verb. "He's come to summons us home." — Franck, North. Mem., 34 (1568). Sun Bonnet. "Bessie had put on her sun bonnet." — Miss Yonge, Stokesley Secret, 2 (1860). Sunshade — Parasol. "Pavonian canopy of azure held in manner of a sun- shade."— 5atZey, Festus, 506 (1852). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS lO"] SuPAWN — "Hasty pudding," cornmeal boiled soft. Possibly only special application of the Anglo- Saxon supan, soup. Supplejack. "He bestowed on me several stripes with a supplejack." — Roderick Random, 24 (1748). Sure — Surely. "Sure who hope in thee shall never suffer shame." — Sidney, Ps., 25.2 (1586). Surrogate. "Surrogate, a deputy." — Cowdrey's Dictionary (1604). Surveyor. "Searchers, controllers and surveyors of searches." — Rolls of Parliament, 5.54 (1442). Susceptible. "Blow with empty words the susceptible flame." — Prior, Henry and Emma, 5.19 (1709). Suspenders — Supports for trousers. Davies lists this as a British provincialism for "braces." Suspicion, verb. "Suspicioning of himself." — N. Ferrar, Considerations, 310 (1637). Swamp — Plunge into difficulties. Merely a metaphorical use of an old word, freely employed as a verb in England at least as early as the 17 th century. 2o8 AMERICAN ENGLISH Swash — Narrow sound. Defined in Phillips' "World of Words," 1706. Swat — Strike. "To swat a person's brains out." — Pegge, Derbicisms (1796). SwiNGLETREE — Singletree. "The horses must have a swingletree to hold the traces." — Fitzherbert, Husbandry, 15 (1523). Switch of a railroad track. "A stop to prevent the switch from flying out too far." —Curr, Coal Viewer, 27 (1797). Syren — Fog horn. "The syren, a new acoustical instrument." — Annual Reg- ister, 2.1364 (1820). Systemize — Systematize. "He continued to systemize what he thought worthy of his system." — W. Marshall, Minutes of Agriculture, Di- gest, 2 (1778). T Tabby Cat. "A devil in the shape of a tabby cat." — Congreve, Love for Love, 2.3 (1695). Tabernacle — Place of worship, differentiated from a church. "The Bishop of Lincoln preached in the tabernacle near Golden Square." — Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 19, 1693. Table — To lay on the table. "Provost Campbell's appeal was tabled." — Wodrow Correspondence, 3.245 (1726). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 209 Tacker — Small child. Defined in English Dialect Dictionary. Taffy — Kind of candy. Defined in Cheshire Glossary. Tag — Game played by touching. ''In Queen Mary's reign, tag was all the play." — Gen- tleman's Magazine, 8.80 (1738). Tailings — Refuse, culls. "For a bushel of best wheat they pay 7s., for first tail- ings 6s." — London Times, Aug. 24, 1846. Take Down — Humiliate. "She had spoken to Constance and taken her down." — Child Marriages, 1.12 (1562). Take Up — Arrest. "Though the sheriff have authority to take up all such stragglers." — Spenser, State of Ireland, Works, 679 (1596). Taking — Excitement. "Valens was in a sore taking." — Hanmer, Ecclesiastical History, 317 (1577). Talk — Conference. "They came to talks and night meetings." — Bale, Eng- lish Votaries, 2.88 (1550). Tangent in phrase "to fly off on a tangent." "Having twelve times described this circle, he flew off at a tangent." — Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, 219 (1771). Tangle-Leg — Intoxicating liquor. "Leg tangler" in the same sense occurs in Punch, July 26, 1862. 210 AMERICAN ENGLISH Tarnal — Eternal . Defined in Craven Glossary. Tarve — Turn, bend. "Apparently," says Murray, "the same as tarf,'' which word occurs in the "Rates of Customs" published 1545. Tavern — Drinking place, inn. "The tavern is the school of the devil." — Ayenhite of In- wit, 56 (1340). Team — Party acting together, as in a contest. "Hear me, my little team of villains." — Massinger and Dekker, Virgin Martyr, 4.2 (1622). Teetotally. Possibly of American invention, but the earliest known use is in 1832, only seven years before De Quincey used the word ("Roman Meals," "Works," 3.277), and it seems improbable that the English writer got it from the United States. Telephone. "Capt. Taylor's telephone instrument." — London Times, July 19, 1844. Tell — Saying, story. "I am at the end of my tell." — Walpole, Letter to Mann, July 29, 1742. Tell Good-Bye. One of Murray's definitions of tell is "to utter, say over, recite, say," with citations from the 14th Century. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 211 Tend — Attend. Defined in Halliwell. Tenpins — Game of bowls. "To play at tenpins." — Rowlands, Letting Humor's Blood, 4.64 (1600). Terret — Ring holding rein; "turret." Defined, under spelling tyret, in Bailey (1724). That — So. "I was that tired." "If I had been that unhappy as to have such a foolish thing."— Russell, Haigs, 7.160 (1616). Thereaway — In that region. "There be few wars thereaway." — R. Robinson, More's Utopia, 2.253 (1551). Thirds — Widow's dower. "The wife was defrauded of her thirds." — Bacon, Use of Law, Works, 1.585 (1596). Thrash Round. "(A whale) thrashed and rolled about in agony." — Scoresby, Whaleman's Adventures, 5.74 (1850). Thrip — Petty coin. Obviously means threepence. "Threpps" is so defined in Dictionary of Canting Crew (1700). Throw Up — Vomit. "Judge of the cause by the substances which the pa- tient throws up." — Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 3 (1732). Thwart — Seat in rowboat. Defined in Bailey (1736). Tidy — Protecting cover for furniture. Defined, in sense only slightly different, as "a 212 AMERICAN ENGLISH light outer covering worn by children to keep their clothes from dirt," in Forby's "East Anglia Vo- cabulary" (1825). Tidy Up — Put in order. "I mean to have it tidied up this summer." — Miss Mit- ford, in L' Estrange Life, 2.127 (1821). Tie — Equal number on each side; match. "If each win a trick, and the third tied, neither win." — Cotton, Gamester, 15.93 (1680). Tie — Bar holding railroad track; "sleeper." Only special application of word used in Eng- land for centuries in architectural writings. Tie Up — ^Make fast. "Death ties up my tongue." — Romeo and Juliet, 4.5.32 (1592). Tight — Drunk. "For the word drunk I find of slang equivalents half- seas-over, far gone, tight." — Household Words, Sept. 24, 1853. Tile— Hat. ^The boy threw up his tile." — Spirit of Public Journals, 55 (1823). Timber — ^Woodland. "Timber is part of the inheritance." — Blackstone, Com- mentaries, 2.18.6.281 (1766). Time in phrase "a good time." "I had as good a time as heart could wish." — Pepys' Diary, March 1, 1666. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 213 Tinker — Kind of fish. "Skate, blue skate and gray skate, tinker." — Yarrell, British Fishes, 2 All (1836), Tinner — Worker in tinned iron. Given in Cotgrave as translation of estaignier (1611). Tipple — Intoxicating liquor. "Of pleasant wine their tipple in they take." — Hall, Iliad, 10.165 (1581). TippYBOBS — The wealthy classes. I never heard the word; but tippy, meaning fine, is in Brockett. Tiptop — Summit; the very best. Defined in Moor's Suffolk Glossary. Tithing Man — Civil Officer. "Tithing man, the chief man of the free pledges." — Lambarde, Eirenarcha, 1.3 (1581). To misused for at or in. "I haven't been to Wash- ington for a year." Noticed in Halliwell as a Devonshire provin- cialism. TOADFISH. "The todefish will swell till it be like to burst."— Ca^^. Smith, Virginia, 15 (1612). Toddy — Alcoholic drink. "Excessive drinking of toddy." — Foster, English Fac- tories in India, 185 (1620). 214 american english Toe the Mark. Only slight variation of Marryat's "toe the line," "Peter Simple," 9 (1833). Tom Dog, Tom Turkey. Tom, meaning male, and long familiar in its most common combination, tomcat, is applied to various other animals and to birds in several glossaries of British dialects. Too Thin, said of subterfuge or pretence — Trans- parent. "This pretext was too thin to impose upon her lover." — Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, 26 (1751). Toot — Spree. Defined in glossary to "Shirrefs' Poems" (1790). ToPHET — Hell. Occurs frequently in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament. ToPSAWYER — Man of consequence. Defined in Grose as Norfolk slang. ToRTLE — ^Move like a turtle. Tortle is obsolete form of turtle; and the use of a noun as a verb has always been allowable in English. Tote — Total; all there is. "My bill, what is the tote?"— Foote, Cozeners, 3 (1774). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 21^ Touch — Get money from. "I am quite broke up; his grace has touched me for five hundred." — C. Johnston, Chrysal, 2.43 (1760). ToUCH-AND-Go. "We may taste it to bring on appetite, let it be but a touch and go." — Moufet and Bennet, Health's Improve- ment, 59 (1655). Touch-Me-Not — A plant. Given as synonym of cucumis asinimus in Gerarde's "Herbal," 2.327.76 (1597). Tow — That which is towed. Murray gives citation from one of Lord Nel- son's despatches, which speaks of "securing the masts and tow." Town — District, not implying houses. "By the name of a town, a manor may pass." — Coke on Littleton, 1.5 (1628). Townhouse — 1. House where public business is transacted. So used in England from the 16th Century. 2. A house in town. "I have no other town house." — Hook, Man of Many Friends, 1.284 (1825). Township. "To assess every township with the said hundreds." — Rolls of Parliament, 5.111 (1444). TowROW — Racket. Defined in Holderness Glossary. 2l6 AMERICAN ENGLISH Trace — Track or trail. "Men might well follow him by the trace." — Caxton, Sons of Aymon, 9.238 (1489). Track of railroad. "The width of each track (of the Surrey railway) is Sy2 ietV'—Rees, Cyclopedia, s. v. Canal (1805). Track — Trail, footsteps. "Might I find the track of his horse." — Malory, Ar- thur, 10.14.435 (1470). Trail — Track; mark where man or beast has passed. "This is an aspic's trail." — Antony and Cleopatra, 5.2.352 (1608). Trainers — Militia assembled for drill. Murray gives British citation of 1581. Training-Day. "As he passed by my window the last training-day." — Wycherley, Plaindealer, 2.1 (1676). Tramp — Strolling vagabond. Halliwell says this word in the sense given oc- curs in "various dialects" of England. De Quin- cey notes ("Confessions," 1.147) that it is used "in solemn acts of Parliament." Trampoos — To tramp. "I'd teach 'em to bring a gentleman's son tramboozing about the country."— O'X^efe, Wild Oats, 2.3 (1798). Transient — ^Lodger for only a day or two. This American use differs only very slightly from that of Sparks, "Primer of Devotions," 279 (1652). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 217 Traps — Clothing, baggage, goods. Defined in Halliwell. Trash — Leaves of sugarcane. Only special and natural application of an old term, used in England to signify rubbish since at least the middle of the 16th Century. Treat — Give refreshments, especially liquor. Murray gives citation of 1500. Davies defines "treating-house, a restaurant." Trimmings — Accessories, decorations. "Must this pomp, this attire, this beauty be the trim- mings?" — Long, Barclay's Argenis, 4.5.255 '(1625). Troll — Method of fishing. "Consider how God by his preachers trowleth for thee." — S. Gardiner, Book of Angling, 28 (1606). Trot Out — Bring forward. "His guest, to be trotted out before all the rest of the company." — Lytton, Alice, 7.3 (1838). Truck — Two wheeled vehicle for carrying goods. ' "Any truck or cart, sledge wagon, dray." — Hull Dock Act, 46 (1774). Trump used metaphorically. "The best intentions form all mankind's trump cards." — Byron, Don Juan, 8.25 (1822). Try On — Attempt. "Try on, to endeavor." — Lexicon Balatronicum (1811). Tumble or Tumble To — Understand. "The high words we call jawbreakers, and say we can't 2l8 AMERICAN ENGLISH tumble to that barrikin." — Mayhew, London Labor, 1.15 (1851). Turfman — Man fond of attending races. "I never was a turfman." — Sporting Magazine, 2.214 (1818). Turnip — Watch. "The turnip showed him he had not time to lose." — Verdant Green, 1.6 (1853). Turret Ship. "Turretted ships" are mentioned in Wliewell's History Inductive Sciences, 1.189 (1837). TuRTLER — Turtle catcher. "The Jamaica turtlers have such nets." — Dampier, Voyages, 1.395 (1679). Tussle — Contest. "We present Hugh Houghton for a tussle upon Ballive Cantrell." — Edinburgh Municipal Records, 1.232 (1629). Tyke — Troublesome child. Meant originally a dog, but was applied to per- sons as early as the 15th century. U Underpinning. Defined by Halliwell as pediment on which the frame of a house is placed. Unfeeling. "Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense." — Comedy of Errors, 2.1.103 (1593). EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 219 V Valinch — Liquor sampler. Defined (under valentia) in Moor's "Suffolk Words," 1823. Vendibility. "The vendibility of commodities." — Jeremy Taylor, Ductor, 4.1 (1660). Vendue — Auction. "Clothes purchased at a vendue." — Roderick Random, 36 (1748). w Weaken. "Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be not done." — Nehemiah, 6.9 {A. V., 1611). Well — Meaningless prefix to a sentence. "Then said Daniel unto him, 'Well, thou hast also lied.' " — Susanna, Apocryphal addition to Book of Dan- iel (1611). "Well, the delightful day will come." — Samuel Medley (1789). Occurs so frequently in Shakespeare that the references are not listed in the Cowden Clarke concordance. Freely used also by modern British writers — Beaconsfield, Emily Bronte, Anthony Trollope, Dickens, George Eliot, and others. It is about as much of an Americanism as is any imaginable use of the word guess. 220 AMERICAN ENGLISH Wheal — Swelling. Only a variant of Shakespeare's weal, as in ''Macbeth," 3.4.76 — "Ere human statute purged the gentle weal." Whelk — Sore, pustule. "His face is all bubuckles and whelks and knobs." — King Henry V ., 3.6.111 (1600). Wide Awake — On the alert. Possibly first used in America, but you will find it in "The Newcomes," chap. 20, and in "Sketches by Boz," Chap 10, Watkins Tuttle. In any event, there is nothing peculiar in using the phrase in the sense defined. WiDE-AwAKE — Kind of hat. "He has found a wide-awake cooler than an iron ket- tle." — Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Introduction (1856). Wisdom Tooth — ^Molar last to appear. "He's not cut his wisdom teeth yet." — Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, 21. Wolfish — Savage. "A western word," says Bart- lett. "Thy desires are wolfish." — Merchant of Venice, 4.1. 138. Woodsman. Only a variant of Shakespeare's woodman, "Measure for Measure," 4.3.174. Worrisome. Defined ("troublesome") by Davies. EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 221 WuNST — Once. Characterized by a writer in Harper's Monthly (66.665) as a Sussex provincialism. Y Yank — Jerk. Skeat says this word "was carried from the north of England or Scotland to America." Yellow Jack — Yellow fever. "His elder brother died of yellow-jack in the West In- dies."— Dombey & Son, 10 (1847). SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE Our British critic, Mr. Whibley, whose statement to the effect that only three words generally counted as Americanisms are really of old English origin is quoted at the head of this chapter, adds some other remarks ("American Sketches," page 215) which it seems more convenient to treat separately. They are these : "That a country which makes a constant boast of its prac- tical intelligence should delight in long, flat, cumbrous collec- tions of syllables such as locate, operate, antagonize, transpor- tation, commutation and proposition, is an irony of civilization. These words, if words they may be called, are hideous to the eye, offensive to the ear, and inexpressive to the mind. They are the base coins of language. They are put upon the street fresh from some smasher's den." L 222 AMERICAN ENGLISH It will be observed that Mr. Whibley raises no point about any American misuse of any of these "collec- tions of syllables" ; his objection is to our using them at all, and rests on his supposing that they are very recently invented (invented by Americans, he seems to think, but that is not material) and that they have no sort of authority in their favor; he questions whether they should be called English words! The fact is, every one of them has been in use in Eng- land for decades, all but one of them for centuries. That one is transportation, which may not be older than 1776, but certainly appeared in that year in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," Book 1, Chap. 11. Locate occurs in Lord Stair's "Institutions of the Laws of Scotland," 1.15 (1681), antagonize in Sir Thomas Herbert's "Travels," 211 (1634), operate in "Troilus and Cressida," 5.3.108 (1606), commu- tation in Hawes' "Pastime of Pleasure," 10.5 (1509), proposition in Wyclif's "Exodus," 25.30 (1382). They have been used in England, without falling at all into disfavor, ever since the dates given, down to the present time, as quotations of the present century could easily be given to prove. The fact that Mr. Whibley seems to have taken a queer and inexplicable dislike to them, is really of no sort of consequence to anybody but perhaps himself. A case of similar blundering is to be found on page 24 of the Messrs. Fowler's "The King's English," where the reader is exhorted to make "a very firm EXOTIC AMERICANISMS 223 stand" against three "American verbs" that illustrate the "barbaric taste" that prevails in the United States. These dreadful American inventions are placate, which was used by Cudworth, in "Intellectual Sys- tem," 1.4, published in 1678; antagonize, which is defined in Bailey's Dictionary, 1742; and transpire, for which Murray gives a string of citations, running in date from 1597 to 1908. It really does appear, as some writer has expressed it, that when an Eng- lishman dislikes a word, he is very likely to call it an Americanism and think that settles it. CHAPTER FOUR SOME REAL AMERICANISMS "And you may have a pretty considerable good sort of a feeble notion that it don't fit nohow; and that it ain't calcu- lated to make you smart overmuch; and that you don't feel special bright, and by no means first rate, and not at all tonguey; and that, however rowdy you may be by natur', it does use you up com-plete, and that's a fact; and makes you quake considerable, and disposed toe damn the engine — all which phrases, I beg to add, are pure Americanisms of the first water." — Charles Dickens, Letter to John Forster. The present writer is not quite old enough to re- member the time of the great English novelist's first visit to the United States; and therefore cannot bear personal testimony to the language of the Americans of that period ; but he has been interested in colloquial speech, and the use of words in general, for over fifty years, taking careful notice of verbal, especially oral, peculiarities in many parts of this country and among all sorts and conditions of people ; and he can honestly say that the above elegant extract contains only one probably American error that he believes himself ever to have heard — the pronouncing long the i in engine. He recalls hearing one of his schoolmates so speak the word, somewhere back in the fifties; and recalls , 224 SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 225 also the unmannerly guffaw of laughter with which the mispronunciation was greeted, not one of the boys in the group, except the speaker, having ever heard it before. He never in his life heard anybody pro- nounce the sign of the infinitive like toe; and he never heard the word rowdy used by anybody except to desig- nate a ruffian. The don't with subject in the singular (used more than once by Dickens himself), the dou- ble negative, the adjectives for adverbs, the cacopha- nous aint, the mispronunciation natur' (reprobated by Walker as long ago as 1791) are surely one and all quite as common on the other side of the sea as they are here, always have been so, and are of no great consequence in any case, being simply faults of speech characteristic of the vulgar, in whatever country they may be heard. As for tonguey, it occurs in Wyclif's "Ecclesiasticus," 8.4 — "strive not with a man that is tonguey," a translation completed almost a century before Columbus was born, and made by a scholar who ranks as the father of English prose. So much for one discovery of a batch of "Americanisms of the first water." But that is not to say that such things do not exist. Here is a list, with briefest possible definitions (or none at all, if the meaning is unmistakable) of about 1900 of them,^ words and phrases that appear for the most part to be genuine Americanisms, which is to say that each of them, so far as known, either (1) 1 Which may be thought a large number; but please see p. 28. 226 AMERICAN ENGLISH originated in America and expresses something that the British have always expressed differently if they have mentioned it at all, or else (2) would convey to a British ear a different meaning from that which it bears in this country. This list, and the list of exotic (and therefore pseudo-) Americanisms which precedes it, account for all words of any importance that are dealt with by Pickering, Bartlett, Farmer, Clapin and Thornton; and included in the list now to be presented are also a considerable number of terms that escaped the attention of the compilers named or have come into use since the publication of their books. The date given is that of the earliest known appearance of the word or phrase in print. When an initial is given instead of a date, it indicates that the word is catalogued by the compiler referred to, and therefore must be older than his book; "P" standing for Pickering (1816), "B" for Bartlett (1877), "F" for Farmer (1889), ''C" for Clapin (1902), "T" for Thornton (1912). In some cases where the present writer, though unable to offer evi- dence, is quite sure that the word is much older than the oldest recorded date, the initial is used, even thought dates may be given by the compiler indicated. This is especially the case with Farmer, most of whose citations bear one single date, 1888. The initial "T" occurs very seldom, for the reason that Thornton dates all his citations and has been wonderfully successful in tracing his words far back into American antiquity. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 227 *'B" on the other hand appears continually, very few of Bartlett's citations bearing date, as the historical method of quoting had not come into use in his time. Excluded from both lists, except for special reasons in special cases (and the writer is well aware of the difficulty of preserving consistency in the matter) are: 1. Words and phrases stated by the previous com- piler himself to be of foreign origin, like Farmer's hand-me-downs, second-hand or ready-made gar- ments, a term said by him to be "slang in England" but "colloquial in the United States"; 2. Names of things exclusively American but known abroad under the same name, such as moccasin, it being as absurd to call these words Americanisms as it would be to call rajah an Indianism or boomerang an Australianism ; 3. Names of things invented in the United States, like drawing-room car — inventors have certainly the right to name their products, and if the English choose to call them something else, that change cannot make any sort of ism of the original appellation; 4. Words used in this country in a sense hardly dis- tinguishable from that which they bear in England, like force for a gang of laborers, counted by Farmer as an Americanism because the term is restricted in England to a party of soldiers or policemen ; 5. Nonce words, like Mark Twain's cavalier ess, probably never used by anybody but the inventor and 228 AMERICAN ENGLISH perhaps only once by him, such vocables forming no part of the language; 6. Perfectly regular and self-explanatory com- pounds, like office-holder in Bartlett, planing-machine in Farmer, ink-slinger in Clapin and fly-time in Thornton; and finally, 7. Purely technical terms, often hard to distin- guish from slang, like many of those used in news- paper accounts of base-ball matches, terms quite as unintelligible to Americans, except those specially in- terested in the game, as they can possibly be to any Englishman. Abergoins — Aborigines, B. Aboard a land vehicle, F. Abolitiondom — The Free States, 1848. Abolitionist, 1790. Abolitionize, B. Aboriginal — Original, F. Above One's Bend, B. Above Snakes — Above the ground, B. Abrasive, 1823. Abskise — To depart, C. Absquatulate — To depart in haste, 1833. Abutter — Owner of adjoining property, 1874. Acknowledge the Corn — Make an admission, 1828. Across Lots, 1825. