The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1844-12-05

surune from common ock All nations had their pro-
vncalisms and he considered an unnecessary scrutiny
for TO provinciasms to ourEngsh ancestors
He commended however, that the provincialsms OF peo-
pe were legitimate subject OF history. In the United
sta;es the difference between inc 2, me
any thing else They were doled out, IN the Eastern
States ia drawing, unimpsssioned manper-whiist IN
the South they pronounced with quickness and
ferceness haS totally changed their features He he.
eved that he could prove that out OF the povinciasms
or Yankeeisms'" s British writer's were in the habit
OF calling them) OF ths New England States, seven
eghths good English words or, at least, were SO
when our ancestors came here nearly two hundred
years ago. The provncialsms Of the western states
were pure English wordswords that had been ado :.
cd py the eminent British authors, and words
in ha New England sasss wa
the word guessn Every foreign writer puts this WORD
coss There NAV be- IN ibis country some little abuse Of
the word by too general application Of It, The strict
meaning Of the word guess" is to conjecture. The
American applies It, however when he knows anything,
The word bear all these applica-
tons, and he is quite right in SO apply ing them
DRYDEN Locke, &C., that all these great writer's
had used the word guess" in different senses Next he
weuld take the word slick" and show that even that
was Of saxon origin He quoted Chaucer, and variety
Of English authors to show that every one who had made
ofhe word spelt and pronounced il "slct" except
son illustrated sometimes with bursts Of humor the
origin of the words heap" nightly" mighty" In
reference 70 the last word he presented striking KIM con
Crockett of America, who, on one occasion exclaimed
What mighty hara land this Is p "a laugh) The
words hear sll' quite common in New f. gland
and could be traced back far Chaucer The words
ito lick meoning to whipwere Of old date They came
from the SAXON and could be traced back far as Chau.
They were, at this day, used provncaiism in
England. in the sense here. great deal had
bsen said by English writer's and they had let on good
noxious word had been used in the specatort had been
used by Bishop Hall.-and Dryden had put it into
swapped youth for old age" Judge Halliburton gives
description Of the baleful effects OF swapping" and
makes hs hero wind up with saying seen seen
strange goings on" great "sresnhcrn," "gunp
wspper were prominent rroyincalisms here. ana
they were all in use in England MIR. Bartlett then
which no English origin could be assigned. Amopgs,
these were Pm proud to see ycu"-"A crowd OF geo.
pe" To- in. To slOps1" shaver Sa, meaning
meaning on the road to get drunk" Store" caucus-
stir up sticks "Dra" q word common in I the
sprung up and wss applied variously in this country,
although he could not discover that had eny meaning
however which would show how il was appreciated by
the people Of England About two ago, there Yves
severe storm In this section OF country the mails were
all stopped and the New York Commercial Advertiser on
the morning Of the sailing Of the steamer for England
apoogzed for the pauciy Of its news by saying that the
no cooked hat Upon This the London
marked that the from America, by that arrival was
very light which was accounted for by the Ner York
Commercial .adrerser in very strange way That pa.
per there had been heavy storm there and
that all the mails had been knocked into cooked hat
singular position Of things, which was impossible to
define. Great laughter) There were, also, the words
whole" "worry," poke" &c, to which no origin
could be assigned but tho great Of provincalisms
amongst in quite common use in three ports Of
observation-disclosures, the West Riding OF Yorkshire
and he North Of England. NneLenths of the pro.
vncialsms Of New England from these sections OF
England and from there tina ancestors chic
came. Mr. Bartlett said that he would have liked to
subject farther but he had already detained
the large assembage too long for the present.
He received vote of thanks from the Society
for his able elucidaton of the origin OF American
provncialisms, and the meeting adjourned.