Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-02-28
Letters from New Yorl<--.Incident-
al Correspondence.
No. 9.
FEDRUARY %, 1884

EDITOR ONO STATEsAIAN-Dedr Sir: II
you should ever chance to call at the Relay
House or have occasion to allude to that
place-I mean the hotel at the Washington
Junction, nine miles west Of Baltimore
don't pronounce the word Relay but Re
lay. Please remember this.
Words are queer things-signs Of ideas,
the grammar says, but the ideas are some
times hard to find. 1t is related of the fa-
nous French Diplomat, Talleyrand, that he
once said ''the most important use of words
is to conceal ideas-another perverted use is
to convey false IDEAS"
The constant change in the pronuncia-
ti0n of words is a curious and interesting
| fact-often a mere matter of fashion and
nothing more. There are hundreds Of
words whose local and even general pro-
nunciation cannot be found in any diction-
ary. mean the pronunciation that gen
orally prevails. For example, who would
think of saying Syracuse, and yet that is
the pronunciation universally heard in the
city of that name. So also Cairo is Caro-,
the first syllable giving simply the long
sound of a.
Boston is the queerest town you ever
went into for the pronunciation of words.
For example, in the educated and fashiona-
BILE circles, you will hear the word Melodeon
accented always on the last syllable but one
I-Melodeon, and you decline to pronounce
the word in that way, on the authority of
Webster, Worcester, or any other lexi-
cographer, you do it at the risk Of being
termed an outside barbarian. The Bos-
tonians have fondness for the long sound
of o; hence they in pronOuncing the word
Mowitt, or any other names that have 0ic,
they universally give the syllable the long
cn0 r.f ..1 ..nN all l..k
is an improvement, but don't forget it when
meet Mr.. Rowland or any man whose name
has the same dipthongal arrangement, and
should say on instead of O, you might as
well leave town by the next train.
Cincinnatians are not so particular or fas-
tidi0us in the use Of words. Some Of the
rising generation have endeavoredto change
the old name Barnet and make Burnet of
1t, accent on the last syllable; but it does
not go. ALI Burnet does put an extra 7 to
his name on his bills. Well enough, per-
haps.
This train of thought brings to my mind
a foolish little story once related at the
home of friend in Rhode Island / will
tell it once more and then drop it forever.
There was family in that State, so said
my friends, once very poor and but little
known; and while thus living obscurely and
by such means as chanced to come In their
way, the name they had seemed quite good
enough. The name was simply Paddle.
Times changed. The Paddles came. up,
grew rich, the young Pdd-dles went to
school and learned thousand words their
father and mother never heard of, came
home, and the Paddles were moving right
along. my dear papa" said Miss Emma
Do1-fIo nn H.
changed" Changed, my childt' said the
old man, eve have no right to change our
name." 's0h yes, we have,r said Miss Emma,
s.there Is the Rotclands, they used to be
Ro,olands; there are the Stoves, they were
Sto,oes; the Smyths were Smiths; the
Hogs are Hoges.r Emma run on with
dozen others. and added, sand now
we must change our name.n "Well
what shall it be-" said the old gentle
man, disposed to humor his child. "Just
place the accent on the second syllable''
said the daughter, "and it will be Padded
and sound SO nicely" "But how shall we
get our neighbors to call us by that name"
reasoned the old gentleman and others of
the family, the conversation having become
general. 1t was finally decided that each
member of the family on giving his name
should pronounce It Pad-deH. The matter
being thus arranged, and instruction given,
a day or two passed by, when laundering
country youth who knew the family very
well, called at the door, and by banging.
knocking, and ringing, was soon confronted
by q servant. is Mr.. Paddle at home?n
asked the visitor. Mr., Paddle" said the
man who attended the door, "does not live
here.r The young man looked around evil
dently bewildered. He had knowip the
hor1eo ever ainon 1ha had Enour, avprfh;nor