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 229 AcRUFFS — River thieves, F. ACCUMULATIVES, C. Adobes — Sun-baked bricks, 1834, Adventism and Adventist, B. Affiliations — Friendly relations, 1822. Africanize and Africanization, B. After — Afternoon, C. Agaze — Astonished, F. Age — First hand in poker, C. Ague pronounced to rhyme with plague, B. Air-line — Direct route, 1840. Albany Beef — Sturgeon, B. Albany Hemp — Canada nettle, B. Albany Regency — An old political cabal, B. Alewife — Kind of fish, 1678. Algerine — Pirate, 1844. Algic — Pertaining to Algonquin Indians, B. Alienism, P. Alkali Desert, B. All Any More — All gone, B. All-a-Setting — In good condition, B. All-Day — Steady, strong, B. All Hollow — Completely, B. Allottee, F. All-possessed — "Affected by evil spirits," B. All Sorts — Mixed odds and ends of drinks, B. All Sorts Of — Excellent, capital, B. All the Go, All the Rage — Very popular, C. All the Time — Continually, repeatedly. 230 AMERICAN ENGLISH All Two— Both, B. Allot Upon — Intend, P. Allow — Intend; "I allow to go (or allot upon going) home to-morrow." Alter — Castrate, F. Ambia — Expectorated tobacco juice, B. Ambition — Grudge, B. Ambitious — Angry, 1837. Ambuscade — Quarrel, C. Americanism, P. Americanize, 1802. Among — Between, referring to two, B. Among the Missing — Disappeared, B. And the Rise — More than stated, C. Angel — Patron of a show or an actress. Angeliferous — Highly delightful, F. (Perhaps a nonce word.) Angle Worm — Worm used for bait, C. Animule — Mule, F. Anog — Andiron, 1840. Ante — In game of poker, 1857. Antehumous — Before death, 1862. (From mis- take as to meaning of posthumous.) Anti-Bank — Opposed to central U. S. bank, 1862. Anti-Federalist — Extinct political party, 1788. Anti-Fogmatic — Euphemism for a drink of liquor, 1789. Anti-Masonry — Principles of extinct political party, B. some real americanisms 23 1 Anti-Negro, B. Anti-Rentism — Associated refusal, by tenants of old manorial estates around Albany, to pay rent to the patroon, 1846. Anti-Slavery, B. Anti-Southern, 1861. Anti-Union — Favoring the rebellion of 1861. Anything Else — "Hyperbolical phrase denoting strong affirmation," B. Antony Over — Boys' game, F. Anxious Meeting — Religious assembly for repentant sinners, B. Anxious Seat — Seat for persons desiring the prayers of the meeting, 1835. Apartment — Apartment house. Apishamore — Bed or saddle blanket, B. Appetitical — Inviting to the appetite, 1855. Apple Brandy, B. Apple Butter, 1832. Apple Leather, B. Apple Peeling — Party for peeling apples, 1871. Apple Toddy, 1809. Appreciate — To rise or raise in value, 1779. Appreciation — Increase in value, P. Arab in "street Arab" — Ragamuffin, B. Arctics — Heavy overshoes, F. Arkansas Toothpick — Bowie knife, B. Armory — Place where arms are manufactured, B. Arm-Shop — Gunsmith's establishment, F, 232 AMERICAN ENGLISH Around — Near, as in phrase, "I was standing around," B. Arrow — Flavor of sugarcane, F, Arter — Mispronunciation of after, F. Ary — E'er a, any, 1852. AscoTCH — Wet gunpowder, B. As Good As — Might as well, as in phrase, "I'd as good's go to New York," B. As Long As — Because, since, B. Ash Cake — Cake baked in ashes, 1839. Ashlanders — Baltimore rowdies, B. Assemblyman — Member of lower house of legisla- ture, B. Associational — Relating to an association, 1815. AssociATiONiST — Member of an association, B. Asterism — Asterisk, 1796. At, verb — to go at, to attack, "I at him," B. At Auction instead of "by auction," B. At (instead of in) the North or South, B. At That — Phrase used to emphasize a statement, 1830. Attleborough — Sham jewelry, F. Available and Availability, as applied to a person who is under consideration for nomination to an office, and meaning, not at all that he will con- sent to run, but that it is expedient to name him. Many men, highly available in the proper sense of the word, are not at all available in the sense in which it is often used in this country; you can SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 233 get them easily enough, but you don't want them. Thus used, the two words are, I believe, genuine (and very bad) Americanisms. They date in print from 1848. Avalanche — Ambulance, B. B Babes — Baltimore rowdies, B. Back — Ago, B. Back a Letter — Direct it, B. Back a Note or Check — Endorse it, C. Back Country — That remote from main highways, B. Back Down — Retreat, B. Back Furrow — ^Method of plowing, B. Back Log of an open fire, 1684. Back Setting — Method of plowing, B. Back Talk — Reply, C. Back Track, to take — To retrace one's steps, 1802. Back Water — To retreat, metaphorically speaking, to retract one's words, B. Backwoods — Forest, country thinly populated, 1768. Bait — Fulcrum, F. Baker — Portable oven, 1841. Bake-Shop — Baker's establishment, 1862. Balance — Remainder, P. Bald-Face (whiskey), 1840. Ball Up — Fail or cause to fail, confuse, F. 234 AMERICAN ENGLISH Ballyhack — Imaginary place of discomfort to which the speaker would like to send somebody, 1845. Ballyrag — Revile, F. Bang — Hair cut straight across forehead, 1880. Banco — Negro expletive of uncertain (or no) mean- ing, B. Banker — Fishing craft, B. Bank Sneak — Person who steals from a bank, 1888. Banter — Challenge, 1793. Barberize — Perform duties of barber, B. Barn for stable — Place where animals are kept, but not hay, grain or other crops except in small quantities and incidentally, C. Barrack — Open structure for storing hay, B. Barraclade — Kind of blanket, B. Barracoon — Slave house, B. Bartender, B.-^rkeeper — Person who sells drinks in barroom. Bat — Spree, drunken carousal, 1848. Bayou — Arm of watercourse, 1812. Beach-Comber — 1. Wave striking the shore. 2. Person living near shore, with connotation of his being disreputable, generally criminal. Bead, to draw — To take aim, 1873. Beat — Excelling everything else of the same kind; "I never saw the beat of that"; 1847. Beat or Dead Beat — Mean cheat, bilk. Beat Out — Very tired, B. Bedspread — Coverlet, counterpane, F, SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 235 Bee — A meeting to help a neighbor in his work, 1769. Bee Gum — Kind of hive, 1835. Behindments — Arrearages, B. Belittle, P. Bell Hop — Bell boy in hotel. Belt — Kill tree by girdling it, F. Bent — Part of a building that should not bend, C. Bestowment — Giving, P. Betty — Kind of flask, B. Biff — A blow, C. Big in metaphorical sense — Great, fine, excellent, B. BiGGiTY — Consequential, F. Big-Head — Disease in cattle, undue sense of impor- tance in man. Billion — A thousand million, 1840. Very sensible change (and supported by French usage) from the English way of understanding billion as a million million, and therefore almost negativing the use of the word by applying it to a number so enormous as to be scarcely ever referred to in ordinary life, whereas we deal constantly with the American billion and find the term very conven- ient. There seems to be no more reason for call- ing our billion "a thousand million" than for calling a million "a thousand thousand." Bindery — Place where books are bound, B. Bishop — ^Lady's bustle, 1790. Bislings — First milk of cow after calving, C. Bit — A small coin, 1683. 236 AMERICAN ENGLISH Blacksnake — Kind of whip, 1869. Blamed — Damned, B. Blankety — Euphemism for any profane word the reader chooses to suppose. Blatherskite — Loud, vapid talk, F. Blatt — "To talk with noisy assurance and bluster," C. Blaze — Mark on tree, indicating trail, 1737. Bleachers — Uncovered seats at open-air functions, T. Blickey — Tin pail, B. Blind — Term in poker, F. Blinders for horses — The English blinkers, 1809, Blizzard — Violent storm, with snow and great cold, 1834. Bloated (eels) — Skinned and eviscerated, B. Block — Space between streets; row of buildings all in contact, 1796. In the former sense, equiva- lent to square as used in some places. Blood Tubs — Baltimore rowdies, 1861. Bloomer Costume, 1851. Blow^er — Iron sheet in front of fire, to increase draft, 1795. Blow^hard — Braggart, 1855. Blow Up — To berate, B. Bluebacks — "Confederate" bills, B. Bluelights — Traitors, 1812. Blue Pill— Bullet, 1861. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 237 Bluff — Putting on bold face, having weak cause, 1850. Blummechies — Kind of flowers, B. Blummies — Flowers, B. BoATABLE — Navigable, 1683. Bob — Kind of bait, B. Bob Sled — Sled supported by what may be called shorter sleds under it, B. Bob (veal) — Immature, unfit for eating, F. BocKEY — Vessel made from gourd, B. BoDACiousLY — Bodily, 1833. Body Bolt of wagon, B. Bogus — Imitation, 1827. Bolt — Desert one's party, 1812. BoMBO — North Carolina animal, B. Bonanza — Lucky hit, 1847. Bone — Tip to customs-house officer ; dollar. Bone — To apply one's self, B. BoNEYARD — Cemetery, F. Boodle— 1. All; ''the whole kit and boodle," 1833. 2. Money, particularly if dishonestly obtained, 1858. Bookstore, 1796. Boom — Sudden increase in popularity. Boost — To lift from below, 1825. Boot — To kick, B. Bootlick — Toady, B. BoRNiNG Ground — ^Native soil, B. 238 AMERICAN ENGLISH Bosom of a shirt, C. Boss — Employer or director, 1806. Bothersome — Vexatious, B. Bounce — To throw out or discharge a person, B. Bounty Jumper — Soldier who deserts after receiv- ing bounty, B. Bourbon — 1. Kind of whiskey, 1857. 2. Deter- mined Democrat, whom nothing can change, 1859. Bower — Knave of trumps and the other knave of same color, in euchre, B. Box — 1. Boat for duck shooting, B. 2. Incision in tree to collect turpentine, B. Box Car — Closed car, 1862. Box Coat — Heavy overcoat, B. Brace Up or Take a Brace — Pull one's self to- gether, C. Branch — Brook, 1817. Brave — Indian warrior, B. Breadstuff — Edible grain, 1793. Break — 1. Sale of tobacco, B. 2. Bad blunder, C. Breakback — Kind of roof, B. Breakbone Fever — 1862. Breakdown — 1. Riotous dance, B. 2. Dead fail- ure, 1877. Bred (said of female animal)— Impregnated, served, covered. Brick in the Hat — Drunk, 1848. Brill — Burr left on edge of cut metal, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 239 Briticism, 1882. This has been criticized as incor- rectly formed, there being no such word as Britic. It however follows the analogy of Scotticism, used by Defoe (1717), Wesley (1772), and Leigh Hunt (1815). See p. 42. Britisher, 1843. Broadhorn — Kind of boat, F. Brogues — Breeches, 1809. Broncho — Native California horse, 1878. Brotus or Brottus — Small gift to customer, lagniappe, B. Broughtens Up — Breeding, education, B. Brung — Brought, 1835. Bub or Bubby — Little boy, F. Buccaneer — Long musket, B. Buck — 1. Male sheep, ram. 2. Stand on which wood is sawed for fuel, B. 3. Dollar, commonly without inflection for the plural, "two buck" meaning two dollars. BucKBOARD — Kind of wagon, 1839. Bucket — Pail, B. Bucket Shop — Office where stock transactions for customers are not actually made, though sup- posed to be, 1881. Buck Fever — Agitation of inexperienced deer hun- ter, B. Buck Shot — ^Large shot, used for deer, B. Buckskin — Persons wearing deer-skin garments, 1755. 240 AMERICAN ENGLISH BucKTAiLS — Extinct political party, 1851. Buffalo — Bison, B. Buffalo Robe — Rug made of bison-skin, B. Bulge, to get — To get the better of one, 1860. Bulger — Something very big, B. Bull Boat — One made of ox-hides, B. Bulldoze — To intimidate or bully, 1876. Bull Plow, C. Bull's Eye — Thick and heavy watch, B. BuLLVi^HACKER — Driver of oxen, 1859. Bum or Bummer — Loafer, 1856. Bumper of railroad car — What is called buffer in England, B. Bun — ^Load of liquor; jag. Bunch — To gather together, B. Bunco — To cheat, F. Buncombe — Insincere nonsense, meant to be taken seriously, 1791. Bundle, said of a man and a woman — To occupy the same bed, fully dressed, and without conno- tation of their engaging in really reprehensible proceedings, 1781. Bungay — Hell, B. Bunco — Kind of boat, B. Bungtown Copper — Spurious halfpenny, 1840. Bunker — Kind of fish, B. Burdensome — Capable of carrying cargo, 1763. BuRGALL — Kind of fish, B. Burgle or Burglarize — To commit burglary. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 24I Bushwhacker — 1. Countryman, B. 2. Guerilla, 1864. 3. Scythe, sickle or similar implement, B. Buster — 1. Obstreperous person, B. 2. Spree, B. Butt — To oppose, B. Butte — Detached and steep hill, 1838. Butter-Fingered — "Said of person whose powers of retaining an article in his grasp are not great," C. Butterine — Imitation butter, B. Butternut — "Confederate" soldier in rebellion of 1861. Buzz Saw — Circular saw, F. By and Again — Occasionally, B. By-Bidder — Bidder at auction who does not mean to buy, but only to raise the price, B. By Sun — Before sunset, B. C Cable — 1. Car drawn by cable. 2. Message by sub- marine telegraph, 1871. Cablegram — Message by submarine telegraph, 1868. Caboodle — The whole lot, 1856. Cack — Small shoe, B. Cahoot — Combination, 1834. Call — Privilege of buying, before a specified date, a certain stock from a certain person at a specified price. 242 AMERICAN ENGLISH Calibogus — Kind of drink, 1792. Call Down — Reprove, scold, correct. Callithumpians — Party giving noisy burlesque of a serenade, B. Campaign — Contest for offices, B. Camphene — Oil formerly used in lamps, B. Campus of a college — Open field near buildings, 1833. Cannot or Can Only — for may not or may only, where the question is of right and not of power, as in phrase, "This wrapper cannot be used" for certain purposes, or "can only be used for certain purposes," meaning to lay down a rule and not to state an impossibility. (I have never seen this error listed as an Americanism, and hope to be shown that I am in error in believing it to be one; but such is my impression.) Canaille — Shorts, low grades of flour. Candidacy, 1861. Canebrake — Thicket of canes, 1787. Cane-Rush — Struggle for stick between two classes in college, C. Canon — Narrow passage between high and precipi' tous banks, 1834. Canuck — Canadian, 1855. Capper — By-bidder, as defined above, B. Caption — Title or heading, 1821. Car-House — Obsolete term for railroad station, C. (I think it not obsolete.) SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 243 Carpet-Bagger — Temporary resident, with implica- tion of contempt, 1857. Carriole — Sleigh, 1808. Carry — Portage, 1851. Carryall — 1. Vehicle, 1814. 2. Kind of traveling bag. Carrylog — Vehicle for moving timber. Case — 1. Peculiar character. 2. Vulgar name for favorite kind of traveling bag, called first a dress suit case, then a suit case, finally (by some peo- ple) simply a case. Casket— Coffin, 1879. Cat — To catch, or try to catch, catfish, C. Catawampous or Cataw^amptious — Various indefi- nite meanings, 1843. Catch-all — Miscellaneous receptacle, 1838. Catch On — Understand, 1884. Cat Boat — Boat with one mast near bow and one sail, B. Cat Haul — Punish by dragging fierce cat along the victim's naked back, 1816. Caucus — Informal preliminary political meeting, 1744. Cavendish — Preparation of tobacco, B. Cavort — Prance, 1834. Celestial — Chinaman, B. Cent — Hundredth part of a dollar, B. Chance — Quantity; "he lost a smart chance of blood," 1819. 244 AMERICAN ENGLISH Chaparral — Thicket, particularly of dwarf oak, B. Charlotte or Charlotte Russe — Fancy cake or pudding, 1793. Checkers — Game called in England draughts, P. Checks — Counters, B. Chemiloon — Combination undergarment for women, B. Chestnut — Hackneyed joke or story, 1882. Chin — Unprofitable chatter, B. Chince — A marble, B. Chinch or Chintz — Bedbug, 1705. Chinchbug — Insect infesting grain, B. Chink — Chinaman. Chip — Disc of ivory, bone or the like, used in games, C. Chip In — Contribute, join in, 1870. Chippy — Derogatory term for young woman, C. Chipmunk — Small squirrel, B. Chirivari — Noisy wedding serenade, B. Chitlins — Rags, B. Chock Up — Close, tight, said of physical things, B. Chompins — Chewed food, B. Chuck-a-Luck — A game, 1857. Chunk — Short-backed, solidly-built horse. (Mr. Thornton's definition, "a worthless horse," is one of the very few errors into which that careful and accurate writer has fallen.) Chunky — Short and thick, 1776. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 245 Churchism — Adherence to ecclesiastical system, 1768. Churchmaul — To discipline ecclesiastically, B. Cider Oil — Preparation of cider and honey, B. CiMLiN, Cymbling — Kind of squash, B. Cinch — Thing easily done. Cinch — 1. To put on the girth of a horse, 1872. 2. To fasten something securely, as a bargain. Citified, B. CiTizENizE — Make citizen of, 1811. Citron — Sweetmeat not made from citron, B. Claggy (bread) — Heavy, C. Claim — To assert, without demanding anything, B. (Used by some Northerners exactly as some Southerners use the antithetical word, allow.) Clamshell — Mouth, B. Clamtrap — Mouth, 1800. Clapmatch — Kind of sealskin, B. Clapmatch, Clockmutch — Woman's cap, B. Classy — Stylish, fine. Clatterments — Belongings, C. Clatterwhacking — Racket, B. Clawhammer — Long-tailed coat for evening wear, dress coat, swallow-tail, 1869. Clear (liquid) — Undiluted, though perhaps muddy in appearance, C. Clear Grit — Unalloyed, genuine, 1825. Clearing — ^Land from which trees have been cut, 1817. 246 AMERICAN ENGLISH Clear Out — Depart, 1824. Clingstone (peach) — Having flesh clinging to stone, B. Cling JOHN — Rye cake, B. Close Out — Sell the entire stock, C. Cloudburst — Sudden and violent storm, 1821. Clove — Narrow valley, C. Coast — Slide down hill, 1775. Coatee — Small, tight military coat, 1775. (I think, though I cannot prove, that this word is of Brit- ish origin.) Cob — Ear of corn after removal of grain, B. Cobbler — 1. A drink, 1855. 2. Kind of fruit pie, B. Cockarouse — Person of consequence, 1624. Cocktail — A drink, 1806. C. O. D. — Collect on delivery, B. Codding — Fishing for cod, B. Co-Ed — Female at school for both sexes, 1909. Coffin Boat — One used for duck-shooting, F. CoHEES — People of parts of Pennsylvania, from their use of the archaic "Quo' he," quoth he, B. Cold Slaw — Corruption of coleslaw, chopped cab- bage, 1794. Cold Sore — Eruption about mouth, B. COLLAPSITY, B. Collards — Colewort, kind of cabbage, 1818. Collect — Pond supplied only by rain, B. Collect — Obtain payment of a bill, C. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 247 Colored — Having negro blood, 1760. Come Down — Supply money, B, Come In (said of female animal) — Produce young. CoMPASSiVE — Compassionate, B. Complected — Having a certain complexion, 1839. Compliment — Gift, B. CoMPUS — Sane, compos mentis, B. Concededly, 1882. Concerned — Very greatly, B. Conductor or Train — The English "guard," 1839. Confectionery — Barroom, B. Confederate — Southern rebel of 1861. CoNFERREES — Persons who confer, F. Confidence Man — Plausible and tricky cheat. Congressional, P. Congressman — Member of House of Representatives as distinguished from Senator, though the Sen- ate is part of Congress. Coniacker, Koniacker — Counterfeiter of coin, B, Conk — Person living near seashore, with connotation of his being a wrecker, B. Conniption — ^Mild hysterics, 1833. CoNNUBiATE — Act with, F. Considerable — 1. A good deal; "he is considerable of a surveyor," 1816. 2. Very: "a body has to stir about considerable smart," B. CoNTESTEE — Contestant, F. Contraband — Negro, 1861. An American general called negro slaves contraband of war. 248 AMERICAN ENGLISH Convene — Be convenient for; "this road will con- vene the public," i. e., will (not bring together, but) be convenient for the public, P. Goodies — Extinct political party, 1814. Cooler — Jail, 1884. Coolly, Coulee — Gorge, ravine, B. Goon — 1. Raccoon, 1839. 2. Negro. Copperhead — Northern sympathizer with the rebel- lion. First known appearance of the word in this sense (it having been previously used only to designate a venomous snake) was in the Cin- cinnati Commercial of Oct. 1, 1862. CoRDELLE — Tow line, 1826. Corduroy Road — Causeway of logs laid together transversely over rough or swampy ground, B. Corn — Indian corn, maize, 1774. Slovenly contrac- tion, much like saying "stock" for "live stock," as if the cattle were any more part of the "stock" of a farm than are the plows. It may be worth noting that people who call live stock "stock" are pretty certain also to insert wholly unneces- sary and useless words in speaking of these ani- mals, by saying that they keep so many "head of" cattle or sheep or the like. Blunders in speech are very apt to be reciprocal, as one may say. CoRNjuiCE — Whiskey, B. Corn Trash — Husks or shucks of Indian corn. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 249 Corner — Get possession of the whole available sup- ply of a commodity or stock, 1841. CoRPOROSiTY — Abdomen, 1837. Corral — Enclosure for animals, 1845. CoTCH — Catch, negro mispronunciation, B. CouNCiLMANic — Pertaining to a councilman, 1861. Count — Terrapin or the like large enough to be sold by count instead of measure, C. Country Jake — Backwoodsman, B. County House — Almshouse, F. Couple — A few, but more than two, B. Cover a Short Sale — Buy stocks that one has sold without owning them, B. Cowcatcher — Safety device in front of locomotive, 1838. Cowlick — Bunch of hair running the wrong way, C. CowsKiN— Whip, 1789. Crab — Fast horse, 1848. Crab Lantern — Kind of pie, 1818. Crab Schooner — Kind of vessel, B. Crackajack — Adept, C. Cracker — Poor southern white, 1784. Cracklings — Cinders, B. Crack Loo — A game, B. Crack On — Put on, B. Crank — Eccentric person, 1840. Craps — A negroes' gambling game, F. Crawfish — Crayfish, 1823. 250 AMERICAN ENGLISH Crawm — Pile of rubbish, C. Crazybone — Point of elbow, "funnybone," B. Creamer — Apparatus for gathering cream. Creamery — Kind of dairy, B. Crease — Shoot animal in top of neck, startling him more than hurting him, 1807. Creek — Small stream, 1674. Creole — Native of the place, especially in New Or- leans, person chiefly of French (and having no smallest intermixture of African) blood. Crook — Habitual criminal, 1886. Crookneck — Kind of squash, 1801. Cropper — One who cultivates farm on shares, B. Cross Timber — Line of forest, B. Crotch — Fork of road or river, 1767. Crotchical — Crotchety, B. Crowd — A number of people either actually together or loosely associated by a common interest; a ^'push," 1834. Grower — Cock, B. Cruller — Fried cake, 1814. Crush — Foolishly exaggerated fondness for a per- son, C. Cry — Publish marriage banns, B. CuFEY — Negro, B. Curios — Curiosities, B. CuspiDORE — Spittoon, 1779. CussEDNESS — Perversity, 1866. (I believe the word to be much older than this date.) SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 25 1 CusswoRD — Profane oath, 1872. Custom-made (clothing) — Made to order, F. Cut — Absent one's self from prayers, lectures or the like, B. Cut and Dried — Arranged in advance, B. Cut Capers, Cut Didoes — Act in a frolicsome way. Cut Dirt— Run, 1833. Cut a Splurge — ^Make great display, B. Cut-off — 1. Shorter route than is usually followed, 1818. 2. New and shorter course of a river, 1830. Cut Round — Fly about, make display, B. Cut Under — Undersell, B. Cutter — Small sleigh, 1811. Cymbling — Cimlin, q. v. D Dago — Person of South European blood, 1832. Daisy, Dandy — Thing first-rate of its kind, F. Dare for may? "Dare we have a holiday?" C. Darky — Negro, 1775. Daydov^n — Sunset, C. Deacon — To cheat, in various applications, 1866. Deacon (calf) — Kill as soon as born, B. Deacon (hymn) — Read aloud, line by line, 1831. Dead Broke — Penniless, 1856. Deaden (tree) — Kill, B. Deadhead — Person who gets admission or transpor- tation gratis, 1849. 252 AMERICAN ENGLISH Dead Rabbits — New York rowdies, 1858. Decedent — Deceased person, B. Declension, Declination — Refusal, declining, P. Dehorn — Corruption of dishorn, F. Demote — Reverse of promote, 1909. Dengue — Kind of fever, 1828. Desperate — Very, C. Dicker — Haggle, bargain, barter, 1802. Dig — Hard student, 1837. Ding or Dinged — Damned, B. Dingbats — Money; anything used to spank with or to throw. Dingle — Storm door, C. Dip — 1. Pudding sauce, B. 2. Pickpocket. Dipper — Constellation Ursa Major, 1842. Dippy — Crazy. Dirt — Earth, not implying uncleanness, as in "dirt road," B. Dish Gravy — Juice of meat that follows carving. Ditty Bag — Sailor's housewife. Dive — Resort of the vilest character, 1882. Divide — Ridge of land from which streams flow in opposite directions, 1807. Dizzy — Giddy in metaphorical sense, wild, heedless, F. DoBBER — Float for fishline, B. Dock — Pier or wharf. Common newspaper blunder to say "a man jumped off the dock," meaning that he jumped into the dock. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 253 Docket — List of cases for trial, 1790. In England a docket is a list of judgments rendered. Dock WALLOPER — ^Loiterer around docks, B. Doctor — Cook on ship, 1821. DoD Rot It — Euphemistic oath, B. Dodger — 1. Kind of biscuit, 1834. 2. Small hand- bill, 1877. Dog — Promissory note, 1833. Thornton says this is obsolete, but I have heard it more than once within a year or two. Doggery — Low drinking place, 1835. Doings — Food, 1833. Do Me — Answer my purpose; such a thing "will do me," 1846. Donate — Give. (Donation is old English.) Done with past participle, "He's done gone," B. DoNOCK, DoRNiCK — Stone, 1840. Doodlebug — Kind of beetle, B. Doom — To tax, P. Double (house) — Having rooms on each side of en- trance hall, 1768. Double- Jaded, to ride — To ride with pillion, 1835. Double Ripper — Kind of sled, B. Dough — Money, 1851. Dough Head — Fool, B. Down Country — Seaboard, B. Dozy — Partly decayed, F. Draw — ^Movable part of drawbridge, 1786. Draw a Bead — Aim gun or pistol, B. 254 AMERICAN ENGLISH Dress Suit Case — Kind of traveling bag. Drink — Water in river, bay or lake, B. Driveway — Passage for vehicles, B. Driving Park — Racecourse, B. Drop in phrase "to get the drop on somebody" — To have him at your mercy, F. Drop Letter — Letter to person in same place, 1844. Drop Light — Gaslight swinging from chandelier or connected with it by flexible tube, T. Drudge — Raw whiskey, C. Drugstore — The "chemist's shop" of England, F. (But druggist is an old English word.) Dry — Having law prohibiting sale of intoxicants, as "a dry State." Dry Goods — Cloth and the like, 1777. Dry Up— Be silent, 1856. Dude — Person who thinks too much about his clothes, 1880 or earlier. Dumb Betty — Kind of washing machine, B. Dumbwaiter — Small elevator from kitchen to pan- try, 1864 (but in use much earlier). The dumb- waiter of old English writers was quite another thing. Dump — Throw down promiscuously, 1851. DuMPAGE — Privilege of dumping, B. DuNFiSH — Codfish cured in a special way, B, Dungaree — Kind of vessel, B. DuNKY — Awkwardly thick, B. Purned — Damned, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 2 ^ ^^ Duster — Overgarment to protect ordinary clothing from dust, 1864. Dutchman — Piece of wood or stone inserted to fill hollow, B. E East in phrase "about east" — In a lively way (prior to 1855). Earhoop — Earring, 1808. Earlock — Hair over ear, 1855. Eartab — Covering for ear, 1855. (I think older.) Eat— To feed, 1842. Ebenezer — Irascibility, 1836. Editorial — Article by the editor of the journal in which it appears. Electricute — Put to death by electric shock. Ell — Extension of building at right angles to main structure, T. Enthuse — Become, or make, enthusiastic, 1859. Very vulgar. Episcopize — Bring under bishop's authority, 1767. EscoPETTE — Kind of firearm, 1805. European Plan (hotel) — Charging separately for rooms and for meals, with rules rarely found in Europe, and formerly not found there at all. EvENER — Whiffletree, B. Evening — Afternoon, B. Heard only at the South. Eventuate — Occur, happen, work out, 1789. Everglades — Swampy grasslands, 1827. 256 AMERICAN ENGLISH Every Which Way — In all directions, F. Evincive — Indicative, 1806. Exchangeability, P. Exchanges — Periodicals received by publishers from other publishers, as distinguished from those paid for in money, 1848. Excursionist, B. Executive — Chief magistrate, 1787. Executive (session) — Secret, not implying executive business. Exercises — Proceedings at a meeting, 1830. ExFLUNCT — Demolish, 1832. Express — Rapid conveyance of merchandise or bag- gage by companies organized for that purpose, 1846. Faculate — Arrange, B. Fair — Exhibition, not primarily for making sales. Adopted in England ; the Westminster Review so used the word as long ago as 1881. Faker — Street vendor or performer; swindler, T. Falling Weather — Rainy period, B. Fallway — Opening in floor for hoisting goods through, B. Fan — Frequenter of athletic contests. Fantail — Sternwheel steamer, C. Fat (wood) — Resinous, 1808. Faze — Disturb, embarrass, 1845. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 257 Feast — Fastidious, B. Feather (said of cream) — ^Separate into flakes, 1816. Feature — Display something, F. Federalist — Extinct political party, P. Feel Like doing something — Feel inclined to do it, 1855. Fetch (a scream) — Utter, F. Fetching — Pretty, attractive. I doubt whether this piece of slang is of American origin. Miss Brad- don used it in "Asphodel," 27.297 (1881). Fetch Up — Stop suddenly, B. Fetterlock — Fetlock, B. F. F. V. — First families of Virginia. Fiat Money — Irredeemable paper currency, 1880. FiENDiSHMENT — Fiendish spirit. File — Cloth for washing floor, B. Fill — Embankment, 1850. Fillipeen, Philopena — Game with nuts having two kernels, 1857. Much older, I am sure. Findings — Small supplementary materials. Fire Away — Go ahead, B. Fire Bug — Incendiary, 1872. Fire Hunt — Hunting with light as decoy, 1826. Fish Story — Incredible statement, 1819. Fist in phrase "to make a fist" — To succeed or fail, according as it is "a good fist" or "a bad fist." Fix Up — Adjustment of difficulty, B. Fixings — Arrangements, embellishments, food, B. Fizzle — Ridiculous failure, 1847. 258 AMERICAN ENGLISH Flat — Without interest, 1841. Flats — Low lands, B. Flat Broke — Penniless, B. Flat Out — Collapse, B. Flatfooted — Downright, resolutely, 1846. Fleabitten (horse) — Dotted with specks, F. Float — Preliminary certificate of purchase of public land, 1837. Floats — Mineral in fine powder, T. Floater — Person who may vote either way, 1883. Floodwood — Driftwood, 1822. Floor in phrase "to have the floor," have right to speak, P. Floorwalker — Usher and overseer in a store, 1884 (I think older). Flowage — Quantity of flow, 1830. Flubdub — Vapid nonsense, F. Flume — Channel for water, 1792. Flunky — 1. Unsuccessful speculator, 1841. 2. Stu- dent who fails in recitation, 1859. Flush — Well supplied with money, 1840. Flutterwheel — Small waterwheel, B. Fly — Swamp, B. Flyer — Venture, speculation, 1870. FooFOO — Foolish fellow, B. Foot (a bill)— Pay it, 1844. Foot Hill — Hill at foot of mountain, 1873. Fork — Branch of road or river, 1753. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 2^9 Fork Over — Give or pay money, B. Fork Up — Pay, B. Forwarding Merchant — Dealer who receives goods for others and sends them elsewhere for sale, wholesaler, B. Fraggle — Rob, B. Frail — Beat, 1851. Frame House — Wooden house, 1784. Frame-up — Fraudulent evidence against innocent person. Freestone (peach) — Having pulp easily detached from stone, F. Freeze — Frosty weather, "cold snap," B. Freezer — Device for freezing liquid. (I think Bart- lett, Farmer and Clapin are wrong in defining "a refrigerator.") Freeze Out — Compel participant in an undertaking to retire, 1882. Freight — Goods carried by rail as well as by sea, 1813. French, Frenchy, Frenching — Terms indicating dislike. Frog — Iron plate joining two rails, 1860. Front Name — Given (or "Christian") name, B. Frosted — Frost-bitten, 1807. Frowchey — Furbelowed old woman, B. Fudge — Kind of candy, C. Full Chisel — At full speed, 1832, 260 AMERICAN ENGLISH FuNDUM — Sea bottom, B. Furore — Vogue, popular passion. Fyke — Kind of net, 1679. Gale — Semi-hysterical excitement, B. Gall — 1. Low land in Florida, 1776. 2. Impu- dence, cheek, 1891. Gam — Social visit, B. Gander P.arty — One of men only, B. Gang-Saw — Frame holding a number of saws paral- lel, 1821. Gangster — Member of a band of city rowdies. Ganty — Elegant, 1772. Gar or Alligator Gar — Kind of fish, 1765. Garden Truck — Vegetables for market, B. Gavel — Mallet used by chairman of meeting, B. Gawnicus — Simpleton, B. Gear Up — Harness, F. Gentile (among Mormons) — Persons not of the faith, B. German — Party for dancing the German cotillion, 1879. Gerrymander — Arrangement of political divisions to give unfair advantage to dominant party, 1811. Get Off (a speech) — Deliver, 1849. Get Round — Bamboozle, fool, trick, persuade, cajolCj B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 261 Get the Mitten — Have one's suit rejected, 1838. Get There — Succeed, C. Gibe, Jibe — 1. Bring sailboat into wind, 1791. 2. Harmonize with, 1857. GiGGiT — Convey rapidly, 1862. GiMBAL (jaw) — Loose and projecting, B. Gin Mill — Barroom, B. GiNGERSNAP — Thin, brittle cake, flavored with ginger. Girt — To have a certain girth or circumference, T. GiSM — Spirit, courage, B. Git (get) — Go, clear out, B. Git (to do anything) — Be permitted, B. Give Away — Betray, 1862. GiVY — Yielding to pressure, B. Glare (ice) — Very smooth, B. Go in phrase "make a go of it — Succeed, B. Goatee — Chin whisker, "imperial," 1847. Go Back on One — Desert, leave in lurch, 1868. Gobbler — Male turkey, 1800. Gobble Up — Remove thoroughly, as if by swallow- ing, 1861. Go By — Call on, stop at, P. Go For, Go in For — Favor, 1834. Go For — Attack vigorously, 1838. Go Off — Expire, 1856. Go Off — Beginning; "there may be blunders in the go-off," C. Go Through — 1. Go directly, without change, as in phrase, "this car goes through to Chicago," B. 262 AMERICAN ENGLISH 2. Examine person thoroughly and rob him of whatever the assailant wants, 1867. Go Under, Go Up — Fail completely, B. Golly — Euphemistic oath, B. GoMBO, Gumbo — A plant, and soup made from it, 1810. Gone Case, Gone Coon, Gone Gander, Gone Goose, Goner — Person in hopeless misfortune or fatally ill. Goneness — Sensation of weakness, 1853. GoNus — Stupid fellow, B. G. O. P. — Republican ("grand old") party, F. Goose — To repair boots, B. Goose Egg — Zero, failure, C. Gopher — Kind of turtle; mole, B. Gossamer — Thin waterproof cloak, F. Gospel Lot — Lot set aside for church, B. Gotham— New York City, 1800. Gouge — Cheat, fraud, robbery, 1845. Grab Bag, Grab Box — One containing trifles, from which a patron, paying a fee, may make selection by feeling, 1864. (I think older.) Gracious! — Equivalent of the French ejaculation "Mon Dieur B. Grade (cattle) — Formerly those of mixed blood, now restricted to those having thoroughbred blood on one side only, F. Grade — To reduce to even slopes, as a road or path, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 263 Grade (of a road) — Degree of ascent or descent, 1835. Graft — To repair boots, B. Graft — Dishonest gain, boodle, 1901. Grandacious, Grandiferous — Magnificent, B. Granger — Member of order of Patrons of Hus- bandry, farmer, B. Grannified — ^Like an aged person, B. Granny — Improperly tied knot, that will come loose, 1859. Gravy — Juice, B. Grayback — Louse; Confederate soldier in rebellion of 1861. Greaser — ^Mexican, 1849. Greasewood — A western plant, 1845. Greenback — United States bill, 1862. Greenbackers — Extinct political party favoring ir- redeemable paper currency, 1876. Green Goods — Counterfeit bills, F. Griffin, Griffe — Mulatto, B. The British griffin is a European newly arrived in India, corre- sponding to the new-chum of Australia and the tenderfoot of our own wild West, Grip, Gripsack — Traveling bag, 1880. Vulgar. Grist — Large number or quantity, 1833. Gritting — Grating dry grain into meal, B. Gritty — Courageous, determined, 1847. Grocery — Grocer's establishment, B. Groggery — Barroom of low class, 1824. 264 AMERICAN ENGLISH Grog Shop — Barroom, 1790. Ground Bridge — Corduroy road on bottom of stream to facilitate fording, B. Ground Hog — Woodchuck, 1789, Ground Hog Day — Candlemas, Feb. 2, B. Ground Nut, Ground Pea — Peanut, B. Ground Sluicing — Process of removing earth by stream of water, 1859. Group Meeting — Religious meeting running for some days under leaders serving in rotation, B. Grouty — 111 natured, 1836. Grow^ler — Vessel in which beer is carried from a bar room by a customer, to drink elsewhere, C. Grub Stake — Supplies furnished to prospectors in mining districts by men who are to share the profits, F. Guano — Birds' excrement and remains, used as land fertilizer, 1604. GuAVA — West Indian fruit, B. Gubernatorial — Pertaining to a governor, 1734. Guff— Empty talk, 1888. (I think older.) GuiDER — Guidon, B. Guinea Keet — Guinea fowl or egg, B. Gulch (originally kolch) — Deep ravine, 1832. Gum — Name of various southern trees. Gumbo — Kind of hard soil, 1835. Gums — India rubber overshoes, "rubbers," 1859. Gum a Saw — Punch out the teeth, B. Gum Game — Rascally trick, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 265 Gun — Pistol, recent vulgarism, as bad as the British way of using gun to designate the man that car- ries the weapon. Gunning a Stock — Depressing it, B. Gurry — Preparation of fish livers. Gush — Great abundance. Gusher — Freely flowing well, especially of oil, 1886. Guy— Make fun of, 1872. H Hackmatack — Larch tree, 1792. Hail From — Live at, B. Halfbreed — 1. Person of mixed blood, 1775. 2. Supporter of President Garfield in 1880. Half-Faced Camp — Kind of forest shelter, B. Half Jo — Portuguese coin, 1772. Half-Widow^ — Woman with shiftless husband, B. Hamfatter — Poor actor, barnstormer, F. Hand Dog — Andiron, B. Handglasses — Spectacles, so says Bartlett, but I think the word means small mirrors, that can be held in the hand. Handle — 1. To overcome opponent, B. 2. To deal in, 1888. Handw^rite — Handwriting, B. Hang of a Thing, to Get — To master it, learn how to do it, 1845. Hang-Bird — Oriole, 1851. 266 AMERICAN ENGLISH Hang 'Round — Loiter about, B. Hang Up — Trust for goods; get something on credit. Hannahill — Black sea bass, B. Hant — Ghost, F. Hard Case — Dissipated, worthless fellow, 1842. Hard (cider) — Fermented, intoxicating, 1840. Hard Coal, Soft Coal — Anthracite and bituminous respectively. Hardhack — A plant, B. Hard Money — Coin, F. Hardpan — Stratum of earth, not rock, but almost equally impervious to water, 1821. Hardshell Baptists — Those holding strongly to certain doctrines, 1842. Hardshell Democrats — Adherents of the party who see no virtue in any other, B. Hardtack — Dry biscuit, B. Harm as adjective — Disrespectful, unkind; "he never said a harm word of you," B. Harsel Stuff — Household stuff, B. Hay Barrack — Unenclosed shelter for hay, B. Hayseed — Countryman, T. Head Off — Turn from his purpose, C. Headcheese — Preparation of head and feet of swine, B. Headrights — Rights to land under certain condi- tions, B. Hear To (generally with negative) — To be willing to consider SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 267 Heeled — Armed, F. Heeler — Hanger on, parasite, 1881. Heir — To inherit, F. Hellbender — 1. Kind of salamander, 1812. 2. Indefinite meaning; "a hellbender of a spree," B. Hellbox — Receptacle for rubbish, F. Hellion — Hell hound, irredeemable villain, 1830. Hen-Hussy — Effeminate man, C. Hen Party — Gathering of women only, F. Herd's Grass — Name of a variety, 1747. Hessian — Fighter for pay, ruffian, B. Hessian Fly — Insect destructive to grain, B. Hewgag — College word of unascertainable meaning, 1855. Hickory — Carya tree, 1705. Hickory Shirt — Coarse garment worn by laborers, 1857. Hide and Coop — Hide and Seek, 1850. HiFER — To loiter, B. Highbinder — Contemptuous appellation for various disreputable classes, 1806. Highbrow — Intellectual person, recent slang. Highfalutin — Bombastic talk, 1848. High Muck-a-Muck — Person of importance, F. High-Studded — Airy, affected, B. HiGH-ToNED — Aristocratic, C. High WINES — Form of impure alcohol, 1881. Hike — To walk vigorously, 1872. Hindsight — Antithesis of foresight, F. 268 AMERICAN ENGLISH Hitch Up — Harness horses, 1857. Hither and Yon — Here and there, P. Hock — To pawn. HoECAKE — Cake of Indian meal, baked before fire, 1787. Hog Age — Age between boyhood and manhood, B. Hog Mane — Mane cut short, 1767. Hog Minder — Swineherd, B. Hogwallow — Special kind of crack in surface of earth, 1840. Hold On — Wait, stop, B. Hold Over — Have the advantage of an opponent, C. Hold Up — Robbery, with threat of violence, 1887. HoNEYFOGLE — To humbug, swindle, mislead, B. Hoodlum — Rowdy, 1868. Hoodoo — Something bringing bad luck, reverse of mascot, 1889. Hook — Small cape in river or bay, 1832. Hook in phrase "on one's own hook" — For one's self, independently, 1812. Hookey, to play — To play truant, B. Hoople — Child's plaything, hoop for trundling, B. HoosiER — Indianian, B. Hooter — Trifle, perhaps corruption of iota, 1839. HopPERCAR — Car shaped like hopper of mill, B. Hoptoad — Child's word for toad, 1827. HoRNSWOGGLE — Foolery, deception, 1852. HoRSECAR — Car drawn by horses or to carry horses, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 269 Horse Railroad — The British tramway, 1858. Horse Sense — Practical wisdom, 1833. Hot Slaw — Hot cole-slaw. From corruption of cole-slaw into cold slaw, just as highbelia was formed from misunderstanding of the name of the plant lobelia. Housekeep — To keep house, B. Howdy — Desideratum accomplished, B. Hubbles — Rough places, C. Huckleberry — A plant and its fruit, 1670. Huckster — Peddler, C. HuLY — Uproar, B. Hump (one's self) — Bestir, F. Hunk in phrase "all hunk," which means all right, safe, prosperous, B. Hunk — Very fine, tiptop, B. HuNKiDORY — All right, B. Hurra's Nest — Confusion, disorder, 1829. Hurricane Deck — Highest deck of steamer, 1835. HuRRYMENT — Confused haste, B. Husking — Stripping husks from Indian corn, B. Husky — Strong, 1910. Hustle — Bestir one's self vigorously, 1890. Hyper — To bustle, B. Hyst— Violent fall, B. I Dad — ^Meaningless ejaculation, B. Idea — Opinion. "I have an idea that he has gone," 270 AMERICAN ENGLISH Inaugural — Address on taking office, B. Inaugurate — Begin, B. Inclined in phrase "inclined to" — Incline. Indian Corn — Maize, 1621. Indian File — Single file, 1791. Indian Giver — Person who takes back what he has given, B. Indian Summer — St. Martin's Summer, 1794. Indiscipline — Absence of discipline, 1783. Inflationist — Advocate of indefinite expansion of irredeemable currency, 1877. Ineormatory — Giving information, 1862. Infract — Break, infringe on, 1798. In Interest — Interested in the matter, F. Injunct — Forbid by injunction, 1880. (I think older.) A better word than enjoin when for- bidding is meant. The lawyers have reversed the meaning of enjoin. Inside Of — In less time than, 1877. Inside Track — Advantageous position, B. Institute — Meeting, convention, 1881. Intervale — ^Low alluvial land along river, 1653. Interview^er — 1 869. Into (with some figure) — Within; "I had enough money into six cents," B. Inty — Certainly, B. Irish (potato) — White, B. Irreliability — Untrustworthiness, 1 862, Issuance — Act of issuing, 1865. some real americanisms 27 1 Itemize — 1864. Itemizer — 1860. J Jackstones — Child's game, B. Jag — Spree, C. Jam Up— 1. Crowded, 1825. 2. "Slap up," "bang up," extra fine, 1853. Jamboree — Frolic, row, B. Jayhawker — Guerilla, 1856. Jell — Harden into jelly, 1830. Jerked (meat) — Dried, B. Jessie in phrase to "give him Jessie," i.e., belabor him, literally or figuratively, 1844. Jibe — Variant of gibe. Jig — Artificial squid, for trolling, 1858. Jigger — Small fishing vessel, B. Jiggered — Euphemistic oath. Jigsaw — Vertical saw, operated by treadle or power, 1873. Jimberjaw^ed — Having projecting lower jaw, 1834. Jim Crow Cars — Cars for negroes only, 1900. JiMDANDY — Superfine, F. Jimjams — Delirium tremens, B. JiMSON (Jamestown) Weed — Stramonium, 1687. Jitney — Five cent piece; bus on which the fare is 5 cents, 1912. Jobbing House — Wholesale mercantile establish- ment, B. 272 AMERICAN ENGLISH John — Chinaman, 1857. Johnny — "Confederate" soldier in rebellion of 1861. JoHNNYCAKE — Cake of Indian meal, 1775. Joint — Establishment of ill repute, 1883. Josh — Joke with, make fun of, 1891. Jour — Journeyman, B. Joy-Ride — Ride for pleasure, with connotation of some irregularity or impropriety, 1909. JuBA — Negro, negro dance, 1834. Judgmatical — Judicious, 1774. Judy — Fool, B. Jump Bail — Forfeit it by absconding, B. Jumper — 1. Kind of sled, 1823. 2. Man's jacket, 1853. Jumping-Oef Place — End of everything, 1826. Jury-Fixer — Briber of juryman, 1882. K Karimpton — Squad, B. Katowse — Din, tumult, rumpus, B. Katydid — An insect, 1800. Kay or Key — Islet in the sea, B. Keen about — Fond of; recent slang. Keener — Shrewd person, B. Keeps, To Play for — To play for stakes which the winner keeps, T. Ker — Prefix, intensifying violent action, 1852. Kerosene — Petroleum refined for burning, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 273 KiBLiNGS — Small fish used for bait, B. Kicker — Objector, independent, 1799. Kill — Arm of the sea, stream, B. KiLLDEER — Kind of bird, B. KiNDLERS, Kindlings — Small pieces of wood for starting fire, B. Kingbolt — Part of wagon, B. Kinky — Eccentric, crotchety, B. Kinnikinnick, Killikinnick — Preparation of to- bacco, B. Kittycornered — Diagonally, C. KiusE — Native pony, B. Knickerbockers — Short breeches, B. Knock — Express disapproval of. Knock-Down — Steal part of another person's money that has been entrusted to the thief, 1882. (I think older.) Knownothings — Extinct political party, 1853. KoNK — Same as conk. Ku Klux Klan — Secret association of southern whites after close of rebellion, 1866. Lagniappe — Small gift to customer, brottus, 1853. Landscrip^ — Certificate that buyer of public land has made payment, 1862. Lapstreak — Clinker-built boat, 1771. Lariat — Rope for catching animals, lasso, B. 274 AMERICAN ENGLISH Larrigan — Kind of moccasin, C. Latter-Day Saints — Mormons, B. Lave — Get up, B. Law Sakes — For the Lord's sake, B. Lay — Terms of bargain, price, B. Lay Out — 1. An outfit, 1867. 2. Define bound- aries and subdivisions, 1748. 3. Reduce to helplessness, 1829. 4. Intend, B. Layering — Reproducing (as strawberries) by run- ners, 1799. Laze — To idle, F. Leader — Attachment of fish-hook to line, B. Leggins — Wrappers for legs, B. Lengthy — Rather long, "longish," 1793. Used by Dickens (in "American Notes," to be sure, but) in a way to lead one to infer that the term was familiar to him, as he hated Americanisms and seldom if ever used one without calling at- tention to the country of its origin. It may be old English. Let Down — Descent, fall, drop, B. Let Up — Release, relief, 1837. Levee — Dike, embankment along river, 1797. Levy — Elevenpence, 1832. Lick — Place where animals lick the soil, 1751. Licks — Efforts, B. LicKETYSPLiT — Headlong, B. Lie Low — Keep quiet and watch, B. Light Bread — Bread made with yeast, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 275 LiGHTNiNG-BuG — Firefly, 1797. Light Out — Decamp, 1878. (I believe it to be very much older.) LiGHTWOOD — Wood that burns readily, 1705. Lily Pad — Water-lily leaf, B. Line — Route of railroad, coach or steamer, B. Liner — Steamer running regularly on settled route, B. Lines — Reins, B. List — Method of cultivating crops, B. Live Oak — Quercus virens, 1610. Living Price, Living Wage — One at which a living can be made. LiviNG-RooM — Family parlor, B. Live Out — Be a servant, B. Loaf — Idle away one's time, B. Loafer — Idle vagabond, 1835. Lobby — Influence legislation by cajolery or bribery. Also collective word for persons who make busi- ness of so doing. LoBBYGOVV^ — A "pal" in a bad sense, October, 1912. Loblolly — Kind of tree, 1775. Localize — Prepare local items for newspaper, 1861. Lock Horns — Engage in desperate combat, 1839. Loco — Disease of cattle, believed to come from eating loco-weed, F. LocoFOCO — 1. Friction match, 1834. 2. Old name for Democratic party, 1835. Locust — Kind of tree, 1640. 276 AMERICAN ENGLISH Logger — Lumberman, 1857. LoGiES — Poor codfish, B. LoG-RoLLiNG — Co-operation, whether physical (1833) or political (1821). Logy — Heavy, dull, stupid, B. Long of a stock — Holding it, B. Longshoreman — Stevedore, B. LoNGSHORT — A woman's garment, 1851. Long Sugar, Long Sweetening — ^Molasses, B. Loon — Kind of bird, B. Looseness — Absence of restraint, 1836. Lop Dov^n — Settle down carelessly, 1840. Lost Cause — The southern rebellion of 1861. Lot — Piece of land, 1661. Lots — A large number or quantity, B. Lov^ Down — Degraded, contemptible, 1850 .. Low Flung — Very degraded, 1843. Lugs — 1. Tobacco leaves prepared for market, B. 2. Airs, style, in phrase "to put on lugs," 1902. Lumber — Timber, 1663. Lump It — ^Meaningless phrase used only in anti- thesis to like it, 1833. There is however an old English verb lump, to look sulky. Lunkhead — Stupid fellow, 1889. M Ma'am School — One kept by woman, B. Machine — Political organization, 1876. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 277 Mackinack — Kind of blanket, 1839. Madstone — Stone supposed to heal bite of mad dog, 1864. Maidenland — ^Land that a man gets with his wife and loses at her death, B. Mail — Matter sent through post-office, B. Maize — Indian corn, 1598. Make or Make Out — Grow, extend ; said of point of land running out into water, sometimes of forests or hills extending into plain. Make Good— Accomplish an unstated purpose, suc- ceed, do what is expected of one, "get there," 1911. Make Time — Proceed rapidly, 1842. Make Tracks — Go, run, 1833. Mammy — Negro nurse, B. Mango — Preparation of green muskmelon, B. Marabou — Person having a certain small proportion of negro blood, B. Marooning — Picnicking, P. Marywalkers — Trousers worn by women, F. Mash — To engage, said of cog-wheels, B. Masher — Person who forces attention on women, F. Mass Meeting — Gathering of people for specified purpose, 1840. Match — Set fire to, B. Maul — Make, prepare, 1677. Mavericks — Unbranded cattle, B. Max — ^Make best possible (maximum) recitation, B. 278 AMERICAN ENGLISH Mean — Unkind, disobliging, or (in the case of ani- mals) vicious. Medium — Person through whom come messages from ghosts, B. Menhaden — Kind of herring, 1792. Mesa — Elevated plain, 1795. Mestizo — Half breed, 1582. Metis — Offspring of white person and quadroon, B. Mick — Irishman. Middlings — Coarse flour; part of a porker, B. Midget — Sand fly, B. Mileage — 1. Allowance for traveling expenses, 1754. 2. Tickets giving right to travel on railroad to a certain limit of miles, generally 500 or 1000. Mill — Tenth of a cent. Mind — To remind, B. Mink — Small fur bearing animal, B. Minuteman — Person ready for service at a minute's notice, 1774. Miscegenation — Intermarriage between whites and blacks, 1864. Mission School — School for poor children, B. Missionate — Act as missionary, 1816. Misstep — Wrong step, stumble, 1837. Mitten, To Get — To be rejected by a lady, 1838. Mixed Ticket — Election ticket voting for candidates of different parties, F. The term itself, as ap- plied to railroad tickets partly of one class and SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 279 partly of another, is familiar to all Englishmen who travel on the Continent. Mock Auction — Auction characterized by fraud, B. Moke — Negro, 1871. Molly Maguires — Anarchistic society in coal re- gion, B. Monitor — Small iron-clad vessel with turret, 1862. Monkey — Weight of pile-driver, B. Monkey Business — Foolish trifling, C. Monkey Shines — Semi-mischievous or playful tricks, 1847. Monte — Game with cards, B. Moondov^n — Time of moon's setting, B. Moonglade — Track of moonlight on water, B. MoPBOARD — Horizontal board inside house, at base of wall, B. Mortician — Undertaker, 1896. Moses Boat — 1765. Mosey — To move, 1836. MossBACK — Person "behind the times," 1850. Mossbunker — Fish resembling herring, 1818. Moth Miller — Flying form of clothes moth, B. MoTTE — Clump of trees in open country, 1844. Mountain Lamb — Deer killed out of season, C. Mourner — Penitent at religious meeting, B. Movie — Moving picture; recent. Mucker — Coarse fellow, C. Muckraker — Person who delights to turn up scandal Mud Hen — Female speculator in stocks, 1876. 280 AMERICAN ENGLISH Mud Hook — Anchor, B. Mugwump — Independent in politics, 1835. MuLEY Saw — "Mill saw not hung in the gate," B. MuNG (news) — Confused, unintelligible, 1844. Murphy — White potato, B. Mush — Porridge, 1671. MusKRAT, Musquash — Beaver-like animal, 1624. MussY — Disordered, dirty, B. Mustang — Wild prairie horse, 1808. Muster Out (troops) — Discharge, B. Must Not, Must Only, for may not, may only, when the speaker intends, not to say that there is no obligation, but to say that the doing of the thing is prohibited, or prohibited except under conditions. (As in the case of cannot or can only for may not or may only, I am not sure that this is distinctively an American error.) MuTTONHEAD — Stupid fellow, B. N Nail — To arrest, B. Naked (Possessor) — Undisputed, de facto, B. Nary — Ne'er a, B. Nary Red — Not a cent, 1857. Neck of the Woods — Place, not implying proximity of forest, 1851. Necktie Sociable — Hanging by vigilance committee, 1878. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 28 1 Neckwear — Collars and neckties, F. Neighborhood Of (with quantity or number) — Near, about, as "in the neighborhood of forty acres," 1857. Nerve — Courage, independence, cheek. Netop — Crony, 1816. N. G. — No go, no good, F. Nicely (said of a person's health) — Well. Nickel — Half dime made of that metal, B. Nifty — Fine, stylish, 1868. Nig — Revoke at cards, cheat, 1829. Niggerhead — 1. Kind of tobacco, B. 2. Tussock above surface of swamp, 1859. Nigger Heaven — Highest gallery in theatre, T. Nigger Off — Do something with large logs, 1834. Nigger Out (land) — Exhaust, B. Nigh Unto, Nigh Upon — Almost, B. NiGHTKEY — Latchkey, F. Night Riders — Marauders operating in gangs at night, 1909. NiMSHi — Fool, 1853. NiNEPENCE — Twelve and a half cents, the old "shil- ling" of New York, 1828. Nip and Tuck — About even, 1833. NippENT — Independent, B. NocAKE — Parched meal, B. Non-committal — Refusing to commit one's self, 1841. Noodlehead — Fool, C, 282 AMERICAN ENGLISH Norther — Cold north wind, 1844. Northerner — Resident of a northern state, 1840. Note — Joke, B. NoTiONATE — Fanciful, B. Nub (of a story) — Point, gist, B. NuTCAKE — Doughnut, B. Nutmeg Melon — Cantaloupe, C. O Oak Barrens — Straggling oak forests, B. Oak Openings — Forests of stunted oaks, B. OccuRRiNGS — Occurrences, B. Octoroon — Offspring of white and quadroon, B. Off the Reel — Immediately. Offal — Inferior, but edible, parts of animal, B. Offish — Unapproachable, unfriendly, 1842. Off Ox — Contrary person, B. Offset — Deduction from account, claimed by debtor, P. O. K.— All right, 1790. Okra — The plant otherwise called gumbo, B. Old Glory — The national flag, C. Old Scratch — The devil, B. Old Sledge — A game, 1838. Olycook — Fried cake, B. Omnibus (bill) — One covering many subjects, 1842. On a certain street, where the English would say "in" it In many cases, as in saying that "I live on SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 283 Sixth Street," the American practice is obviously to be preferred. One does not live "in" the street, unless one is a low-down vagrant. And if it be said that it is true that you live in a house but the house is itself in the street on which it abuts, it follows that London is not on the Thames but in it, the situation being exactly the same. Also the American practice has the authority of Car- lyle, "Wilhelm Meister," 1.3 and 5.13. On Hand — Present, B. On Time— Prompt, 1848. Oodles — Abundance, B. Opossum — An animal, B. Opposed in phrase "I am opposed to" — Oppose, P. Organic Lav^ — Charter, constitution, 1849. Out superfluous after various verbs, notably try, help, win, lost, start, as in phrases to "try out" some- thing, to help a person "out," to "win out," and so on. I am not sure that this is an American peculiarity, and hope to learn that I am wrong in listing it here; but I have never heard it in Great Britain, or seen it in any printed piece of British Slang. Outfit — Supply of necessaries, 1869. Outlawed (debt) — One of which payment cannot be enforced, on account of lapse of time since it ac- crued, 1850. Out of Fix, Out of Whack — In disorder, B. Outs — Persons not holding office, B. 284 AMERICAN ENGLISH Outside — Beyond, beside, except, C. Overhead — Group of business expenses (rent, inter- est, fuel and the like) not readily divisible among the products; recent. Overslaugh — Bar in river, 1776. Own Up — Confess, 1862. P Paas — Easter, B. Pack — Transport in packs, carry, 1844. Paddle — Spank, 1856. Painter — Panther, 1803. Pair — Agreement of two persons, of opposite views, that neither of them will vote, F. Palace Car — Pullman, B. Paleface — White person as distinguished from In- dian, 1822. Palmetto — A plant, 1555. Pandowdy — Bread and apples baked together, 1846. Panel House — House of prostitution and robbery, B. Panhandle — Part of a state resembling in shape that article. Panhandle — To beg on the street. Panfish — Fish adapted to frying, 1833. Panning — Separation of gold from earth, B. Pan Out— To result, 1881. Pantalette — Ornamental addition to girls' drawers, 1846. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 285 Pappoose — Indian baby, P. Pard — Partner, friend, 1854. Parquet — Part of first floor of theatre, F. Partyism, 1844. Pass (a dividend) — Decide not to pay it, B. Passage (of a bill) — Enactment, P. Passageway — Aisle, gangway, passage, F. Patentable, B. Patent Outsides — Newspaper sheets furnished to publishers with one side already printed with mis- cellaneous matter and advertisements, the pub- lisher putting what he likes on the other side, F. Patrolman — Police officer of lowest grade, F. Patroons — Grantees of land under Dutch govern- ment, and their successors, 1758. Pawky — Out of health, C. Pay Dirt — Gold-bearing earth that pays for work- ing, 1857. P. D. Q. — Pretty deuced quick, F. Peach — Fine thing, "daisy," T. Peach Leather — Edible preparation of peaches, B. Peanut — Fruit of Arachis hypogcea, 1826. Pecan — Kind of nut, 1773. Peccary — Native pig, B. Peeler — Crab just about to shed shell, B. Peel It — Run fast, B. Peevy — Wooden lever, B. Peg Away — Work industriously, B. Pegged Out — Used up, B. 286 AMERICAN ENGLISH Pelter — Dealer in skins, 1856. Pemmican — Preparation of meat, B. Penny — Cent, 1833. Pent WAY — Private road, generally kept closed, B. Peon — ^Laborer in Mexico and Central America, B. Pepperpot — Kind of stew, 1704. Periauger, Pirogue (and various other spellings) — Kind of canoe, 1666. Peroot — Ramble, explore, 1856. Persimmon — Kind of fruit, 1648. Pesky — Confounded, plaguy, 1830. Peter Funk — By-bidder at auction, knavish auc- tioneer, 1854. Peter Out — Become exhausted, 1854. Piazza — Veranda, 1787. Picayune — Small southern coin, obsolete, 1819. Pick (banjo or guitar) — Play. PiCKANNiNNY — ^Ncgro baby, B. Pick-up (meal) — One consisting of fragments on hand, B. Piece — Impromptu and very simple lunch, B. Pieplant — Rhubarb, B. PiGEONW^iNG — Evolution in dancing, 1807. Pike — 1. Highway, 1852. 2. Rural vagrant, 1856. Pile — A lot of money, F. Pill — Disagreeable person, B. Pillowslip — Pillowcase, B. Pinch — Narrowing of ore vein, 1869. Pinch — To arrest. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 287 PiNDLiNG — Weak and growing weaker, B. Pine Barrens — Sandy tracts with some pine trees, 1775. Pinery — Plantation of pine, 1822. Pinky — Kind of boat, B. Pinxter — Whitsunday, B. Pipe — Follow, waylay, B. Pipe Laying — Getting votes of persons not entitled to franchise, 1840. Obsolete in this sense. PiSTAREEN — Petty coin, obsolete, 1764. Pit — Stone of cherry or peach. PiTPAN — Kind of canoe, B. Place (a man) — Identify, 1855. Placer — Locality where gold is found, 1846. Plaguy — Troublesome, annoying, B. Plank — Section of political platform or statement of principles, 1850. Plank Down, Plank Up (money) — Pay, B. Plant — Bury, F. Played Out — Exhausted, used up, 1862. Play Possum — Pretend to be dead, harmless or in- different, 1824. Pleasant Spoken — Agreeable in talk, B. Plug — ^Worthless horse. Plug Hat — High silk hat, ''beaver," B. Pluguglies — Baltimore rowdies, 1857. Plumb Centre — The very centre, B. Plunk — Dollar. Plurality — Excess of votes over those given for any 288 AMERICAN ENGLISH other single candidate, when more than two run, 1828. Pocket — Earth cavity filled with precious metal, B. Point — Information for one's guidance, B. Poke — Device preventing cattle from jumping fences, 1828. Poker — A card game, B. PoKERiSH — Seemingly fit for ghosts, 1827. Policy — A gambling game, B. Pone — Kind of Indian meal bread, 1634. Pony — Translation, dishonestly used, 1832. Pony Up— Pay, 1824. Pool — Combine interests, 1879. Pop (corn) — Roast till kernels pop open, 1854. Pop Eyed — Having prominent eyes, B, Poppycock — Ridiculous nonsense, 1865. (I think older.) Populist — Member of political party so-called, 1892. PoRGY — Kind of fish, B. Portage — Carrying-place between bodies of water, 1698. Porterhouse Steak, 1843. Posey- Yard — Flower garden, B. Post— Inform, 1850. Postal Currency — National bills for sums less than a dollar, bearing when first issued representations of postage stamps, about 1861. Post Card — Card for transmission by mail uncov- ered, privately printed. (Cards issued by the SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 289 government, and not requiring the affixing of stamps, are called postal cards in the United States.) PoTPiE — Kind of meat pie, 1792, Pound Party — Donation party where everybody brings a pound of something. Powder Post — Injury to timber by worm that leaves holes full of powder, B. Powerful — Great, very, 1833. Powwow — Uproarious meeting, 1659. Prairie — Vast treeless plain, 1773. Prairie Dog — Marmot, 1805. Prairie Hen — Pinnated grouse, 1805. Prairie Schooner — Large covered wagon, 1858. Prawchey — Talk, gossip, B. Pre-empt — Secure ownership of public land by set- tling on it under prescribed conditions, 1857. Present (written on back of envelope) — Give this to the addressee, whom you know where to find. Or sometimes considered as an adjective, mean- ing that the person is in the same town or • city. Presidio — Military post, B. Presume Likely — Think probably; "I presume likely that's true." Prex — College president, 1828. Prickly Heat — Cutaneous eruption, 1736. Primary — Election of delegates to political conven- tion, 1821. 290 AMERICAN ENGLISH Prince Albert (coat) — Frock, C. Printer Y — Printing establishment, B. Probate (will) — Obtain sanction by judicial officer, thus giving it legal force, 1792. Processioner — Officer in Kentucky, possibly in other states, who determines and marks out bounds of lands, B. Prohibition — ^Legal prohibition of liquor-selling, B. Prospect, noun — Possible customer. Prospect, verb — Search for precious metal in the soil, 1845. PuDGiCKY — Fussy, B. Pueblo — ^Native village in far West, B. Pull — Advantage, influence, 1889. PuLLFOOT — Walk fast or run, B. Pulling-Bone — Breast-bone of fowl, B. Pulque — Intoxicating liquor made by Mexicans, 1693. Puma — Cougar, B. Puncheon — Split log with face a little smoothed, 1790. PuNG — One horse sleigh or wagon, 1798. Pussy (corruption of pursy, u sounded as in pus) — Corpulent, C. Put — Privilege of selling to a certain person before a specified date a certain stock at a certain price, B. Put Up (money) — Deposit, 1884 (but I think older). Put Up — Incite, suggest, 1824. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 29 1 Q QuACKGRASS — Agropyrum repens, T. Quadroon — Offspring of white person and mulatto, B. QuAHAUG — Kind of clam, B. Qualify — Take oath on assuming office, 1857. Quarter (of a dollar), B, Quarterage — "Entertainment or allowance," B. Quid — Extinct political party, 1805. QuiDDLiNG — Unsteady, uncertain, B. Quirl — Tangle, curl, twist, 1787. Quirt — Riding whip, 1851. Quite a Few — See preceding chapter, "Exotic Amer- icanisms." R Race — Race with, chase after, 1858. Rack (for wreck?), in "rack and ruin," B. Rackabones — Emaciated man or beast, B. Raft — Great quantity or number, 1718. Rag (time) in music — Syncopated. Raise, to Make — To find what one sought, B. Rake Down — "Taking down, scolding," B. Rake-off — Share in profits, dishonestly taken, 1909 (but older). Rambunctious — Quarrelsome, 1854. Ranch — First a herdsman's hut, then a live-stock es- tablishment, now any kind of farm, 1808. 292 AMERICAN ENGLISH Range — A line of public land subdivisions (special use of an old word), 1851. Rangy (animal) — Large, loosely built, 1891. Rank — Take precedence of, 1860. Rantankerous — Quarrelsome, F. Rapids — Swift descent of river, P. Rareripe — Name of a variety of fruit or other crop, or qualifying adjective, various indefinite mean- ings, 1794. Rating — Standing in reports of mercantile agency, F. Ratoons — 1. Heart leaves of tobacco, 1840. 2. Sugarcanes of second and third year, B. Rattler — Rattlesnake, 1827. Rattlesnake, 1630. Raw^hide — Whip, 1821. Reata — Lariat, lasso, B. Reboso — Mexican shawl, B. Red— Cent, 1848. Red Dog Money — Ill-secured bank bills, obsolete, 1837. Redeem (note or bond) — Pay, B. Red Root — Kind of shrub, B. Regret — Note declining invitation, B. Reinsure, B. Remonetize — ^Make something legal tender again after it has ceased to be such, having been de- monetized, 1877. Removability, P. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 293 Repeater — ^Man voting more than once, B. Reportorial (should be reporterial), B. Reserve, Reservation — Land set aside for specific purpose, 1830. Responsible, referring to an undertaking that has succeeded, "the new pastor is chiefly responsible for the growth of the church" — entitled to credit for. Seems to be an Americanism, and one of which we may well be ashamed. Restitutionists — Branch of Universalist church, B. Retirement — Withdrawing of resolution or the like, B. Retortive — Containing retort, P. (Apparently a nonce word.) Revamp — Patch up, 1859. Revelator — Revealer, 1801. Revocal — Revocation, 1862. Ride — Convey, carry, 1687. Riding Rock — Rock at ford, indicating depth of wa- ter, B. RiDiNGW^AY — Ford, 1780. Ripple — Rocky obstruction in stream, 1796. Rig — Horse and wagon, 1883 (but, I think, much older). Right Along — Continuously, B. Right Away — Immediately, 1818. Right Here — At this instant, B. Right Off — Immediately, B. Right Smart — A lot, large quantity, 1856. 294- AMERICAN ENGLISH Right Straight — Immediately, B. Ring — Clique, combination, 1869. Ringer — Horse dishonestly entered out of his class, C. RiNGTAiLED RoARER — Term of indefinite meaning, 1830. Rip — Rake, libertine, B. Rip Out (oath) — Utter vehemently, 1856. Ripper — "Tearer, driver," B. Riprap — Rough stonework in water, 1848. RiPSNORTER — Uproarious, energetic person, B. Rising (a certain age or amount) — Over, 1775. Sometimes persons say "a thousand and the rise" instead of "rising (i. e., more than) a thou- sand." ' Rising Ground — Hills. Risky — Dangerous, B. Roach — Cockroach, B. Roach — Trim men's hair or horses' manes, 1781. Road Agent — Highway robber, 1866. Robe — Dressed skin of bison, 1841. Robin — Flannel undershirt, B. Rock — A stone, even if small enough to be thrown, 1712. Rocks — ^Money, B. RocKAWAY — Light carriage, 1846. Rocker — 1. Apparatus for separating gold dust from earth, B. 2. Rocking chair, 1855. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 295 Rolling (country or land) — Gently undulating, 1818. Room— To lodge, 1828. Roorback — Sensational fabrication, 1844. Rooter — Noisy partisan, 1898. Rope In — To sweep together, to decoy, B. RoRAM — Kind of -cloth, 1796. Rose Fever — Summer catarrh, 1851. Rough — Unfair to, hard on, B. RouGH-AND-TuMBLE (fight) — Savage, without rules, 1832. RouGHHOUSE — Disturbance, row, 1895. Roughness — Coarse fodder, B. RouGHSCUFE — Rabble, 1859. Round One, To Get — To flatter, cajole, 1840. Rounder — Dissipated person, F. Roustabout — Wharf laborer, deck-hand, 1868. Rowdy— Ruffian, 1819. Rubber, Rubberneck — Turn to look at something. Rubbers — Caoutchouc overshoes, 1855. (I think older.) Rugged — Robust, P. RuLLiCHiES — Preparation of meat, 1832. RuMBUD — Swelling on face, due to liquor, B. RuMHOLE, RuMMiLL — Groggcry, 1863. Run — 1. To make a butt of, B. 2. To cause to run, as church or factory, 1789. Run Into the Ground — Overdo, 1826. 296 AMERICAN ENGLISH Runabout — Small vehicle or boat, C. Runner (of sleigh), 1765. Runner — Solicitor for hotel, railroad or steamboat, 1824. Runway — Customary track of an animal, 1839. Rush — 1. Perfect recitation, 1860. 2. Spirit, en- ergy, speed, as to do a thing "with a rush," B. Rush the Growler — Bring home beer in pail or pitcher, F. Rust — Discoloration of fish kept too long, B. Rustle — Grapple with difficulties, 1872. Rye and Indian (pronounced ryeninjun) — Bread made of rye flour and Indian meal. Sabbaday — Sunday, 1833. Saddy — Curtsy, B. Sage Brush — Artemisia ludoviciana, B. Sakes, Sakes Alive — Ejaculation of surprise, 1846. Salamander — Name of various animals, 1859. Salamander (safe) — Fireproof, B. Saleratus — Bicarbonate of potash or soda, B. Saloon — Barroom. Salt Lick — P. Sam — ^Member of Knownothing party, 1855. Sambo — Negro, person of mixed blood, 1811. Sam Hill— The devil, 1839. Samp — Coarse hominy, 1643. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 297 Sample Room — Barroom, B. Sand— Pluck, 1883. Sang — Ginseng, B. Sapsago — Green Swiss cheese, B. Sapsucker — Woodpecker, B. Saratoga (trunk), 1869. Sault (pronounced soo) — Rapid in river, B. Savagerous — Ferocious, 1832. Savanna — Open plain formerly under water, 1705. Save— To kill, 1833. Sawbuck, Sawhorse — Frame holding log for saw- ing. Sawyer — Tree uprooted by river and caught in stream, 1801. Say — Unmeaning and silly prefix to sentence, B. Scab — Scurrilous term for workman not member of trade union, 1798. Scalav^^ag — Scapegrace, 1848. Scalp — To unscalp (like to dust, meaning to undust). Scalper — Speculator in tickets or stocks, B. Scare Up — Find, B. Scary — Timorous or causing fear, B. Scat — Be off, get out. Schooner — ^Large beer glass, B. Scoop — Kind of bonnet, 1800. Scoop — Important news secured exclusively by a sin- gle journal, 1876. Scorch — To drive bicycle very fast. Scrap — Quarrel, T. 298 AMERICAN ENGLISH Scrapple — A food, of various compositions, B. Scratch — Lucky stroke at billiards, B. Scratch Gravel — Be off, get out, B. Scrub (oak) — Dwarfish, B. Scrumptious — Nice, fine, excellent, B. Scuff — ^Light shoe or slipper. Sculp, Sculpin, Scup — Kind of fish. Scup— Swing, 1849. Scut — Refuse beer. Scutum, Aquascutum — ^Waterproof cloak, 1876. Seal (wife), among Mormons — Marry for eternity but not for this life, B. Season — Time of wet weather, B. Second — Affix to a person's name, signifying that he is younger than another person of same name, but is not his son, thus distinguishing John Doe, 2d, from John Doe, Jr., the latter being the son of the original John Doe, the former perhaps a nephew, perhaps not nearly related. Section — Part of the country, B. Sectional — Reverse of national, 1836. Selectman — Magistrate, 1685. Sense, verb — Comprehend, 1849. Serape — Mexican blanket, 1887. Settlement — Pastor's homestead, B. Seven Up — Card game, 1856. Shack — Rough cabin. Shackly — Rickety, B. Shadbelly (coat) — Variety of cutaway, 1842. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 299 Shade (a price) — Reduce slightly, B. Shady, Keep — Lie perdu, B. Shagbark — Kind of hickory, 1792. Shakedown — Boisterous dance, B. Shakes — Rough shingles, 1845. Shanghai — Tall dandy, B. Shanghai (sailor) — Get drunk, and send to sea with- out his knowledge. Shanty — Rude hut, 1820. Sharpey — Kind of boat, B. Shay — Mistake for chaise, supposed to be plural, 1717. Shebang — House, shop, establishment, 1863. Shecoonery — Chicanery, 1845. Sheepshead — Kind of fish, B. Sheepskin — Diploma, 1804. Shell — Light row-boat, B. Shenanigan — Foolery, nonsense, tricks, B. Shillagalee — Low fellow, scalawag, B. Shilling — Eighth part of a dollar, B. Shin, Shin Round — To run here and there, B. Shine, in phrase to take a shine — A fancy or liking, B. Shine, to have — To have one's shoes blacked, B. Shines — Capers, tricks, 1830. Shingle — Sign board, 1848. Shingle — To cut hair close, B. Shingle-Weaver — ^Maker of shingles, B. Shinplaster — Paper money, 1824, 300 AMERICAN ENGLISH Shooter — Pistol. Six shooter, revolver with six barrels. Shooting Iron — Gun or pistol, 1833. Short, to sell — To sell something that one has not yet bought, B. Shortage — Deficiency, 1868. Should improperly substituted for the infinitive, as "I want you should go," 1833. Shove, said of ice — To move and pile up, B. Shut Pan — Close the mouth, 1799. Shy or Shy Of — Lacking, short, deficient in; "We are shy two men this morning" — We miss two men that were expected. Shyster — Rascally lawyer or other cheat, 1856. Side Lines — Secondary roads, B. Sidestep — Evade or avoid, 1901. Sidewheeler — Pacing horse. Siding — Boards for side of house, B. Sierra — Mountain range, B. Sign — Trace of recent presence of men or animals, 1855. Sign (a person) — Get signature to contract; engage; hire, 1889. Sign Off — Relinquish a claim or a right, B. Sink or Sink-Hole — Depression where water disap- pears, 1816. Size Up — Form judgment of, 1890. Skate — Worn out horse, C. Skeezicks — Contemptible fellow, 1850. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 3OI Skin — Cheat, 1837. Skullduggery — Cunning, trickery, B. Skunk — To defeat completely, 1848. Skyugle — Verb of so many meanings that it means nothing except as the context may explain it, 1864 or a little earlier. Slabsided — Having straight sides, uncouth, 1817. Slapjack — Pancake, B. Slashes — ^Marshes, 1819. Slate — List of nominees, 1877. Slaver — Man or vessel engaged in the slave trade, B. Slazy or Sleazy — Worn thin, 1820. Sleep — Furnish sleeping accommodations, B. Sleeping Car, B. Sleigh — Vehicle on runners, for use on snow, P. Sleighing — State of snowy road that permits use of sleighs, B. Sleuth — Detective. Slew or Slue — Slough, B. Slimsy — Flimsy, frail, B. Sling — Alcoholic drink, 1788. Slip — Pew, B. Slip — Pay or give (money). Slip-Noose — Slip-knot. Slope — Run away, elope, escape, B. Slump — Dish of apples and bread, B. Slungshot — Weapon consisting of two metal balls at ends of rope, 1842. 302 AMERICAN ENGLISH Smart Chance — Good opportunity, large quantity, B. Smile — Drink, 1850. Snake (fence) — Zigzag, B. Snake Head — Piece of flat rail thrown up by a car wheel, B. Snake In, Snake Out — Drag, 1848. Snap (generally in phrase "cold snap") — Period of weather, B. Snap — Quick, off-hand, without fair consideration, 1841. Snap, Soft — Sinecure, 1845. Sneak Thief, F. Snifter — Drink, 1848. Snoop— To pilfer, 1834. Snoozer — Hotel thief, B. Snore — String for spinning top, B. Snorter — Riotous fellow, B. Snub Up — To attach boat to post, 1845. Snug — Purloin, 1795. Soak — To pawn articles ; to punish a man. Soaker — Drunkard, B. Soap Lock — Lock of hair brushed smooth, 1838. SocDOLAGER — Coup de grace, 1837. Social or Sociable — Gathering of people for social purposes, B. Sociable — Kind of sofa, B. Soda — Soda water, B. SoDDY — Sod hut, 1913. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 303 Soft (money) — Paper, B. Soft Sawder — Flattery, B. Soft Snap or Soft Thing — Piece of luck, 1845. Soldier — To shirk. Solid Color — All of the same color. Sots — Yeast, B. Sou Marquee — Worthless coin, B. Sour on a thing — Have enough of it, 1862. Spang — Full, completely, 1843. Spark — To court, B. Spat— Quarrel, 1804. Speakeasy — Grogshop, T. Speedway — Road where fast driving is allowed, C. Spellbinder — Political speaker, 1888. Spelling Bee — Public contest in spelling, B. Spider — Three-legged frying pan, B. Spike Team — Three animals harnessed together, one leading the pair, 1845. Spit-Ball — Ball made of chewed paper, B. Spit-Curl — ^Lock of hair curled on the temple, 1858. Spittoon — Cuspidore, 1840. (But see p. 197.) Split — Go fast, B. Split Ticket — One containing the names of candi- dates from two or more parties, as distinguished from a "straight ticket," which names candidates all of the same party. Spondoolics — Money, 1857. Spoops — Silly fellow, B. Sports — Gamblers, B. 304 AMERICAN ENGLISH Sposh — ^Mixture of snow and water, B. Spotter — Detective, B. Spread One's Self — Exert one's self ostentatiously, B. Springer — Cow about to calve, C. Sprung — Intoxicated, 1856. Square — Distance between streets, 1784. Square Room — Best apartment, B. Squeezer — Mark on corner of playing card, to indi- cate value, F. Squirt — Presumptuous fellow, 1872. Squush — Crush, 1846. Staging — Scaffolding, P. Stake Out — Picket an animal, B, Stalwart — Wing of Republican party, 1880. Stampede — Wild rush, 1846. Stamping Ground — Place of resort, 1839. Stamps — Money, 1861. Stand Off (transitive) — Hold at a distance, C. Stand Pat — Term in game of poker, T. Standee — Standing place, B. Stated Supply — Acting pastor, B. Stave — Press forward, 1825. Stayer — Active person, 1869. Staving — Great, strong, B. Steep — Great; extravagant, 1856. Stem winder — Keyless watch, B. Stick — Impose upon, B. Stiff — Corpse, 1871. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 305 Stiff (said of a drink) — Strong. Still Hunting — Stalking game silently, B. Stingaree — A fish, Cephaloptera vampyrus, 1632. Stock Watering — Issuing stock dishonestly, B. Stogie — Coarse boot; cheap cigar, 1847. Stool, Stool Pigeon — Decoy, B. Storekeeper — Shopkeeper, 1817. Stovepipe Hat — Tall silk hat, 1855. Straddle — Stockbroker's term, B. Straddlebug — A beetle, 1853. Straight — Pure, complete, unaltered, 1854. Stram — To flourish the legs, C. Strapped — Out of funds, 1857. Straw, as in straw bail, straw bid — Worthless, B. Streak It — Run, 1834. Streaked, Streaky — Alarmed, 1833. Street Yarn — Idle gossip, 1855. Strike — 1. Term in game of ninepins. 2. Discov- ery or achievement. Stripe — Pattern, sort, kind, 1853. Spripper — Cow nearly dry, F. Strow^d — Breech cloth, 1752. Stub Toe, B. Stuck On — Fond of, recent slang. Stud — Stallion, 1833. Stump — To challenge, puzzle, confound, 1800. Stumpage, 1846. Stumper — 1. Puzzler, 1807. 2. Stump orator, 1863. 306 american english Stump Speaker, 1835. Suability — Liability to be sued, 1798. Sucker — 1. Dupe, 1857. 2. Native of Illinois, 1833. Suck In — Cheat, delude, B. Suit of Hair, 1854. Suit Case — Special kind of travelling bag, originally called "dress suit case," recent. A slovenly con- traction, though not as bad as calling the same thing a "case." Sump — Cesspool, 1904. Sunday, sometimes misspelled "sundae"-^Ice cream with syrup over it. Name said to have been first used, about 1897, at Red Cross Pharmacy, State Street, Ithaca, N. Y., directly opposite to bar- room of Ithaca Hotel, which was closed on Sun- day, suggesting to the pharmacy people to offer a distinctively Sunday drink. Sun Up — Sunrise, 1843. Sustain a fatal wound. Recent newspaper English. Swag — Depression in the earth, F. Sw^AMPiNG — Huge, B. Swan — Swear, B. Swankey — A beverage, 1873. Swear In — Administer oath to newly chosen official, B. Swear Off — Abjure a habit, B. Sweeny — Atrophy of muscles, 1855. SwiTCHEL — A beverage, 1801. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 307 Tab, to Keep— To tally, 1888. Tablespread — Table cloth, C. Tacky — Small or poor horse, 1835. Tads — People, generally children, B. Tailor — Kind of fish, B. Take (printer's) — Piece of copy to be set, C. Take (said of body of water) — Freeze. Take Back Track — Recede, back down, B. Take Rag Oee — Surpass, B. Take Shine Off — Excel completely, B. Take the Stump — Start electioneering by oratory, B. Take Up (animals) — Prepare them for a journey, B. Take Up (at an inn) — Stop, B. Take Water — Disappear; give up an argument, 1854. Talking Iron — Gun or pistol, B. Talk Turkey — Say pleasant things, B. Tallow Dip — Candle not moulded, B. Tamarack — Kind of tree, B. Tanglefoot — Intoxicating liquor, 1871. (I think earlier.) Tangleleg — Kind of shrub, B. Taps — ^Military curfew, F. Tarheel — ^North Carolinian, 1864. Tattler — Kind of bird, B. Taunton Turkeys — Herring, B. 306 american english Stump Speaker, 1835. Suability — Liability to be sued, 1798. Sucker — 1. Dupe, 1857. 2. Native of Illinois, 1833. Suck In — Cheat, delude, B. Suit of Hair, 1854. Suit Case — Special kind of travelling bag, originally called "dress suit case," recent. A slovenly con- traction, though not as bad as calling the same thing a "case." Sump — Cesspool, 1904. Sunday, sometimes misspelled "sundae"-^Ice cream with syrup over it. Name said to have been first used, about 1897, at Red Cross Pharmacy, State Street, Ithaca, N. Y., directly opposite to bar- room of Ithaca Hotel, which was closed on Sun-- day, suggesting to the pharmacy people to offer a distinctively Sunday drink. Sun Up — Sunrise, 1843. Sustain a fatal wound. Recent newspaper English. Swag — Depression in the earth, F. Swamping — Huge, B. Swan — Swear, B. SwANKEY — A beverage, 1873. Swear In — Administer oath to newly chosen official, B. Swear Off — Abjure a habit, B. Sweeny — Atrophy of muscles, 1855. SwiTCHEL — A beverage, 1801. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 307 Tab, to Keep— To tally, 1888. Tablespread — Table cloth, C. Tacky — Small or poor horse, 1835. Tads — People, generally children, B. Tailor — Kind of fish, B. Take (printer's) — Piece of copy to be set, C. Take (said of body of water) — Freeze. Take Back Track — Recede, back down, B. Take Rag Oee — Surpass, B. Take Shine Off — Excel completely, B. Take the Stump — Start electioneering by oratory, B. Take Up (animals) — Prepare them for a journey, B. Take Up (at an inn) — Stop, B. Take Water — Disappear; give up an argument, 1854. Talking Iron — Gun or pistol, B. Talk Turkey — Say pleasant things, B. Tallow Dip — Candle not moulded, B. Tamarack — Kind of tree, B. Tanglefoot — Intoxicating liquor, 1871. (I think earlier.) Tangleleg — Kind of shrub, B. Taps — ^Military curfew, F. Tarheel — ^North Carolinian, 1864. Tattler — Kind of bird, B. Taunton Turkeys — Herring, B. 310 AMERICAN ENGLISH Tough It Out — Bear it heroically, 1830. Trade — Exchange, 1806. Trailer — Street car drawn by another, 1890. Transpire erroneously used for occur, 1802. Trap Fishing, B. Tree — To drive into a tree, 1818. Treenail — ^Large wooden peg, 1800. Trick — A turn at working. Trot — Translation, 1891. (I think much older.) Truck — Vegetables for market, 1784. Truck — Hook and ladder apparatus for fire fighting. Trust — ^Large corporation. Tuckered Out — Exhausted, 1853. Tuck On — To add something unreasonably, B. Tumble — Hay cock, B. TuMBLEBUG — Dung beetle, 1806. Turnpike — Turnpike road, P. Tuxedo Coat — Dinner jacket. Type — Use a typewriter. Typo — Compositor, 1816. U Ultraism — Extreme opinions, 1850. Uncle — Elderly colored man ; one's self, as in phrase, "You can't fool your uncle," 1835. Under the Weather — 111, 1850. Undercoat — Petticoat, B. Underhew — To cut timber dishonestly, F. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 3II Underpinners — Legs, B. llNrELLOWSHipPED — Not recognized, 1861. Unseated (land) — Unoccupied, 1799. Up To — Incumbent on, late 19th century. Up to Snuff — Well informed, B. Upper Crust, Upper Ten — Aristocracy, B. Upright — Leg, B. Usable — That can be used, F. Used Up — Exhausted, 1833. Uxoricide — ^Murder or murderer of wife, F. V Valedictory, Valedictorian at college commence- ment, B. Vamose — Decamp, 1848. Variate — Vary, P. Various, noun — "I talked with various of them," B. Vegetarian — Abjurer of animal food, B. Vigilance Committee — Voluntary association to preserve order, B. Vim — Energy, 1850. Violative — In violation, 1861. Visit With — Chat with. Vum— Vow, 1785. W Waffle — Kind of cake, 1750. Wagged Out — Tired, B. 312 AMERICAN ENGLISH Waist — Bodice, C. Walking Papers, Walking Ticket — Notice to quit, 1843. Walk Into — To attack, B. Walk Over — Easy Victory, B. Wall Paper — Paper hangings, B. Wallow — Depression in earth, looking like animals' work, C. Wamblecropped, Womblecropped — Humiliated, 1798. Wash-out — Effect of a flood, F. Watergap — Passage of stream between hills, C. Watershed — High land from which streams flow both ways, B. Waterwitch — Person who finds underground or hidden streams by aid of a bent wand, B. Waumus — Jacket, 1805. Wax— To defeat, 1876. Waybill — Record of lading, 1821. Way Passenger, Station or Train, 1799. Wearables — Clothes, B. Wed for Wedded — Recent newspaper revival of obso- lete form. Well Come Up With — Served just right, paid in his own coin. Wesand — Throat, F. Wet — Permitting or favoring the sale of intoxicants, late 19th century. Whaler — Big, strapping fellow, B. SOME REAL AMERICANISMS 313 Whaling — Beating, 1847. Whang — Sinew of deer, 1846. Whapperjaw — Protruding jaw, B. Whiffet — Insignificant creature, F. Whiffletree — Whippletree, B. Whip — Overcome, defeat, 1815. Whippersnapper — Pretentious person. Whippoorwill — Kind of bird, 1781. Whipstock — Whip socket, C. Whiskey Skin — Kind of drink, B. Whitewash (person or action) — Apply a pretext to conceal the evil. Whole Souled — Noble minded, 1834. Wide Open — Said of town where liquor is freely sold, late 19th century. Wildcat (investments) — Highly speculative, 19th century. Windfall — Track of tornado in forest; fruit blown off by wind; unexpected good luck, 1840. Winery — Place where wine is made, F. Wire — Electric telegraph. Wire Edge (of a cutting tool), B. Wire Pullers — Political plotters, 1826. Wishbone — Breast bone of fowl, B. Wolverines — People of Michigan, 1835. Woodchuck — Ground hog, Arctomyx monax, 1768. Woodrick — Pile of wood, B. WoRK-A-DAY Clothing. Worm Fence — Fence built zigzag, 1817. 314 AMERICAN ENGLISH WoRRiMENT — Anxiety, B. Wrapper — Loose dress, undershirt, B. Wrathy — Angry, 1834. Yankee Notions — Small wares, 1819. Yard — Garden near house, C. Yearling — One year old, C. Yegg, Yeggman— Thief, 1903. Yellow — Disreputable, 19th century. York Shilling — Twelve and a half cents. Zee — Name of the last letter of the alphabet, 1797. ZiT — Sound of projectile striking water, F. CHAPTER FIVE MISUNDERSTOOD AND IMAGINARY AMERICANISMS "Many British words are inadmissible in the United States, where the inhabitants have so far progressed with their self- inflicted task of creating an American language that much of their conversation is, if they choose, incomprehensible to Eng- lish people." — London Court Journal, Aug. 20, 1892. If the English court gets from British authorities its ideas of the language that we are supposed to be creating in this country, it is no wonder that an editor who is presumably to be regarded as in some sense the mouthpiece of that distinguished body of ladies and gentlemen holds the views above expressed; for many of the terms that are attributed to us in Great Britain are incomprehensible in this country as well as abroad, and some real Americanisms are so mis- understood, and consequently so misused, when our transatlantic cousins honor them with their quasi- approval by adopting them, that they come to need in- terpretation to us as much as to any Englishman. Taking first a case of straight misunderstanding, there is a well-nigh universal British practice of ap- plying our word Yankee to every American, the Missis- 315 3l6 AMERICAN ENGLISH sippian as well as the Vermonter; I have even seen the Union Pacific stock mentioned among "Yankee rails" in London financial papers, in disregard (or ignorance) of the fact that not one of the rails of that line is within a thousand miles of Yankee-land. To call a Scotch Highlander a cockney would be a very trifling error in comparison, and what would the edi- tor of the Court Journal think of an American who knew no better than to do that? Sometimes one of our expressions is adopted in England in an abbreviated form that destroys its sense; and it must be admitted that in at least one case the abbreviated form is often imitated from Brit- ish papers by careless speakers and writers in this country, making the term perhaps not exactly unin- telligible but certainly in need of explanation. I re- fer to the adjective record-breaking, which is perfectly regular in form, self-explanatory, and convenient. Every important achievement, be it in raising a crop, in making time on a railroad, in reaching a great height with an aeroplane, is on record somewhere ; and when something better is done in the same line, the record may well be said to have been broken. But the English first, and careless Americans later, have taken to calling the latter accomplishment a "record" one, as a "record" (instead of a record-breaking) crop of wheat, or a "record" (instead of a record- breaking) run of a train — a change that makes the adjective meaningless and silly. .MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 317 Sometimes again our British cousins fancy well enough to adopt it an American expression that does not explain itself, and put it into use without taking the trouble to ascertain what it means. An instance is our right away, which of course means immediately and has never meant anything else in the country of its invention. What the English mean by the term I have never been able to ascertain, though I have asked English friends more than once, when I have happened to hear them use it in a sense that was per- fectly unintelligible to me. Sometimes it seems to in- dicate a considerable distance, as "right away down in the southwest of England," which expression de- scribes, I am told, a position near Land's End, or at least somewhere in Cornwall; and that may be Mr. H. G. Wells' idea in writing ("Wife of Sir Isaac Har- man," chap. 5), "It wasn't till we'd gone right away to Haggerston that they altered things." Sometimes it seems to have no meaning at all; "it's a way of speaking, you know," an Englishman said to me once, when I asked him to explain; and Mr. Arnold Bennett pronounces it "one of those quite meaningless phrases which adorn the languages of all nations." If the Court Journal writer judges of the language we Amer- icans are creating by the undoubted Americanism right away as he hears it in England, he may well set it down as an unintelligible jargon. Sometimes again an American term is partly un- derstood in Great Britain, but with some misappre- 3l8 AMERICANENGLISH hension that changes the sense. An instance is cau- cus, which means an informal and preliminary meet- ing, but which is "grotesquely misapplied in Great Britain" — so says the greatest British authority, Mur- ray, "to an organization or system." If an Eng- lishman reads in an American paper of the holding of a caucus, understanding the word in the sense that it seems his countrymen have chosen to give it, one may well see that he will find the phrase unintelligible. Another word that seems to have suffered a sort of sea change in Great Britain, though not enough to spoil it, is fall, meaning autumn, which word, by the way, is only by present practice especially American, it having been formerly in use on the other side of the oc^an. However, it is not in general use there now, and our understanding of the term does not seem to be very accurately grasped; at least I read some time ago in the London Agricultural Gazette a letter from Prof. J. P. Sheldon, headed "The Fall," and begin- ning with the statement that "by the terse and indica- tive pair of words that are placed at the head of this article, our American cousins denote the last three months of the year, or possibly some of them leave out the last month of the twelve." What American ever included December as a "fall" month — or failed to include September? Sometimes Englishmen charge us with inventing uncouth expressions that it is safe to say no American ever heard, like the impossible verb to excur, which MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 319 the Pall Mall Gazette mentions as "another Ameri- canism." "We are apt in England," says Mr. Wil- liam Archer (Pall Mall Magazine, 19.188) "to class as an Americanism every unfamiliar locution which we do not happen to like." Sometimes, and oddest of all, an English writer attributes to us purely British slang, never heard in this country, perhaps not even understood here. A recent London letter to a New York daily has this sentence: "Such critics for the most part accuse 'Kentish Suburb' and those who agree with him, not only of bad business management but also of swank, which is the British equivalent for what you in America call 'putting on side.' " We in Amercia! Who ever heard an American speak of "putting on side"? It is straight, pure Cockney, Cockney "of the first water," as Dickens would say. We might as well be accused of calling a hat "han 'at." And when an English writer undertakes to discuss Americanisms at large, oh, dear, dear, the work he makes of it! Some instances of the blunders that are sure to result are given in the note on Farmer's compilation, in the second chapter of this book. But Farmer is accuracy itself, compared with the wild guesses that pass for definitions of expressions pe- culiar to this country in the book entitled: "Passing English of the Victorian Era, a Dictionary of Hetero- dox English, Slang and Phrase," by J. Redding Ware, Routledge & Sons, London, not dated, but issued, I 320 AMERICAN ENGLISH think, in 1913. It is an important work, compiled with much (even though in some cases unavailing) labor; and will be valued for reference in time to come. For this reason, it seems worth while to cor- rect here some fifty of the many errors into which the author has fallen, not that they would mislead an American, but for the benefit of any Englishman who may possibly honor this book with his attention. Mr. Ware's method of procedure with American terms, or what he supposes to be such, has been to clip out every newspaper article he has noticed that contains one of them, guess at the meaning of it, and give his guess as the definition; and he is, almost be- yond belief, unfortunate in his conjectures. Of course not all his blunders are explained in this way, but many of them are. I take examples in alphabetical order, just as they come in the book. "Albany Beef, Unattractive Viands." Here the clipping itself gave the correct definition, an article by G. A. Sala containing reference to "Hudson River sturgeon, otherwise known as Albany beef." There you have it; Albany beef is simply the flesh of the sturgeon, and so far from its being "unattractive," a recent advertisement of a dealer mentions it as "the monarch of all fish to eat," and the appended price list of his large stock gives a higher figure per pound for sturgeon than for any other fish with the single exception of brook trout. "Amen Corner, A church." This is a pure guess. MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 32 1 The Amen Corner was a seat in the lobby of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, often occupied by gentlemen who were far from being regular church attendants. "Arctics, Winter clothing." The clipping itself shows that this definition is absurdly wrong, for it reads: "I hate a hotel where you have to get up at 4.15, dress in a cold room, and walk down to the sta- tion because the bus doesn't go to that train, and about half way down you discover that you left your arctics in the office." Is one likely to leave behind, by oversight, under the circumstances mentioned, his "winter clothing"? Arctics are a special form of overshoes. "Ax TO Grind, A personal end to serve, originally a favor to ask, from men in backwoods pretending to want to grind their axes when in reality they required a drink." Here the definition is not far from right, but the explanation is "way off." The expression comes from an old story, attributed I believe to Ben- jamin Franklin, of a stranger who cajoled a farmer's boy into turning a grindstone for him very laboriously, and when he had sharpened his ax, instead of reward- ing the boy, abused him for idling instead of going to school, where he ought to have been an hour earlier. "Ax Grinders, Men who grumble, especially po- litically." Another wild guess; nothing to suggest it in the clipping quoted. "Back Down, To yield; that is to say, 'make a back,' as boys at leap-frog, to enable the other players 322 AMERICAN ENGLISH to get over." Here is a double error, the expression, though correctly defined, being wrongly explained and wrongly marked "American," as is shown by en- try in Murray (which includes reference to the figura- tive use), "Back down, descend as one does a lad- der" — with the earliest known appearance of the term in print, which was in a London journal of Oct. 11, 1880. "Baseball, Small, insignificant, suggested by the small size of the ball in question." The clipping speaks of a baseball moustache. "Beadles, People of Virginia, probably from their high, old-fashioned behavior, which the Northerner associates with that expiring church functionary." What "Northerner," meaning an American North- erner, ever heard of a beadle, except as he may read of him in British books? What American ever heard the Virginians called beadles? "Beef-Heads or Cowboys, People of Texas and the West of U. S. A., the general employment of the inhabitants being the harrying of cattle." Beef- head is a new word to me, though I cannot say it does not exist. But what about "harrying"? To harry can only mean, as applied to cattle, either to torment or to steal; are these the "general employment of the inhabitants" of "the West of U. S. A."? "Blank Please, A negative euphemism for the unending 'damned,' with a polite request added." The clipping says, "We may put what we blank please MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 323 in the editorial columns," and Mr. Ware thinks the please is a part of the euphemism. "Blue-Grass, People of Kentucky." The clipping speaks of a blue-grass woman. "Blue-Noses, Canadians." The clipping itself shows the term restricted to Nova Scotians, though I think it sometimes includes the people of New Bruns- wick as well. It certainly never means Canadians in general. "Blue Pig, Whiskey." The clipping speaks of "remarkable animals discovered in Maine, striped and blue pigs." What a striped pig may be, I do not know; but a blue pig is a place v/here whiskey is sur- reptitiously sold, and by no means the whiskey itself. "Bobolink, Talkative person." Such people may sometimes be called bobolinks, perhaps, just as one might call them jackdaws or parrots; but the word certainly has no such meaning. "Broomstick (Canadian), A gun or rifle; no word could more perfectly outline the peaceful character of the Canadian as distinct from his American brother, when it is borne in mind that the latter calls his gun, shooting iron. The domesticity of broomstick yields history in itself." If it were true that the Canadian, unlike the American, gives his gun a strictly domestic name, the inference to my mind would be that the former is much more in the habit of using the weapon than is the latter — considers it a sort of necessary do- mestic implement, as it were. 324 AMERICAN ENGLISH "Buncombe, Politically, or possibly any publicly, spoken flattery, from a celebrated orator of honied (sic — should be honeyed) phrases named Buncombe." Wrong from beginning to end, and the clipping shows it, being the old story of "the member from the County of Buncombe" who was indifferent to the gradual dis- appearance of his audience, because he was making a speech intended for home circulation. What his name was, does not appear, but anybody could see that it is most unlikely to have been Buncombe; and there is nothing whatever to indicate that he was getting off "honied" phrases. "Bunko, Doubtful, shifty." "He was taken for a bunko man," says the clipping. A bunko man is by no means a "doubtful" person, but a professional cheat. "C. S., Abbreviation of Confederate Soldiers." The "S" stands, not for soldiers but for States. "Chump, A youth who is cheated of his money, especially by the gentler sex." The clipping char- acterizes as a chump a fellow who is "buying ice- cream for his girl with money he ought to save to buy lunch." Anybody ought to see that he is intended to be described as simply a goose. He would have been just as much a chump if he had wasted his money in treating a crowd of boys or in buying superfluous luxuries for himself; and there is no implication that anybody cheated him. "Claim, To recognize in travelling; in a railway MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 325 carriage one may frequently hear the inquiry, 'Surely I claim you — we met at Suez?' " I do not believe anybody ever heard a phrase like that from the lips of an American, though of course we speak (and cor- rectly) of claiming a person's acquaintance. ''CoMSTOCKiSM, Opposition to the nude in art; Comstock was quite a public man in America." The definition is hardly correct; and the comment is, well, funny. "CoNriDENCE Queen, A female detective, outcome of American state of society." A confidence queen is by no means a detective, but a kind of person that likes to have as little as possible to do with detectives; and there is nothing whatever, even by indirect in- ference, in the subjoined clipping to suggest the mis- conception. "Cracker, Native; origin unknown." The clip- ping speaks of a "South Carolina cracker," giving some color to Mr. Ware's supposition that cracker means native in general, and not, as is the fact, a southern poor white. "Creoles, People of Louisiana, probably a satire by the North upon illegitimate mingling of slave- owners' and slaves' blood." Wrong from beginning to end; see the word in the last preceding chapter of this book. What "satire" can possibly be imagined in the case I am unable to conjecture. "Cut-Throat, Destructive, reckless, applied to card-playing." The clipping itself should suggest 326 AMERICAN ENGLISH the correct interpretation of the word, that it denotes a special form of the game mentioned, and by no means implies any bloodthirstiness in the players, es- pecially as they are described as having "a social game," "Dampen — To damn." The clipping says of a play that "the heroine, dying so soon, rather dampens the piece." The verb, in the sense "to dull, deaden, depress, deject," is as old in British literature as the beginning of the 16th century. Why Mr. Ware sup- posed that it had any other meaning in the paper that he clipped, or that there was anything American about its use there, does not appear. "Dead Give-Away, A swindle, deception." Here is another case where Mr. Ware's own clipping should have given him the proper definition, if he had con- sidered it with any care, for it shows plainly enough that what the writer had in mind was the very reverse of deception, being in fact an undesired revelation of a secret, the only sense in which the phrase is ever used in this country. "Dime Museum, A common show, a poor piece; from New York, which has a passion for monstrosity displays called Dime Museums, the dime being the eighth of a dollar." One would think that the very words he so misconstrues would themselves have en- abled Mr. Ware to get this somewhere nearer right. "Museum" should have shown him that reference is to an establishment and not to a "show" or a "piece"; MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 327 and really, now, does "dime" suggest to the lexi- cographer the fraction one eighth ? "Dirt Road, The highway, as distinct from the railroad, which is gravelled; probably railway official satire." "Satire" again; what looks like satire in the expression? A dirt road is an earth road as distin- guished from one that is paved; and no more in this country than in Europe is it universally true that rail- roads are gravelled. "Doughnut, A baker, especially the German va- riety; probably from the too frequent flabby, doughy face of the sickly operative." A doughnut is a kind of cake, not of German origin and not favored by Germans ; and the explanation — well, doesn't it really seem that this author tries to go as far wrong as he possibly can? "Eighteen Carat Lie, A good sound lie, eighteen carat gold being good, thorough metal." What "thor- ough" metal may be, the present writer does not know, never having heard the adjective used in that con- nection. It certainly cannot mean pure, considering that pure gold is nearly half as rich again as that de- scribed as eighteen carat. "Freak, Actors who lose professional caste by aid- ing in eccentric shows." A freak is a very queer per- son, a monstrosity, like a bearded woman, "Get the G. B., Dismissed, G. B. being 'go by.' " "G. B." means "grand bounce." "Hustler, Name invented for flaming advertise- 328 AMERICAN ENGLISH ments." No clipping. Where on earth did Mr. Ware get his definition? A hustler is an active, pushing person. "Jay Town, Valueless." The clipping itself de- fines the term correctly, for it says: "A jay town is a country town." Are the words "country" and "val- ueless" synonymous in Mr. Ware's vocabulary? "Nickel Plate, An equivalent to our German sil- ver, a swindle, a social fraud." Nickel plate means in the United States exactly what it means in all the rest of the English-speaking world; and the applica- tion made of the term in the clipping, to the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, implies nothing like swindle or fraud, implies nothing at all, in fact, for it is attributed to the calling of the road by initials, N. Y. C. L. suggesting nickel, and so nickel plate. "On His Ear, In disgrace; from American mothers' grabbing their boys' ears while battling in the streets with other boys." Whether American mothers are especially addicted to the reprehensible practice de- scribed, might perhaps be questioned; but "on his ear" never meant, in this country, anything but ex- cited and irritated. The next entry is even wilder. It is this: "On His Feet, Ruined." No clipping; and what possessed the man to suppose that we Americans re- verse the plain ordinary meaning of the phrase that describes an erect posture, and has been used for cen- MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 329 turies metaphorically to describe the position of a business man who no longer needs support, being able to care for himself, passes the present writer's ability to conjecture. The next entry among "ons" is simply cryptic. It runs thus: "On Ice, Dead; from placing body on ice to aid in faking it." What sort of process is faking a body? "Pistol Pockets, Warnings not to fool." No clipping. Who ever heard anybody use the term in any such sense, or in any sense but that conveyed by the ordinary meaning of the words, pockets intended to hold pistols? "Plug, To get into difficulties." No clipping. No American ever used the verb in the sense given. "To plug along" is to make headway against diffi- culties. "Pretty Steep, Threatening." The term is com- monly applied to a charge for a service, and means simply exorbitant. "Pusley, Most mysterious — who was Pusley?" The clipping includes the expression "as mean as pusley," the last word being a corruption of the name of a troublesome weed, purslane. "Ragged Edge, Deserted." This extraordinary definition is one of Mr. Ware's guesses, and a not unnatural one this time, though wildly incorrect. The clipping reads: "Father, daughter and child sailed yesterday for Paris, leaving poor Tom on the ragged 330 AMERICAN ENGLISH edge." Poor Tom may have been deserted; but what the writer meant to say of him was that he was left in a condition of suspense and distress. "Real Healthy, Well brained." No clipping, and surely no comment is necessary. So with the next: "Sajvi Hill, Some hell, replacing the name of a notoriously wild-tongued man." "Scaling Down, Repudiation of debt." This is about the nearest right of the whole list, incorrect as it is. Scaling down is a sort of compromise (or com- position, I believe the English call it), involving in- deed some deduction from the debt, but by no means repudiation. In fact a debt could not be both re- pudiated and scaled down. "Screed, A pelt or muck-running." Does this definition suggest any idea to the reader? It is a meaningless group of words to me. A screed is sim- ply a newspaper story. "Squasho, Negro, probably from the negro's love of melons, pumpkins, squashes, &c." There's ety- mology for you. Did any reader ever hear a negro called a squasho? "Stuck Up, Moneyless, figurative expression de- rived from being 'stuck up' by highwaymen." Who ever heard of a man's being "stuck up by highway- men"? Who ever heard of "stuck up" used in any meaning than conceited? "Take In, Patronize, from taking in papers." No MISUNDERSTOOD AMERICANISMS 33 1 American "takes in" a paper; he simply takes it. To take in is to bamboozle, fool, delude. "Torchlight Procession, One of the more fiery American drinks." Did the reader ever taste, or hear of, any beverage so called? "Wolverines, People of Michigan, probably from the territory's being over-run with wolves." Why the Michiganders are ever called wolverines, I don't know; but certainly a wolverine is not a wolf. "Yaller Dog; Yellow is the tint of most dogs in America; hence it is the most searching term of or- dinary contempt." I think that entry may be noted without comment, and may appropriately wind up the list of Americanisms according to Ware. CHAPTER SIX THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUBJECT The first section of the following list is believed to be complete. The second section, of course, cannot claim to be more than an attempt. The third and fourth sections, combined with the bibliographical work of the Dialect Society referred to at the end of this chapter, are believed to cover, without very seri- ous omission, all periodicals in the English language to about the close of the last century. Since that epoch, periodical literature has so enormously ex- panded, with such great diversification in style and contents, that it has become quite impossible to review it exhaustively. It is hoped that constant and dili- gent study of all published indexes to such literature has resulted in securing references to all important articles in important monthlies, quarterlies, and many weeklies; though undoubtedly many contributions of some value in more "popular" journals, and especially in daily papers, have escaped the compiler's attention, which is regrettable; but how in the world could any- body get them all ? 332 BIBLIOGRAPHY 333 I BOOKS ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO "AMERICANISMS" 1. A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States, to which is prefixed an Essay on the Present State of the English Language in the United States. By John Pickering. Boston; Cummings & Milliard, 1816; 8vo; pp. 208. 2. Letter to the Hon. John Pickering, on the subject of his Vocabulary. By Noah Webster. Boston; West & Richardson, 1817; small 8vo; pp. 60. 3. Glossary of Supposed Americanisms, collected by Al- fred L. Elwyn, M.D. Philadelphia; J, B. Lippin- cott & Co., 1859; 12mo; pp. 122. 4. Americanisms; the English of the New World. By M. Schele de Vere, LL.D. New York; Charles Scrib- ner & Co., 1872; 8vo; pp. 686. 5. Dictionary or Americanisms; a Glossary of Words and Phrases usually regarded as peculiar to the United States. By John Russell Bartlett. Fourth edi- tion. Boston; Little, Brown & Co., 1877; 8vo; pp. 814. 6. Americanisms, Old and New, a Dictionary of Words, Phrases and Colloquialisms peculiar to the United States, British America, the West Indies, etc., etc., their Derivation, Meaning and Application, together with numerous Anecdotal, Historical, Explanatory and Folk- Lore Notes. Compiled and edited by John S. Farmer. London; Thos. Poulter & Sons, 1889; "foolscap 4to"; pp. 564. 7. Political Americanisms; a Glossary of Terms and Phrases current at different periods in American Poli- 334 AMERICAN ENGLISH tics. By Charles Led yard Norton. New York; Longmans, Green & Co., 1890; 16mo; pp. 134. 8. New Dictionary of Americanisms, being a Glossary of Words supposed to be Peculiar to the United States and Canada. By Sylva Clapin. New York; Louis Weiss & Co.; no date, but issued in July, 1902; 8vo; pp. 582. 9. An American Glossary, being an Attempt to Illustrate Certain Americanisms on Historical Principles. By Richard H. Thornton. London; Francis & Co., 1912; 8vo, two volumes; pp. together, 990. 10. The American Language, a Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. By H. L. Mencken, New York; Alfred A. Knopf, 1919; 8vo; pp. 374. 11. A Handbook of American Speech. By Prof. Calvin L. Lewis. Chicago; Scott, Foresman & Co., 1910; 12mo; pp. 246. 12. Plea for an American Language. By Elias Molee. Chicago; John Anderson & Co., 1888. 13. WOORDENBOEK DER EnGELSCHE SpREEKTAAL AND AMERI- CANISMS. By A. E. Barentz. Amsterdam, 1894. 14. Pronunciation of Standard English in America. By Prof. Geo. P. Krapp. Oxford University Press, 1919; 12mo; pp. 236. The preface says: "It seems scarcely credible that any one who knows the facts should think it possible to impose British standards upon American speech." 15. The Question of Our Speech. By Henry James, Boston; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1905. TWO PAMPHLETS OF IMPORTANCE English in the United States. By W. C. Benet. Abbe- ville, S. C, 1880. BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 The American Language. By J. F. Healy. Pittsburg, Pa., no date, about 1911. II CHAPTERS OR PARTS OF BOOKS 1. John Witherspoon, D.D. Essays on Americanisms, Perversions of Language in the United States, Cant Phrases, etc., in 4th vol. of his works, published in 8vo, Philadelphia, 1801. (The earliest work on Ameri- can vulgarisms. Originally published as a series of essays, entitled "The Druid," which appeared in a periodical in 1761.) 2. Adiel Sherwood. Gazetteer of Georgia. Charleston, 1827; Philadelphia, 1829; Washington, 1837. Has glossary of slang and vulgar words used in the Southern States. 3. T. Romeyn Beck, M.D., LL.D. "Notes on Pickering's Vocabulary." Albany Institute Transactions, Vol. I, p. 25; Albany, N. Y., 1830. 4. James Russell Lowell. Biglow Papers, 1848, 1864. Introductions to First and Second Series, and Glossary. 5. Charles Astor Bristed. "The English Language in America," in Cambridge Essays. London; John W. Parker & Son, 1855. (Shows "rare" meat, and "corned" for drunk, to be expressions of English origin.) 6. W. C. Fowler, LL.D. English Grammar. New York; Harper & Bros., 1855, 8vo; pp. 119-129. Also 12mo, 1858; pp. 23-27. 7. George P. Marsh. Lectures on the English Language. Fourth edition; New York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1859. Lecture 30, "The English Language in Amer- ica." 336 AMERICAN ENGLI-SH • 8. G. F. Graham. A Book about Words; London; Long- mans, Green & Co., 1869; chap. 13, "Slang Words and Americanisms." 9. R. G. White. Words and Their Uses; New York; Shel- don & Co., 1870; chap. 3, "British-English and Ameri- can-English." Also, Every-day English; Boston; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1880; chap. 6, "American Speech." 10. Proe, W. D. Whitney. Language and the Study of Language, 5th edition; New York; Charles Scribner & Co., 1870; pp. 171-174. 11. G. C. Eggleston. a Man of Honor; New York; Orange Judd Co., 1873. (Illustrates various Virginia pro- vincialisms.) 12. A. J. Ellis. Early English Pronunciation; London; Trubner & Co., 1874. Part 4, pp. 1217-'30. (In- cludes considerable notice of pronunciation used by American humorists.) 13. G. A. Barringer. "Etude sur I'Anglais parte aux Etats Unis {La Langue Americaine) ,'^ in Actes de la Societe Philologique de Paris, March, 1874. (Largely trans- ferred from De Vere.) ' 14. Gilbert M. Tucker. Our Common Speech. New York; Dodd, Mead & Co., 1895. Pages 151-234, "American English." 15. Rev. Dr. Samuel Fallow^s. Synonyms and Antonyms; New York; F. H. Revell, 1886; pp. 294-342, "Dic- tionary of Americanisms, Briticisms, etc." 16. R. O. Williams. Our Dictionaries; New York; Henry Holt & Co., 1890; pp. 71-128. 17. Brander Matthew^s. Americanisms and Briticisms; New York; Harper & Bros., 1892; pp. 1-59. 18. Charles Wooward Stearns, M.D. Shakespeare Treas- BIBLIOGRAPHY 337 ury of Wisdom; New York; G. P. Putnam & Son, 1869. Chap. 12, "Americanisms in Shakespeare's Plays." 19. Edward Eggleston. The Hoosier Schoolmaster; New York; Orange Judd & Co., 1871. Passim. 20. William Swinton. Rambles among Words; New York; Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., 1872. Ramble 12, "English in America." 21. James Maitland. American Slang Dictionary. Chi- cago; R. J. Kittredge & Co., 1891; 8vo; pp. 308. Passim. (This book is an American dictionary of English slang in general, by no means confined to Amer- ican slang.) 22. Anonymous. America from a French Point of View. London; Wm. Heinemann, 1897. Chap. 12, "Ameri- can English." Author says: "To my ears, the Eng- lish of their best people is equal, if not better, than that of the same class in Great Britain." 23. Henry Cabot Lodge. Certain Accepted Heroes; New York; Harper & Bros., 1897. Pages 95-114, "Shake- speare's Americanisms." Revision of article in Har- per's Monthly, 90.252. 24. Dialect Notes, Vol 1. Norwood, Mass.; American Dia- lect Society, 1896. Pages 428-437, "British vs. Ameri- can English," by E. A. Phipson. 25. William Archer. America Today; New York; Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1899. Pages 216-260, "The Ameri- can Language" (partly a review of the last chapter of "Our Common Speech"). 26. Brander Matthews. Parts of Speech; New York; Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1901. Several chapters. 27. H. W. & F. G. Fowler. The King's English; Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1906. Page 23 et seq. 28. J. R. Ware. Passing English of the Viptorian Era. 338 AMERICAN ENGLISH London; Routledge & Sons, no date, but about 1912, Passim — see fifth chapter of book now in the reader's hand. 29. Margaret W. Morley. The Carolina Mountains; Bos- ton; Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1913. Chap. 17, "The Speech of the Mountains." 30. Geo. J. Hagar, editor. New Universities Dictionary; New York; World Syndicate Co., 1915. Page 996, "Dictionary of Americanisms." 31. Alec. Francis. Americans, an Impression; London; Andrew Melrose, 1909. Page 123 et seq. 32. Mark Twain. Hillcrest Edition of Works; New York; Harper & Brothers, 1898. Vol. 20, page 396. "Con- cerning the American Language." 33. Richard Burton. Literary Likings; 1898. Chapter on American English. 34. R. J. Lloyd. Northern English; Leipsic; Teubner, 1908. Makes various comparisons between British and Ameri- can speech. 35. T. W. Harrison. English Sources of American Dialect. American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, 4.15.9. 36. Frank Dilnot. The New America; New York; Mac- millan Co., 1919. Chap. 3, "The written and spoken word." 37. Worcester's Dictionary, ed. 1881, page L. Also various encyclopaedias — the American, Appleton's, Chambers', Library of Universal Knowledge, &c. Article "Americanisms." BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 III ARTICLES IN FOREIGN PERIODICALS (The figures at the left of the decimal point indicate the volume; those at the right, the page.) Academy: 47.193; 47.278; 47.317. All the Year Round: 25.270; 76.38. Archiv EUR das Studium der Neueren Sprachen: 4.1 ("Die Englische Sprache in Nordamerika"). Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: 89.421; 102.399 ("In- roads upon English"); 183.118. Copied in Littell's Living Age, 95.218. Canadian Monthly: 1.87. (Review of De Vere.) Chambers' Journal: April 19, 1856, p. 249; Dec. 20, 1873, p. 801; March 31, 1875, p. 171; Sept. 25, 1875; p. 609; Jan. 30, 1886, p. 70. CoRNHiLL Magazine: 58.363. Die Neueren Sprachen: 2.243; 2.520 ("English in America," by Prof. C. H. Grandgent). Eclectic Review^: (N. S.) 13.356 — April, 1820 (Review of Pickering). Illustrated London News: 82.87 (G. A. Sala, Review of Tucker in North-American Review); 84.339 (Sala, Re- view of Tucker in Albany Institute Transactions) ; 84.543 (Sala, Reply to Smalley in N. Y. Tribune). Knowledge: 6.319; 8.171; 9.159, 178, 196, 249, 275, 332, 352; 10.14, 38, 41, 66, 113, 183, 230, 274; 11.28, 82, 129, 183, 223. Leisure Hour: 26.110; 36.827. London Quarterly: 57.392 (Review of De Vere). London Times: Sept. 12, 1912, Lit. Sup., page 358 (Review of Thornton). 340 AMERICAN ENGLISH Longman's Magazine: 1.80 ("Some points in American Speech," by E. A. Freeman). Month: 94.63 (Says: "No one could possibly take Mr. Henry James or Mr. Howells for an Englishman.") Nineteenth Century, September, 1880. ("English, Ra- tional and Irrational," by Fitzedward Hall.) Pall Mall Magazine: 19.188 ("The American Language," by William Archer. Very interesting and sensible). Penny Magazine: July 21, 1838, p. 278. (Severe on Ameri- can speech.) Quarterly Review: 10.528. Saturday Review: 60.709 (Review of "Political American- isms" in Mag. of Am. Hist.); 62.142; 62.190; 78.321. Spectator: 62.493 (Review of Farmer). Tinsley's Magazine: 29.330 (by Albany de Fonblanque — hot denunciation of American speech). Westminster Gazette: July 18, 1913 ("Ought American to be taught in our Schools?"). Westminster Review: 130.35 (No dialects in United States) ; No. 234, October, 1882, p. 279, Scott edition (Admits that the English call now "nao."). IV ARTICLES IN AMERICAN PERIODICALS Analectic Magazine: 3.404. (Sarcastic [?] defense of American freedom of speech; recommends invention of a new language.) Appletons' Journal: (N. S.) 11.315. ("English and American-English," by Richard A. Proctor, from Gentle- man's Magazine). Arena: 20.537. Atlantic Monthly: 6.667; 40.233; 41.495 (R. G. White, BIBLIOGRAPHY 34I Review of Bartlett) ; 41.656 (do.); 42.97 (do.); 42.342 (do.); 42.619 (do.); 42.643 (Reply to White); 43.88 (White on Bartlett); 43.109 (freight train and spool); 43.379 (White on Bartlett); 43.656 (do.); 44.654 (White, "Assorted Americanisms") ; 45.428 (Reply to White) ; 45.669 (White, "British Americanisms"); 47.697 (White, supplementary to Bartlett articles); 48.849; 52.792; 53.286; 53.290; 55.593 (R. A. Proctor, "The Misused H of England"); 55.856 (right away); 76.708; 104.135 (dialects); 115.360 (concludes that "we [Americans] have an unquestionable right to the pronunciation natural to ourselves"). Bookman: 5.96; 11.446 (survivals of old pronunciations); 12.243 (do.); 26.533 (Whibley) ; 26.586 (satire on Whib- ley) ; 27.63 (reply to Whibley — calls him "careless and peevish"). BurrALO Commercial Advertiser: Sept. 10-11, 1888. (Article on pronunciation, from Critic.) Century: 47 (25). 848 ("Wild Flowers of English Speech in America," by Edward Eggleston) ; 48(26).867 ("Folk Speech in America," by Edward Eggleston). Chautauquan: 22.436 (American dialects). Chicago Nevi^s, March 10, 1890 (London letter from Eugene Field). Cosmopolitan: 30.274 (by Brander Matthews, chatty and gen- eral but sensible and interesting). Critic: 13.97, 104, 115, 263; 36.81. Current Literature: 35.492. Dial: 14.233; 33.29; 48.40; 54.380; 95.11 (review of Thorn- ton). Dialect Notes: 1.428 ("British vs. American English" from the British point of view). Notes on American provin- cialisms appear in every issue of Dialect Notes, and it would therefore be useless to list them here. 342 AMERICAN ENGLISH Eclectic Magazine: 132.60 (by William Archer). Education: 13.367. English Journal: 2.266; 6.1. ("The Standard of American Speech," by Prof. F. N. Scott.) Forum: 2.117. ("Americanisms in England," by A. C. Coxe.) Galaxy: 21.521 (White, Pronunciation); 24.376 (White on Bartlett); 24.681 (do.). Harper's Bazar: 30.958 (by T. W. Higginson). Harper's Monthly: 66.665 (Sussex Expressions); 83.215 (Brander Matthews, "Briticisms and Americanisms"); 85.277 (Matthews, American spelling); 90.252 (H. C. Lodge, Shakespeare's Americanisms); 126.417; 126.618; 127.133; 127.274; 127.586 (last five by T. R. Louns- bury) ; 129.103; 131.436 (Kentucky mountain provin- cialisms); 140.846 (Plea for disregarding British usage when it differs from American). Harper's Weekly: 39.1037 (W. D. Howells); 54.6; 56.25; 59.105. Home Journal: Oct. 25, 1899. Hours at Home: 5.361 (Review of "Queen's English," by F. W. Shelton). Independent: 52.410; 53.2706; 65.765; 67.477. International Reviev^^: 8.472 ("English Language in Amer- ica," by Lounsbury; 8.596 (do.). Journal of Education: 84.41 (pronunciation). Ladies' Home Journal: 20.46 ("American brogue"). Lakeside Monthly: 3.154. Life: 74.47 (Bright satire, worth reading). Lippincott's Magazine: 3.310 (Provincialisms); 4.345; 5.545; 19.513; 31.378 (Review of Freeman in Long- man's); 44.121 (mugwump). Literary Digest: 46.1386; 47.212; 50.1468; 50.830; 53.708; 53.848. BIBLIOGRAPHY 343 Literary World: 14.364. (Littell's) Living Age: 20.79 (Review of Bartlett, from Boston Advertiser); 95.218 ("Inroads upon English," from Blackwood, as above) ; 100.636 (Review of Zincke's "Last Winter in the United States," from Spectator); 114.446; 120.240 ("United States English," from Chambers' Jour- nal); 132.821 (from Leisure Hour) ; 155.483 (Freeman's Longmans' article); 179.298 (The Great American Lan- guage, from Cornhill Magazine); 204.438 ("All the Year Round" article); 219.514; 251.654; 254.123. M'Clure's Magazine: 47.87. Magazine or American History: 12.564 (C. L. Norton, Political Americanisms) ; 13.98 (do.); 13.199 (do.); 13.- 295 (do.); 13.394 (do.); 13.495 (do.); 13.599 (com- ments on foregoing). Modern Philology: 6.53. Munsey's Magazine: 40.345* (Brander Matthews; notes formation of "American Language League" to change name of our speech to "American"). Nation: 5.428; 6.392; 11.56 (Pennsylvania provincialisms); 11.72 (do.); 14.28 (Savage Review of De Vere) ; 14.45 (Review of Hoosier Schoolmaster); 16.148 (North Caro- lina provincialisms); 16.183 (do.); 17.113 (Words from Indian languages); 18.380 (Review of Barringer) ; 21.8 (Penn. pro.); 26.171 (Review of Bartlett); 26.243 (Re- view of Bartlett); 32.184 (blizzard); 32.208 (do.); 32.220 (do.); 32.260 (do.); 49.15 (Review of Farmer); 57.484; 84.28; 95.11 (Review of Thornton); 108.698 (Review of Mencken). National Quarterly Review: 2.230 (Review of Pickering and Bartlett). New England Magazine: 6.583 (shows New England pro- vincialisms to be old English); 15.337. 344 AMERICAN ENGLISH New Englander: (N.S.) 3.429. New York Evening Post: April 12, 1919 (Review of Mencken). New York Tribune: Aug. 14, 1881 (Proctor); May 17, 1884 (G. W. Smalley on Sala on Tucker); Sept. 29, 1894 (Smalley). North American Review: 3.355 (Review of Pickering); 69.94 (Review of Bartlett) ; 91.507 (Review of Marsh's Lectures); 136.55 (Tucker, American English); 141.431 ("Slang in America," by Walt Whitman); 146.709 (lag- niappe and brottus) ; 147.102 (brottus) ; 147.348 (brot- tus, buckra, goober) ; 147.475 (lagniappe and brottus) ; 207.91 (general review of the subject, concluding that "the day may easily come when an American may find himself unable to make himself understood in England, and the same with an Englishman in America"); 209.697 (Review of Mencken; calls it "the book of the month"). Outlook: 72.397; 89.236; 91.17; 96.632 ("Yankee in British Fiction," absurdities of his speech). Popular Science Monthly: 32.387; 69.324. Putnam's Monthly: 16.519. Rural New Yorker: 49.231 (North Carolina Provincial- isms). San Francisco Newsletter: Vol. 49, No. 25 (Pronuncia- tion). School Review :23. 381 (British and American Pronunciation — thoughtful and interesting). Scribner's Magazine: 29.360 (Brander Matthews); 41.653 (H. C. Lodge); 45.378; 68.621 (Brander Matthews). Scribner's Monthly: 3.379 (Review of De Vere). Southern Literary Messenger: 2.110; 14.623 (Review of Bartlett). Southern Methodist Quarterly: N. S., 9.248 (valuable article). BIBLIOGRAPHY 345 Southern Review: N. S., 9.290 and 9.529 (Review of Bart- lett's and Webster's dictionaries, severe on American Eng- lish). For other references, arranged on a different plan from that followed in the foregoing list, and including matter not strictly germane to the purposes of this book, see Mencken, p, 323, and also Dialect Notes, 1.13, 80, 254 and 344, and 2.151. The list in the initial number of Dialect Notes, and placed at the beginning of that issue, was intended as a supplement to the first bibliography of Americanisms ever compiled, which was that appended by the present writer to his paper on "American English," Albany Institute Transactions, Vol. 10, p. 358. INDEX abergoins, 228 aboard (a land vehicle), 228 abolitiondom, 228 abolitionist, 228 abolitionize, 228 aboriginal, 228 above one's bend, 228 above snakes, 228 abrasive, 228 abskize, 228 absquatulate, 228 abutter, 228 according to Gunter, 73 account, 73 accountability, 74 accumulative, 229 acknowledge the corn, 228 across lots, 228 acruffs, 229 acting, 74 addressee, 74 admire, 74 adobes, 229 adulterer, 74 adventism, 229 affiliate, 75 affiliations, 229 Africanize, 229 after, 229 afternight, 75 agaze, 229 age, 229 agee, 75 ague mispronounced, 229 aim, 75 aint, 225 air-line, 229 airy, 75 alarmist, 75 Albany beef, 229, 320 Albany hemp, 229 Albany regency, 229 alcoholism, 75 alewife, 229 Algerine, 229 Algic, 229 alienage, 75 alienism, 229 alkali desert, 229 all any more, 229 all-a-setting, 229 all-day, 229 all-fired, 75 all-hollow, 229 all-possessed, 229 all sorts, all sorts of, 229 all the go, all the rage, 229 all the time, 229 all two, 230 alley, 76 alligator, 76 allot upon, 230 allottee, 229 allow, 25, 76, 230 allspice, 76 almond, 32 almshouse, 76 along, 76 alter, 230 alumnus, 76 ambia, 230 ambition, 230 ambitious, 230 ambuscade, 230 amen corner, 320 amenability, 77 Americanism, Americanize, 230 among, 230 among the missing, 230 ampersand, 77 annunciator, 77 and the rise, 230 angel, 230 angeliferous, 230 angle worm, 230 animule, 230 347 348 INDEX anog, 230 antagonize, 77, 221, 223 ante, 230 antehumous, 230 anti-bank, 230 anti-federalist, 230 antifogmatic, 230 anti-masonry, 230 anti-negro, 231 anti-rentism, 231 anti-slavery, 231 anti-southern, 231 anti-union, 231 any, 77 anything else, 231 antony over, 231 anxious meeting, 231 anxious seat, 231 apartment, 231 apishamore, 231 appellate, 77 appetitical, 231 apple brandy, 231 apple butter, 231 applecart, 78 apple leather, 231 apple peeling, 231 apple toddy, 231 appointable, 78 appreciate, appreciation, Arab, 231 arctics, 231, 320 argufy, 78 Arkansas toothpick, 231 armory, 231 arm-shop, 231 around, 232 arrow, 232 arter, 232 ary, 232 as good as, 232 as long as, 232 ascotch, 232 ash cake, 232 ashlanders, 232 assemblyman, 232 assininity, 78 assign, 78 associational, 232 associationist, 232 asterism, 232 231 at (verb), 232 at auction, 232 at (after where), 78 at the north or south, 232 at that, 232 a-tremble, 78 attitudinize, 79 attleborough, 232 authoress, 79 available, availability, 232 avails, 79 avalanche, 233 ax to grind, 321 babes, 233 back, 233 back and forth, 79 back country, 233 back down, 22>3, 321 back furrow, 233 back log, 233 back out, 79 back setting, 2:i2> back talk, 233 back track, 233 backward, 79 back water, 233 backwoods, 233 bad, 79 baggage, 71, 79 bail, 80 bait, 233 baiting, 80 baker, 233 bake-shop, 233 balance, 233 bald-face, 233 balk, 80 ball up, 233 ballyhack, 234 ballyrag, 234 bam, 80 banana, 81 bang, 234 bang-up, 81 bango, 234 banjo, 81 banker, 234 bank sneak, 234 banquette, 60, 81 banter, 234 INDEX 349 barbecue, 81 barberize, 234 barn, 234 barrack, 234 barracoon, 234 barriclade, 234 barrens, 82, 287 bartender, barkeeper, 234 baseball, 82, 322 basilar, 82 bat, 82, 234 bayou, 234 beach-comber, 234 bead, 234 beadles, 322 bear, 82 beard, 82 beast, 44 beat, dead beat, 105, 234 beat out, 234 beau, 82 beaver-dam, 83 bedrock, 83 bedspread, 234 bee, 235 bee gum, 235 beef, 83 beef-heads, 322 behindments, 235 being, 83 beliked, 83 belittle, 235 bell hop, 235 belongings, 83 belt, 235 bender, 83 bent, 235 best, 84 bestowment, 235 betty, 235 biddy, 84 biff, 235 big, 235 biggity, 235 big-head, 235 bilberry, 84 bile, 84 biling, 84 bilk. 84 billion, 235 billy, 84 bindweed, 84 bindery, 235 bishop, 235 bislings, 235 bit, 235 blackberry, 84 blackleg, 85 blacklist, 85 blacksnake, 236 blacky, 85 blamed, 236 blank please, 322 blankety, 236' blatancy, 85 blatherskite, 236 blatt, 236 blaze, 236 bleachers, 236 blickey, 236 blind, 236 blinders, 236 blizzard, 236 bloated, 236 block, 236 blood tubs, 236 Bloomer costume, 236 blotter, 85 blow, 85 blower, 236 blowhard, 236 blowout, 85 blow up, 236 bluebacks, 236 blue-blood, 85 blue-book, 86 blue-fish, 86 blue-grass, 323 bluelights, 236 blue-noses, 323 blue-pig, 323 blue pill, 236 bluff, 86, 237 blummechies, 237 blummies, 237 blur-eyed, 86 boatable, 237 bob, 237 bob sled, 237 bob veal, 237 bobolink, 323 bockey, 237 350 bodaciously, 237 body bolt, 237 bogus, 237 bolt, 237 bombo, 237 bonanza, 237 bone, 237 bones, 86 boneyard, 237 boodle, 237 boohoo, 86 bookstore, 237 boom, 237 boost, 237 boot, 237 bootlick, 237 borning-ground, 237 bosom of a shirt, 238 boss, 238 bothersome, 238 bottom, bottoms, 86 bounce, 238 bound, 86 bounty jumper, 238 Bourbon, 238 bower, in euchre, 238 bowling-alley, 87 box, 238 box car, 238 box coat, 238 brace up, take a brace, 238 brainy, 87 branch (brook), 238 brave (Indian warrior), 238 breadstuff, 238 break, 238 breakback, 238 breakbone fever, 238 breakdown, 238 bred (impregnated), 238 brick in the hat, 238 brickly, 87 brief, 87 bright, 87 brill, 238 bring up, 87 Briticism, 42, 239 Britisher, 239 broadhorn, 239 brogues, 239 broncho, 239 INDEX broomstick, 323 brotus, brottus, 239 broughtens up, 239 brown, 87 bruiser, 87 brummagem, 88 brung, 239 bub, bubby, 239 buccaneer, 239 buck, 88, 239 buckboard, 239 bucket, 25, 239 bucket shop, 239 buck fever, 239 buckle, 88 buck shot, 239 buckskin, 239 bucktails, 240 buffalo, buffalo robe, 240 bug, 88 bugaboo, 88 bulge, to get, 240 bulger, 240 bull boat, 240 bully, 89 bulldoze, 240 bull plow, 240 bull's eye, 240 bullwhacker, 240 bum, bummer, 240 bumper, 240 bun, 240 bunch (verb), 240 bunco, bunko, 240, 324 buncombe, 240, 324 bundle, 240 bimgay, 240 bungo, 240 Bungtown copper, 240 bunk, 89 bunker, 240 burdensome, 240 bureau, 89 burgall, 240 burgle, burglarize, 240 burro, 89 bushwhacker, 241 bust, 89 buster, 241 butt. 241 butte, 241 INDEX 351 butter-fingered, 241 butter ine, 241 butternut, 241 buzz, buzzer, 89 buzz saw, 241 by and again, 241 by-and-large, 89 by-bidder, 24 by sun, 241 cable, cablegram, 241 caboodle, 241 caboose, 90 cache, 90 cack, 241 cade, 90 cadeau, 90 cahoot, 241 calabash, 90 calaboose, 90 calash, 90 calculate, 25, 91 calibogus, 242 callithumpian, 242 call (in stock market), 241 call down, 242 calloused, 91 campaign, 242 camphene, 242 campus, 242 canaille, 242 candidacy, 242 candidate, candidateship, 91 candlelighting, 91 canebrake, 242 cane-rush, 242 cannot, can only, 242 canon, 242 cantaloupe, 91 cant-hook, 91 Canuck, 242 canvass, 92 cap all, 92 capper, 242 caption, 242 car, 92 carf, 92 car-house, 242 carman, 92 carom, 93 carpet bagger, 243 carriole, 243 carry (portage), 243 carryall, 243 carry away, 93 carrylog, 243 carry on, 93 cast, 93 case, 243 casket (coffin), 243 cat (in fishing), 243 catamount, 93 catawampous, catawamptious, 243 cat boat, 243 catch, 93 catch-all, 243 catch on, 243 catechise, 94 catfish, 94 cat-haul, 243 caucus, 243, 318 caution, 94 cave-in, 94 Cavendish, 243 cavort, 243 celestial, 243 cent, 243 certain, 94 chained lightning, 94 chance, 94 chance (quantity), 243 chaparral, 244 charade, 32 charlotte, charlotte-russe, 244 check, cheque, 35, 94, 244 checkers, 244 cheese, 95 chemiloon, 244 chess, 95 chestnut, 244 chin (chatter), 244 chince, 244 chinch, chinchbug, chintz, 244 Chink (Chinaman), 244 chip, 244 chip in, 244 chipper, 95 chipmunk, 244 chippy, 244 chirivari, 244 chirk, 95 352 chisel, 95 chitlins, 244 chock-full, 95 chock up, 244 choke off, 95 choker, 96 chompins, 244 chop, 96 chore, 96 chuck-a-luck, 244 chucklehead, 96 chump, 324 chunk, 68 chunk, chunky, 244 chiu-chism, 245 churchmaul, 245 chute, 96 cider oil, 245 cimlm, cymbling, 245, 251 cinch, 245 citified, 245 citizenize, 245 citron, 245 civism, 96 claggy, 245 claim, 25, 245, 324 clamshell, 245 clamtrap, 245 clapmatch, clockmutch, 245 classy, 245 clatterments, 245 clatterwhacking, 245 clawhammer, 245 clear, 245 clear grit, 245 clearing, 245 clearing-house, 96 clear out, 246 clevel, 96 clever, 97 clevis, 97 climb down, 97 clingstone, 246 clingjohn, 246 clinker-built, 97 close out, 246 cloud, 97 cloudburst, 246 clove (valley), 246 coach, 97 coach whip, 97 INDEX coast (down hill), 246 coatee, 246 cob, 246 cobbler, 246 cockarouse, 246 cocktail, 246 cocky, 98 C. O. D., 246 codding, 246 co-ed, 246 coffin boat, 246 cohees, 246 cold slaw, 246 cold sore, 246 collapsity, 246 collar, 98 collards, 246 collarette, 98 collateral, 98 collect, 246 colored, 247 combine, 98 come down, 247 come in, 247 come out, 99 come over, 99 commander, 99 commencement, 99 commons, 99 commune, 99 commutation, 221 compare, 99 compassive, 247 complected, 247 compliment, 247 compromit, 99 compus, 247 comstockism, 325 concededly, 247 concerned, 247 conductor (of train), 247 confectioner, 99 confectionery, 247 Confederate, 247 conferrees, 247 confidence man, 247 confidence queen, 325 congressional, 247 congressman, 247 coniacker, koniacker, 247 conk, 247 INDEX 353 connection, 100 conniption, 247 connubiate, 247 consequentious, 100 considerable, 247 consociate, consociation, constitutionality, 100 contemplate, 100 contestee, 247 continuance, 100 contraband, 247 contraption, 100 contrive, 100 convene, 248 coodies, 248 cook, 100 cookey, 101 cooler, 248 coolly, coulee, 248 coon, 248 copperhead, 248 copse, 101 cordelle, 248 corduroy road, 248 corked, 101 corn (maize), 248 cornjuice, 248 corn trash, 248 corned (drunk), 335 corner in market, 249 corporosity, 249 corral, 249 cotch, 249 councilmanic, 249 count, 101, 249 counterj'umper, 101 country jake, 249 county house, 249 couple, 249 cove, 101 cover short sale, 249 coverlid, 101 cowcatcher, 249 cow-hide? 101 cowlick, 249 cowskin, 249 crab, 249 crab lantern, 249 crab schooner, 249 crack, cracksman, 102 crackajack, 249 100 cracker, 102, 249, 325 cracklings, 249 crack loo, 249 crack on, 249 cradle-scythe, 102 cram, 102 crank, 249 cranky, 102 craps, 249 crawfish, 249 crawm, 250 crazybone, 250 creamer, creamery, 250 creeper, 102 crease, 250 creek, 250 Creole, 250, 325 crevasse, 102 crib, 103 crisscross, 103 crook, 250 crookneck, 250 cropper, 250 cross timber, 250 crotch, 250 crotchikal, 250 crowd, 250 crower, 250 cruel, 103 cruller, 250 crush, 103, 250 cry, 250 C. S., 324 cuffy, 250 cultivate, 104 cull, 103 cunning, 104 ciu-ios, 250 curious, 104 cuspidor, 250 cuss, 104 cussedness, 250 cussword, 251 customable, 104 customer, 104 custom-made, 251 cut (in college), 251 cut and dried, 251 cut a splurge, 251 cut capers, cut didoes, 251 cut dirt, 251 354 cut-off, 251 cut round, 251 cut-throat, 325 cut under, 251 cuteness, 104 cutter, 25 1 cut-up, 105 cymbling, 245, 251 daddock, 105 daddy longlegs, 105 daisy, dandy, 251 dampen, 326 dandified, 105 dare for may, 251 darky, 251 darnation, 105 day down, 251 deacon, 251 dead, 105 dead beat, 105, 234 dead broke, 251 deaden, 251 deadhead, 251 dead rabbits, 252 dead set, 105 deal, 106 decedent, 252 declension, declination, 252 dehorn, 252 demean, 106 demonstrate, 106 demote, 252 dengue, 252 depot, 106 derail, 106 derrick, 106 desk, 106 desperate, 252 despisement, 106 detail, 107 detrain, 107 dewberry, 107 dicker, 252 did not have, 107 difference, 108 difficulted, 108 dig, 108, 252 digging, 108 dime, 108 dime museum, 326 INDEX ding, dinged, 252 dingbats, 252 dingee, dinky, 108 dingle, 252 dingling, 109 dip, 252 dipper, 109, 252 dipsy, 109 dippy, 252 directly, 21 dirt, 252 dirt road, 327 disfellowship, 109 disgruntled, 109 disguised, 109 dish gravy, 252 disremember, 109 disunionist, 109 dite, 110 ditty bag, 252 dive, 252 divide, 252 divort, 110 dizzy, 252 dobber, 252 dock (pier), 252 docket, 253 dockwalloper, 253 doctor, 253 dod rot it, 253 dodger, 253 dog, 110, 253 doggery, 253 doings, 253 doless, 110 dolittle, 110 do me, 253 donate, 253 donation, 110 done with past participle, 253 donock, dornick, 253 do-nothing, 110 doodlebug, 253 doom (tax), 253 dory, 110 doted, 110 double. 111 double house, 253 double-jaded, 253 double ripper, 253 dough, dough head, 253 INDEX 355 doughface, 111 doughnut, 111, 327 dove, dived. 111 down, 111 down country, 253 down upon, 111 dozy, 253 drat it. 111 draw (part of bridge), 253 draw a bead, 253 dressing, 112 dress-suit case, 254 drink, 254 drive, driver, 112 driveway, 254 driving park, 254 droger, 112 drop, drop letter, drop light, 254 drudge, 254 drugstore, 254 drummer, 112 drunk, 112 dry, 254 dry goods, 254 dry up, 254 dubersome, 112 dude, 254 dumb betty, 254 dumbwaiter, 254 dummy, 112 dump, 254 dumpage, 254 dumpy, 113 dunfish, 254 dungaree, 254 dunky, 254 durned, 254 dust, 113 duster (garment), 255 dutchman, 255 dutiable, 113 ear bob, 113 earhoop, earlock, eartab, 255 east, about, 255 eat, 255 ebenezer, 255 edibles, 113 editorial, 255 educational, 113 eel spear, 113 egg on, 114 eighteen-carat, 327 elect to, 114 electioneering, 1 14 electricute, 255 ell, 255 empt, 114 engage, 114 engine, 224 engineer, 114 enjoy bad health, 114 enthuse, 255 en weave, 114 episcopize, 255 erupt, 115 escopette, 255 esquire, 115 European plan, 255 evener, 255 evening, 25, 255 eventuate, 255 everglades, 255 every which way, 256 evincive, 256 exchangeability, 256 exchanges, 256 excur, 318 excursionist, 256 executive, 256 exercises, 256 exflunct, 256 expect, 25, 43, 115 exposition, 116 express, 256 faculate, 256 fair, 116, 256 fair and square, 116 fake, 116 faker, 256 fall (a tree), 116 fall (season), 318 falling weather, 256 fallway, 256 family, 116 fan (baseball), 256 fandango, 116 fantail (steamer), 256 farina, 117 fatwood, 256 fay in, 117 35^ INDEX faze, 256 fearful, 117 feast (fastidious), 257 feather (said of cream), 257 feature, 257 federal, federalize, 117 federalist, 257 feed, 117 feel like, 257 feel to do, 118 fellowship, 118 fen, 118 fence (of wood), 118 fence (receiver of stolen goods), 119 fetch (a scream), 257 fetching, 257 fetch up, 257 fetterlock, 257 few, a little, 119 F. F. v., 257 fiat money, 257 fid, 119 fiendishment, 257 file (cloth), 257 filibuster, 119 fill (embankment), 257 fillipeen, philopena, 257 fills, 119 find, 119 findings, 257 finefied, 119 fip, fippeny, 119 fire, fire out, 120 fire away, 257 fire-bug, fire-hunt, 257 firedogs, 120 fire-eater, 120 fire-hook, 120 fire- wood, 120 first-class, first-rate, 120 fish story, 257 fishy, 120 fist, 257 fit, fought, 121 fix, 121 fix up, 257 fixings, 257 fizzle, 257 flat, 258 flakes. 121 flapdoodle, 121 flare, 121 flashboard, 121 flash in pan, 122 flat, 122 flat-boat, 122 flat-broke, 258 flat out, 258 flatfooted, 258 flats, 258 fleabane, 122 fleabitten, 258 flip, 122 float, floats, 258 floater, 258 floodwood, 258 floor, 258 floorwalker, 258 flowage, 258 flubdub, 258 flume, 258 flimky, 258 flush, 258 flutterft'heel, 258 fly (swamp), 258 flyer, 258 flyingfish, 122 folks, 122 foofoo, 258 foot (a bill), 258 foot hill, 258 footy, 123 for, in honor of, 123 forehanded, 123 forge ahead, 123 fork, 258 fork over, fork up, 259 forwarding merchant, 259 fotch, 123 fox, repair, 123 fox-fire, 123 foxy, 123 fracas, 32 fraggle, 259 frail, 259 frame house, 259 frame-up, 259 fraud, 124 freak, 124, 327 free to confess, 124 freestone, 259 INDEX 337 freeze, freezer, freeze out, 259 freight, 259 French, Frenchy, Frenching, 259 fresh, 124 froe, 124 frog, 259 frolic, 124 front name, 259 frosted, 259 frowchey, 259 fudge, 259 fugelman, 124 full chisel, 259 fundum, 260 funeral, 125 funk, 125 furore, 260 fyke, 260 gabblement, 125 gale, 260 gall, 260 gallinipper, 125 gallus, 125 galoot, 125 galumph, 125 gam, 260 gander party, 260 gange, 126 gang-saw, 260 gangster, 260 ganty, 260 gar, 260 garden truck, 260 garmenture, 126 garnishee, 126 garrison, 126 gat, gate, 126 gather (a single object), 126 gavmted, 126 gavel, 260 gawnicus, 260 G. B, 327 gear up, 260 gee, 127 gent, 127 Gentile, 260 German, 26 gerrymander, 260 get, offspring, 127 get off, 260 get roimd, 260 get the mitten, 261, 278 get there, 261 gibe, jibe, 261 giggit, 261 gimbal, 261 gin mill, 261 gingersnap, 261 girt, 261 girdle (tree), 127 gism, 261 git, 261 give away, 261, 326 give out, 127 givy, 261 glare, 261 glimpse, 127 globe-trotter, 127 glorify, 127 go (of it), 261 go-ahead, 127 go back on, 261 go by, 261 go-cart, 128 go for, go in for, 261 go it, 128 go off, 261 go through, 261 go to grass, 128 go-to-meeting, 129 go to the bad, 129 go under, go up, 262 goatee, 261 gobbler, 261 gobble up, 261 going, 128 goldenrod, 128 golly, 262 gombo, giunbo, 262 gone case, coon, gander, goose, 262 goneness, 262 goner, 262 gone with, 128 gonus, 262 goober, 128 goody, 129 goose, goose egg, 262 G. O. P., 262 gopher, 262 gosh, 129 gossamer, 262 358 INDEX gospel lot, 262 got, gotten, 46, 129 Gotham, 262 gouge, 262 gouging, 130 governmental, 130 grab bag, grab box, 262 gracious, 262 grade, 130, 262, 263 graft, 263 grain, 130 grandacious, grandiferous, 263 granger, 263 grannified, 263 granny, 263 grant, with infinitive, 130 grass, 130 grass widow, 130 gravel, 130 graveyard, 131 gravy, 263 grayback, 263 greaser, 263 greasewood, 263 great big, 131 Greek, 131 green, 131 greenback, greenbacker, 263 green goods, 263 greening, 131 greens, 131 griffin, griffe, 263 grind, 131 grip, gripsack, 263 grist, 263 grit the teeth, 131 gritting, 263 gritty, 263 grocery, 263 groceries, 132 groggery, 263 grog shop, 264 ground bridge, 264 ground hog, 264 ground nut, 264 ground pea, 264 ground sluicing, 264 group meeting, 264 grouty, 264 growler, 264 grub stake, 264 grunter, 132 guano, 264 guava, 264 gubernatorial, 264 guess, 71, 132 guff, 264 guider, 264 guinea keet, 264 gulch, 264 gully, 133 gum, gummy, 134, 264 gum a saw, 264 gumbo, 264 gum game, 264 gump, 134 gumptious, 134 gums, 264 gvm, 265 gunning, 134, 265 gunstick, 134 gurry, 265 gush, 265 gusher, 265 guttersnipe, 134 guy, 265 hackberry, 135 hackmatack, 265 had have, 135 hail from, 265 hake, 135 half-baked, 135 halfbreed, 265 half-faced camp, 265 half jo, 265 half widow, 265 hamfatter, 265 hammock, 135 hand, 135 hand dog, 265 handglasses, 265 handle, 265 handshake, 135 handwrite, 265 hang, hang out, 135 hang of a thing, 265 hang-bird, 265 hang round, 266 hang up, 266 hannahill, 266 hant, 266 INDEX 359 happen in, 136 happify, 136 hard case, 266 hard cider, 266 hard coal, 266 hardhack, 266 hardhead, 136 hard money, 266 hardpan, 266 hardshell, 266 hardtack, 266 hardwood, 136 harm (adjective), 266 harness cask, 136 harsel stuff, 266 hasty pudding, 136 hauL, 136 hawhaw, 137 hay barrack, 266 hayseed, 266 hay tedder, 137 haze, 137 head off, 266 headcheese, 266 headrights, 266 headstall, 137 heap, 137 hear to, 266 heeled, 267 heeler, 267 heave, 137 heavy, 138 heir (verb), 267 hellbender, 267 hellbox, 267 hellion, 267 hen-hussy, 267 hen party, 267 herd's grass, 267 Hessian, Hessian fly, 267 het, 138 hetchel, 138 hewgag, 267 hickory, hickory shirt, 267 hide and coop, 267 hifer, 267 highbinder, 267 highbrow, 267 highfalutin, 267 high muck-a-muck, 267 high-studded, 267 high-toned, 267 highwines, 267 hike, 267 hindsight, 267 hire, 138 hitch, 138 hitch up, 268 hither and yon, 268 hobble, 138 hobo, 138 hock, 268 hockey stick, 138 hod carrier, 139 hoecake, 268 hog age, 268 hogbacks, 139 hogfish, 139 hog mane, 268 hog minder, 268 hog plum, 139 hogwallow, 268 hold on, 268 hold over, 268 hold up, 268 homely, 139 homespun, 139 hominy, 139 honeyfogle, 268 hoodlum, 268 hoodoo, 268 hook, 268 hookey, 268 hoople, 268 Hoosier, 268 hooter, 268 hoppercar, 268 hopping mad, 139 hoptoad, 268 horn, a drink, 139 horn, " in a horn," 140 hornswoggle, 268 horrors, 140 horsecar, 268 horse colt, 140 horse meat, 140 horse railroad, 269 horse sense, 269 hose, 140 hostler, 33 hot slaw, 269 hound, 140 36o INDEX hounds, 140 house (in compounds), 140 housekeep, 269 how, 141 howdy, 269 hubbies, 269 huckleberry, 269 huckleberry above persimmon, 141 huckster, 269 huggermugger, 141 hulking, 141 hull, hulls, 141 huly, 269 human, 141 humanitarian, 141 hummock, 142 hump (one's self), 269 hung, 142 hunkers, 142 hunk, 142, 269 hunkidory, 269 hurra's nest, 269 hurricane, 142 hurricane deck, 269 hurryment, 269 hush up, 142 husking, 269 husky, 269 hustle, 269 hustler, 327 hyper, 269 hypo, 142 hyst, 269 ice-cream, 142 I dad, 269 idea, 269 ill, 143 illy, 143 immediately, 21, 59 immense, 143 improve (land), 143 in (for into), 143 in (noun), 143 in our midst, 143 inaugural, 270 inaugurate, 270 inclined to, 270 indebtedness, 143 Indian corn, 270 Indian file, 270 Indian giver, 270 Indian summer, 270 indiscipline, 270 infair, 144 inflationist, 270 informatory, 270 infract, 270 in interest, 270 injunct, 270 inside of, 270 inside track, 270 institute, 270 institution, 144 insurrect, 144 intervale, 270 interview, 144 interviewer, 270 into (with some figure), 270 inty, 270 inwardness, 144 Irish potato, 270 ironweed, 144 irreliability, 270 irrupt, 144 island, 145 issuance, 270 item, 145 itemize, itemizer, 271 jab, 145 jack at a pinch, 145 jackstones, 271 jackstraws, 145 jag, 271 jail, 35 jam of logs, 145 jam up, 271 jamboree, 271 jay, 145, 328 jayhawker, 271 jeans, 145 jell, 271 jeopardize, 146 jerked (meat), 271 Jessie, 271 jew, jew down, 146 jibber, 146 jibe, 271 jig, 271 jigamaree, 146 jigger, 146, 271 INDEX 361 jiggered, 271 jigsaw, 271 jimberjawed, 271 Jim Crow cars, 271 jimdandy, 271 jimjams, 271 jimmy, 146 jimson, 271 jitney, 271 jobbing house, 271 jog, 146 John, 272 Johnny, 272 johnnycake, 272 joint, 272 josey, 146 josh, 272 jounce, 146 jour, 272 joy ride, 272 juba, 272 Judas tree, 147 judgmatical, 272 judiciary, 147 judy, 272 jug, 147 jxunp a claim, 147 jump bail, 272 jumper, 272 jumping-off place, 272 junk, 147 jury-fixer, 272 karimpton, 272 katowse, 272 katydid, 272 kay, key, 272 keeler, 147 keen about, 272 keener, 272 keep (shop), 147 keeps, 272 ker, 272 kerosene, 272 key, 148 kiblings, 273 kick, 148 kicker, 273 kid, 148 kill, 273 killdeer, 273 kind o', 148 kindlers, kindlings, 273 kingbolt, 273 kink, 148 kinky, 273 kimiikinnick, killikinnick, 273 kit, 148 kitty cornered, 273 kiuse, 273 knee, 148 knickerbockers, 273 knob, 148 knock, 273 knock down, 148, 273 knock-kneed, 149 knownothings, 273 konk, 273 Ku Klux Klan, 273 lagniappe, 273 lagoon, 149 lambaste, 149 landscapist, 149 landshark, 149 landscrip, 273 lapstreak, 273 lariat, 273 larrigan, 274 lathy, 149 latter-day saints, 274 lave, 274 law day, 149 lawing, 150 law sakes, 274 lay, 274 lay out, 274 layering, 274 laze, 274 leader, 274 leastways, 150 leggins, 274 lengthy, 274 let down, 274 let up, 274 levee, 274 levy, 25, 274 lick, licks, 274 licketysplit, 274 lie low, 274 lieutenant, 32 light bread, 274 362 INDEX lightning bug, 275 light out, 275 lightwood, 274 likely, 150 lily pad, 275 limsy, 150 line, 275 liner, 275 lines, 275 list, 275 live, 150 live oak, 275 living price, living wage, 275 living-room, 275 live out, 275 loaf (idle), 275 loafer, 275 loan office, 150 lobby, 275 lobby gow, 275 loblolly, 275 localize, 275 locate, 150, 221 lock horns, 275 loco, 275 locofoco, 275 locust, 275 logger, 276 loggerhead, 151 logicize, 151 logics, 276 log-rolling, 276 logy, 276 long of a stock, 276 longshoreman, 276 longshort, 276 long sugar, long sweetening, 276 loon, 276 looseness, 276 lop down, 276 lost cause, 276 lot (of land), 276 lots, 276 low down, 276 low flung, 276 lucifer match, 151 lugs, 276 lumber, 276 lump it, 276 lunkhead, 276 lyceum, 151 lynch law, 151 ma'am school, 276 machine, 276 mackinac, 277 mad, 151 madstone, 277 maidenland, 277 mail, 277 . maize, 277 make, make out, 277 make good, 277 make time, 277 make tracks, 277 make-up, 152 mango, 277 mammy, 277 manor, 152 mansard roof, 152 marabou, 277 marooning, 277 marywalkers, 277 mash, 277 masher, 277 mass meeting, 277 match, 277 materialize, 152 maul, 277 maverick, 277 max, 277 meadow, 152 mean, 278 medium, 278 meeting, meeting-house, 153 mend ("on the mend"), 153 menhaden, 278 merchandize, 153 merchant, 153 mesa, 278 mess, 153 mestizo, 278 metheglin, 153 metis, 278 mick, 278 middlings, 278 midget, 278 mileage, 278 mill, 278 mind, 278 mink, 278 minuteman, 278 INDEX 363 miscegenation, 278 misery, 153 misrecollect, 153 misremember, 154 mission school, 278 missionate, 278 misstep, 278 mistake ("and no mistake"), 154 mitten, to get, 261, 278 mixed ticket, 278 mobocracy, 154 mock auction, 279 moke, 279 molasses, 154 Molly Maguires, 279 monitor, 279 monkey, 279 monkey business, monkey shines, 279 monte, 279 moondown, 279 moonglade, 279 moonrise, 154 moonshine, 154 mopboard, 279 morphodite, 154 mortal, 154 mortician, 279 Moses boat, 279 mosey, 279 mossback, 279 mossbunker, 279 most, 155 moth miller, 279 motte, 279 mountain lamb, 279 mourner, 279 mournsome, 155 move, 155 movie, 279 mucker, 279 muckraker, 279 muddle, 155 mud hen, 279 mud hook, 280 mudsill, 155 mugwump, 280, 342 mulatto, 155 muley saw, 280 mumblepeg, 155 mung (news), 280 murphy, 280 mush, 280 muskmelon, 155 muskrat, musquash, 280 muss, 156 mussy, 280 mustang, 280 muster out, 280 must not, must only, 280 muttonhead, 280 mux, 156 nabber, 156 nail, 280 naked (possessor), 280 nankeen, 156 nary, nary red, 280 national, 156 natur', 225 neck, 156, 280 necktie sociable, 280 neckwear, 281 ne'er, 156 negative, 156 neighborhood of, 281 nephew, 33 nerve, 281 netop, 281 never say die, 157 newsy, 157 N. G., 281 nice, 157 nicely, 281 nickel, 281 nickel plate, 328 nifty, 281 nig, 281 nigger, 157 niggerhead, 281 nigger heaven, 281 nigger off, nigger out, 281 nigh imto, nigh upon, 281 nightkey, 281 night riders, 281 nimshi, 281 ninepence, 281 nip, nipper, 157 nip and tuck, 281 nippent, 281 nipping, 158 nobby, 158 3^4 INDEX nocake, 281 noggin, 158 nohow, 158 non-committal, 281 noodlehead, 281 noodles, 158 nooning, 158 norther, northerner, 282 note, 282 notify a person, 158 notional, 159 notionate, 282 notions, 159 nub, 282 nutcake, 282 nutmeg melon, 282 oak barrens, oak openings, 282 obligate, 159 obligement, 159 obtusity, 159 occurrings, 282 octoroon, 282 of after gerimd, 159 of after verbs of sensation, 159 off the reel, 282 offal, 282 office, 160 offish, 282 off ox, 282 offset, 282 O. K., 282 okra, 282 Old Glory, 282 Old Scratch, 282 old sledge, 282 oleomargarine, 160 olycook, 282 omnibus (bill), 282 once (as soon as), 160 once and again, 160 on a street, 282 on hand, on time, 283 on his ear, 328 on his feet, 328 on ice, 329 oodles, 283 operate, 160, 221 -or, -our (terminal), 36 opossum, 283 opposed, 283 orate, 160 ordinary, 160 organic law, 283 orphanage, 160 orts, 160 ou, ow, sounded ao, 31, 340 out, 161, 283 outfit, 283 outlawed, 283 out of fix, out of whack, 283 outs, 283 outside, 284 outsider, 161 over a signature, 161 over and above, 161 overcoat, 161 overhead, 284 overly, 1 62 overrtm, 162 overslaugh, 284 overture, 162 own up, 284 oyster plant, 162 paas, 284 pack, 284 paddle, 284 painter, 284 pair, 284 palace car, 284 paleface, 284 palmetto, 284 pancake, 162 panfish, 284 pandowdy, 284 panel house, 284 panhandle, 284 panier, 162 panning, 284 pan out, 284 pantalette, 284 pappoose, 285 paragraphist, 162 pard, 285 )mrquet, 285 partyism, 285 pass (dividend), 285 passage (of a bill), 285 passageway, 285 patentable, 285 patent outsides, 285 INDEX patrolman, 285 patroons, 285 pawky, 285 pay dirt, 285 P. D. Q, 285 peach, 285 peach leather, 285 peaky, 162 peanut, 285 peas, 35 pecan, 285 peccary, 285 peddle, 163 peeler, 285 peel it, 285 peevy, 285 peg away, 285 pegged out, 285 pelter, 286 peltry, 163 pemmican, 286 penny (cent), 286 pentway, 286 peon, 286 pepperpot, 286 periauger, pirogue, 286 permit, 163 pernickity, 163 peroot, 286 persimmon, 286 pesky, 286 Peter Funk, 286 peter out, 286 pettifog, 163 phial, 33 piazza, 286 picayune, 286 pick, 163, 286 pickanninny, 286 pick-up, 286 piece (lunch), 286 pieplant, 286 pigeonhole, 163 pigeonwing, 286 pike, 286 piker, 163 pile, 164, 286 pill, disagreeable person, 286 pillowslip, 286 pimping, 164 pinch, 286 365 pindling, 287 pine barrens, 287 pinery, 287 pinky, 164, 287 pinxter, 287 pipe, 287 pipe laying, 287 pistareen, 287 pit (of fruit), 287 pitch and toss, 164 pitcher, 164 pitch in, 164 pitpan, 287 placate, 223 place, identify, 287 placer, 287 plaguey, 287 plane tree, 165 plank in politics, 287 plank down, plank up, 287 plant (bury), 287 plantain, 165 plantation, 165 play actor, 165 played out, 287 play possum, 287 pleasant-spoken, 287 pleasure, 165 plow, 35 pluck, 165 plug, 287, 329 plug hat, 287 pluguglies, 287 plumb centre, 287 plunk, 287 plurality, 287 ply, 165 poach, 165 pocket, 288 point (information), 288 poke, 166, 288 poke bonnet, 166 poker (game), 288 pokerish, 288 poky, 166 policy (game), 288 polt, 166 pompion, 166 pond, 166 pone, 288 pony (translation), 288 366 INDEX pony up, 288 pool (combine), 288 poorly, 166 pop, 167, 288 pop-eyed, 288 poppycock, 288 populist, 288 porgy, 288 portage, 288 porterhouse steak, 288 posey-yard, 288 posh, 167 post (inform), 288 postal currency, 288 post card, 288 pot hole, 167 potpie, 289 potter, 167 potwalloper, 167 pound party, 289 powder-post, 289 powerful (very), 289 powwow, 289 prairie, 289 prawchey, 289 prayerfully, 167 precinct, 167 predicate, 167 pre-empt, 289 preferential, 167 present (on envelope), 289 presidency, 1 68 presidential, 168 presidio, 289 prestidigitate, 168 presume likely, 289 pretty, 168 pretzel, 168 prex, 289 prickly heat, 289 primp, 168 Prince Albert, 290 printery, 290 probate, 290 processioner, 290 professor of religion, 168 prohibition, 290 properly, 169 proposition, 221 prospect, 290 publishment, 169 pudgicky, 290 pueblo, 290 pull (influence), 290 pullfoot, 290 pulling-bone, 290 pull through, 169 pulpiteer, 169 puny, 169 pulque, 290 puma, 290 puncheon, 290 pung, 290 push, 169 pusley, 329 pussy, 290 put (in stock market), 290 put, put off, put out, 169 put up, 290 put up job, 170 putting on side, 319 quackgrass, 291 quadroon, 291 quahaug, 291 qualify, 291 quarter (of a dollar), 291 quarterage, 291 quashie, 170 quid, 291 quiddling, 291 quirl, 291 quirt, 291 quit, 170 quite, in such phrases as "quite a while," 170, 291 race, 291 rack, 291 rackabones, 291 racker, 170 raft, 291 rag (time), 291 ragged edge, 329 rail (of a fence), 171 railroad, 171 raise, 171, 291 rake down, rake off, 291 rakehelly, 171 rambunctious, 291 ranch, 291 range, 171, 292 INDEX 367 rangy, 292 rank, 292 rantankerous, 292 rapids, 292 rare (meat), 171, 335 rareripe, 292 rating, 292 ratoons, 292 rattler, rattlesnake, 292 rattletrap, 171 rave, 172 rawhide, 292 razee, 172 reach, 172 read out, 172 real, 172 real healthy, 330 reata, 292 reboso, 292 reckon, 25 recommend, 172 record-breaking, 316 recoup, recoupment, 172 red cent, red dog, 292 redeem, 292 red root. 292 red tape, 173 regret, 292 rehash, 173 reinsure, 292 reland, 173 reliable, 173 remind, 173 remonetize, 292 removability, 292 rench, 173 rendition, 173 renewedly, 173 reopen, 173 repeater, 293 repetitious, 174 reportorial, 293 reprobacy, 174 requisition, 174 researcher, 174 reserve, reservation, 293 residenter, 174 resolve, 174 responsible, 293 restitution ists, 293 result, 174 resurrect, 174 retiracy, 174 retirement, 293 retortive, 293 retrospect, 175 revamp, 293 revelator, 293 revocal, 293 rich, 175 ride, drive, 44, 293 ride-and-tie, 175 rider, 175 riding-rock, ridingway, 293 rig, 293 right, 175 right along, 293 right away, 317, 293 right here, right off, 293 right smart, 293 right straight, 294 right up, 176 ring, ringer, 294 ringtailed roarer, 294 rip, 176, 294 ripper, 294 rip out, 294 ripple, 293 riprap, 294 ripsnorter, 294 rising, rising ground, 294 risky, 294 riveter, 36' roach, 294 road agent, 294 roarer, 176 robe, 294 robin, 294 rock, rocks, 294 rockaway, 294 rocker, 294 rogue, 176 rolling (land), 295 room, 295 roorback, 295 rooster, 176 rooter, 295 rope in, 295 roram, 295 rose fever, 295 roster, 176 rote, 176 368 INDEX rough, 177, 295 rough-and-tumble, 295 roughhouse, 295 roughness, 295 roughscuff, 295 round one, to get, 295 roundabout, 177 rounder, 295 round up, 177 rouser, 177 roustabout, 295 rowdy, 295 rubber, rubbers, rubberneck, 177, 295 rugged, 295 ruination, 177 rullichies, 295 rumbud, 295 rumhole, rummill, 295 run, 177, 295 runabout, 296 nmner, 296 runway, 296 rush, 296 rush the growler, 296 rust (of fish), 296 rustle, 296 rye-and-indian, 296 Sabbaday, 296 saddy, 296 safe, 178 sagebrush, 296 sakes, sakes alive, 296" salamander, 296 saleratus, 296 saloon, 296 salt-lick, 296 Sam, 296 sambo, 296 Sam Hill, 296, 330 samp, 296 sample-room, 297 sand (pluck), 297 sang, 297 sappy, 178 sapsago, 297 sapsucker, 297 Saratoga (trunk), 297 sarcophagus, 178 sauce, 178 sault, 297 savagerous, 297 savanna, 297 save (kill), 297 sawbuck, sawhorse, 297 sawyer, 297 say (prefix to sentence), 297 say-so, 178 scab, 297 scalawag, 297 scaling down, 330 scalp, scalper, 297 scare, scare up, 178, 297 scary, 297 scat, 297 scattering, 178 schedule, 32 schnapps, 1 79 schooner (large glass), 297 scientist, 179 scoop, 297 scoot, 179 scorch, 297 scrabble, 179 scrap, 179, 297 scrapple, 298 scratch, scratch gravel, 298 scratches, 179 screed, 179, 330 screws, 1 79 screwsman, 180 scribblement, 180 scringe, 180 scrub, 298 scruff, 180 scrumptious, 298 scuff, 180, 298 sculduggery, 180, 301 sculp, sculpin, scup, 298 scut, 298 scutum, 298 seal (wife), 298 sealer, 180 season, 298 second, 298 section, sectional, 298 seeding. 180 seen, 181 seep, 181 selectman, 298 sell, 181 INDEX 369 sensationism, sensationist, 181 sense (verb), 298 serape, 298 serious, 181 set, 181 set by, set store by, 181 setback, 182 setting pole, 182 settle, 182 settlement, 298 settle one's hash, 182 settler, 182 seven-up, 298 shack, shackly, 298 shadbelly, 298 shade (a price), 299 shadow, 183 shady, keep, 299 shagbark, 299 shake dice, 183 shakedown, 299 shakers, 183 shakes, 183, 299 shakiness, 183 shaky, 1 83 shanghai, 299 shanty, 299 sharp, sharp practice, 183 sharpey, 299 shave, shaver, 184 shay, 299 sheath knife, 184 shebang, 299 shecoonery, 299 sheeny, 184 sheepshead, 299 sheepskin, 299 sheer, 184 shell, 184, 299 shenanigan, 299 sherrivallies, 185 shifty, 185 shillagalee, 299 shilling, 299 shimmy, 185 shin, shin round, 299 shindy, 185 shine, shiner, 185, 299 shingle, 185, 299 shingle-weaver, 299 shinny, 186 shinplaster, 299 shock (of grain), 186 shoddy, 186 shone, 32 shoot, 186 shooter, shooting iron, 300 short, to sell, 300 shortage, 300 shorts, 186 should, for the infinitive, 300 shove, 186, 300 shoveler, 186 show, show off, 186 shut pan, 300 shy, shy of, 300 shyster, 300 sick, 44, 72, 187 side-hill, 187 sideling, 187 side line, 300 sidestep, 300 sidewalk, 187 sidewheeler, 300 sidewipe, 187 siding, 300 sidle, 188 sierra, 300 sign, sign off, 300 signalize, 188 sin (since), 188 sinews, 188 sing out, 188 sink, sink-hole, 300 sirree, 188 sistem, 188 sit up with, 188 size up, 300 sizz, sizzle, 188 skate, 300 skeary, 188 skedaddle, 189 skeezicks, 300 skid, 189 skin, 301 skipjack, 189 skipper, 189 skite, 189 skive, 189 skullduggery, 180, 301 skunk, 301 skylark, 189 370 skyugle, 301 sky parlor, 189 sky pilot, 189 slab, 190 slabsided, 301 slack baked, 190 slang, 190 slantendicular, 190 slapjack, 301 slashes, 301 slate, 301 slaver, 301 slazy, sleazy, 301 sleep, sleeping-car, 301 sleigh, sleighing, 301 sleuth, 301 slew, slue, 301 slide, 190 slimsy, 301 sling, 301 slink, 190 slip, 190, 301 slipnoose, 301 sliver, 32 slop over, 191 slope, 191, 301 slosh, 191 slouch ("no slouch"), 191 slough, 191 slug, 191 sluice, 191 slump, 301 slungshot, 301 slut, 191 smack, 192 smart, 192, 302 smile, 302 smitch, 193 smokestack, 193 smooth, 193 smouch, 193 snake, 193, 302 snakchead, 302 snake in, snake out, 302 snap, 302 snarl, 193 sneak thief, 302 sneaking, 193 sneeze, 194 snide, 194 snifter, 302 INDEX snip, snippy, 194 snoop, 302 snoozer, 302 snore, 302 snorter, 302 snowbound, 194 snub up, 302 snug, 194, 302 soak, soaker, 302 soapberry, 194 soaplock, 302 socdolager, 302 social, sociable, 302 soda, 302 soddy, 302 soft, 194, 303 soft sawder, snap, thing, 303 soft soap, 194 sog, 194 soldier, 303 solid color, 303 so long, 195 some (somewhat), 195 soon (early), 195 sopsyvine, 195 sot, 195 sots, 303 sou marquee, 303 so\ir on a thing, 303 soiu-krout, 195 souse, 195 southerner, 195 southron, 196 sozzle, 196 span (of horses), 196 span, clean, 196 spang, 303 spanner, 196 spare room, 196 spark, 303 spat, 196, 303 speakeasy, 303 specie, 196 speck, 197 specs, 197 speedway, 303 spell, 197 spellbinder, 303 spellingbee, 303 spending-money, 197 spider, 303 INDEX 371 spike team, 303 spile, 197 spit-ball, spit-curl, 303 spittoon, 197, 303 splendiferous, 197 split, split ticket, 303 splorum, 198 splurge, 198 spoils, 198 spondoolics, 303 spook, 198 spoops, 303 sport, 303 sportsman, 198 sposh, 304 spotter, 304 spouty, 198 spread, 198 spread one's self, 304 spread-eagle, 198 spree, 198 springer, 304 sprout, 199 spruce, spruce beer, 199 spruced up, 199 sprung, 304 squaddy, 199 squail, 199 square, 199, 304 square room, 304 squash, 200 squasho, 330 squatter, 200 squeaky, 200 squeal, 200 squeezer, 304 squib, 200 squinny, 200 squirt, 304 squush, 304 stag, stag party, 200 staging, 304 stake out, 304 stale, 200 stalwart, 304 stampede, 304 stamping-ground, 304 stanchel, 201 stand in hand, 201 stand off, stand pat, 304 standee, 304 star, 201 stated supply, 304 statehouse, 201 stateroom, 201 station-house, 201 stave, staver, staving, 304 stay-at-home, 201 steep, 304, 329 stemwinder, 304 step-ladder, 201 stick, 201, 304 stick-in-the-mud, 202 stiff, 304, 305 still-hunting, 305 stingaree, 305 stinkard, 202 stinkstone, 202 stinkweed, 202 stitch, 202 stive, 202 stock, 202, 203 stock and fluke, 202 stock watering, 305 stocking feet, 202 stocky, 203 stogie, 305 stool, stool pigeon, 305 stomp, 203 stoop, 203 store, 203 storekeeper, 305 storm, 203 story, 35 stovepipe, 203 stovepipe hat, 305 stowaway, 203 straddle, straddlebug, 305 straight, 305 strain, 203 stram, 305 strand, 204 strapped, 305 straw, 305 streak, streaked, streaky, 204, 305 street yarn, 305 stretch, "on a stretch," 204 strike, 204, 305 stripe, 305 stuck up, 204, 330 stripper, 305 strowd, 305 372 stub toe, 305 stuck on, 305 stud, 305 stump, 204, 305 stumpage, 305 stumper, 305 stump speaker, 306 stiuiner, 205 stunning, 205 stunk, 205 suability, 306 sub-base, 205 sub-treasurer, 205 sucker, suck in, 205, 306 suicide (verb), 205 suit, 206 suit of hair, 306 suitcase, 306 sulky, 206 summarize, 206 summons (verb), 206 sump, 306' sunbonnet, 206 simday, 306 sunshade, 206 sun up, 306 supawn, 207 supplejack, 207 sure, 207 surrogate, 207 surveyor, 207 susceptible, 207 suspenders, 207 suspicion (verb), 207 sustain fatal wound, 306 swag, 306 swamp, 207 swamping, 306 swan, 306 swankey, 306 swash, 208 swat, 208 swear in, swear off, 306 sweeny, 306 swingletree, 208 switch, 208 switchel, 306 syren, 208 systemize, 208 tab (to keep), 307 INDEX tabby cat, 208 tabernacle, 208 table, 208 tablespread, 307 tacker, 209 tacky, 307 tads, 307 taffy, 209 tag, 209 tailings, 209 tailor (fish), 307 take, 307 take back track, 307 take down, 209 take in, 330 take rag off, shine off, 307 take the stump, 307 take up, take water, 209, 307 taking, 209 talk, 209 talk tiurkey, 307 talking iron, 307 tallow dip, 307 tamarack, 307 tangent, fly off on, 209 tanglefoot, 307 tangleleg, 209, 307 taps, 307 tarheel, 307 tarnal, 210 tarve, 210 tattler, 307 Taunton turkeys, 307 tavern, 210 tax, 308 teafight, 308 team, 210 tear, tear roimd, 308 teeter, 308 teethache, 308 teetotally, 210 telegram, 308 telephone, 210 telescope, 308 tell, tell good bye, 210 tell on, 308 tend, 211 tender, 308 tenderfoot, tenderloin, 308 tenement house, 308 tenpins, 211 INDEX 373 ten-strike, 308 terawchy, 308 terrapin, 308 terret, 211 texas, 308 thank-ye-ma'ams, 308 that (so), 211 thereaway, 211 thirds, 211 thrash round, 211 thirty, 308 thoroughfare, 308 thoroughwort, 309 thrip, 211 throw up, 211 thunderheads, 309 thwart, 211 ticker, 309 ticket, 309 tickler, 309 tidy, 211 tidy up, 212 tie, 212 tie up, 212 tiger, 309 tight, 212, 309 tile, 212 tilt, tilter, 309 timber, 212 time ("a good time"), 212 time and again, 309 time, to make, 309 time, on, 309 timothy, 309 tinker, 213 tinner, 213 tip off, 309 tipcart, 309 tipple, 213 tippy bobs, 213 tiptop, 213 tithing-man, 213 to (for at or in), 14, 20, 213 to pronounced toe, 225 toadfish, 213 toadsticker, 309 toboggan, 309 toddy, 213 toe the mark, 214 tom, 309 torn dog, tom turkey, 214 tonguey, 225 tongs, 309 too thin, 214 toot, 214 Tophet, 214 top notch, 309 topsawyer, 214 torchlight procession, 331 to rights, 175, 176 tortle, 214 tote, 214, 309 tottlish, 309 touch, 215 touch-and-go, 215 touch-me-not, 215 touch-off, 309 tough, 309 tough it out, 310 tow, 215 town, 215 townhouse, 215 township, 215 towrow, 215 trace, 216 track, 216 trade, 310 trail, 216 trailer, 310 trainers, 216' training-day, 216 trait, 32 tramp, trampoos, 216 transient, 216 transpire, 223, 310 transportation, 221 trap fishing, 310 traps, 217 trash, 217 traveler, 35 treat, 217 tree (verb), 310 treenail, 310 trick (turn), 310 trimmings, 217 troll, 217 trot (translation), 310 trot out, 217 truck, 217, 310 trump, 217 trust, 310 try on, 217 374 INDEX tuck on, 310 tuckered out, 310 tumble, tumble to, 217, 310 tumblebug, 310 turfman, 218 turnip, 218 turnpike, 310 turret ship, 218 turtler, 218 tussle, 218 Tuxedo coat, 310 tyke, 218 type, typo, 310 ultraism, 310 uncle, 310 under the weather, 310 undercoat, 310 imderhew, 310 underpinners, 311 vmderpinning, 218 unfeeling, 218 tmfellowshipped, 311 unseated, 311 up to, up to snuff, 311 upper crust, upper ten, 311 upright, 311 usable, 311 used up, 311 uxoricide, 311 valedictory, valedictorian, 311 valinch, 219 vamose, 311 variate, 311 various (noun), 311 vegetarian, 311 vendibility, 219 vendue, 219 vigilance committee, 311 vim, 311 violative, 311 visit (chat), 311 vum, 311 waffle, 311 wagged out, 311 wagon, 35 waist (bodice), 312 walk into, walk over, 312 walking papers or ticket, 312 wall paper, 312 wallow (noim), 312 wamblecropped, womblecropped, 312 wash-out, 312 watergap, 312 watershed, 312 waterwitch, 312 waumus, 312 wax, 312 waybill, 312 way passenger, station, train, 312 weaken, 219 wed for wedded, 312 well, 219 well come up with, 312 wesand, 312 wet, 312 whaling, 313 whang, 313 whapperjaw, 313 wheal, 220 whelk, 220 whiffet, 313 whiffletree, 313 whip (defeat), 313 whippersnapper, 313 whippoorwill, 313 whipstock, 313 whisky skin, 313 whitewash (person or action), 313 whole-souled, 313 wide awake, 220 wide open, 313 wildcat (investment), 313 windfall, 313 winery, 313 wire, wire edge, wire pullers, 313 wisdom tooth, 220 wishbone, 313 wolfish, 220 wolverine, 313, 331 woodchuck, 3 1 3 woodrick, 313 work-a-day clothing, 313 worm fence, 313 worriment, 314 worrisome, 220 woodsman, 220 INDEX ojr wrapper, 314 yearling, 314 "^'^^^/^J}"^ yegg, yeggman, 314 wunst, 221 yellow, 314 „ , ,,, yellow jack, 221 ^ u Sf' ^^^ Yo^^ shilling, 314 yankee 315 ^°^^ P^^^«"' '' yankee notions, 314 zee 314 yard (garden), 314 zit,' 314 Univpfsitv nt California Los Anoetes L 006 478 992 8 llininntiSnf^.^'^'O^^L LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 354 308