Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-06-18

AMERIcANIsMs.-lt is a curious fact that the
original language of people Is, not unfrequent-
~, preserved in greater purity in its colonies
than in the mother country. Thus, the descend
ants of the Greek eolOnists of Asia Minor speak
a language much nearer, i'm all respects the an
cient Greek, than that of the cities of Greece
proper. Spanish more closely resembles Latin
than it does Italian. Dutch has greater siml-
larty to the old German than the dialect now
spoken throughout northern Germany. ana
finally oddly as the assertion may sound IN
English ears,-the inhabitants Of the New Eu-
gland states of America speak language bear-
ing greater affinity to that of this country IN
the time of Charles J., than does our modern
English. Not only have words survived out
forms of expression, and even pf0n unciallOn,
have been preserved in New England, Wnich
have become obsolete here. Indeed many words
now considered purely American, were IN COM
mon use in this country two and hall TO tnfee
centuries ago. Thus, prillk, 10 deck, TO adoril Is
still used in the eastern states IN me sense IN
which 1t was employed in the reign oil queen Eliz-
abeth by both Spencer and Shakespeare. One
Yankee girl will say TO another, whose tG jnst
NAV appear to have taken some time: Qh,
youive been prinking" or, "What time yon'y
taken 70 ptinE." In fact the word is used IN all
its modes and te1ises. Mass, confused en-
counter POSSIBLY a corruption of tile French
Iaelee). is generally supposed to be purely
American dom On the contrary, il is good
Shakespearean English. In Antony and Cleo
patra,n Antony saws "Wheu late J spake, IKE
bows unto musS, kings would RUSH iorthj
and the word is used by both Massinger anu
Fletcher Lam 10 beat, is another American
word which claims English parentage SIR
Walter Scott says in "Feveril of the Peak, that
the phrase was in common use in the tilne ol
Charles IL; and asserts that it was derived lloiil
the fate of DIR. Lamb, an astrologer, VINO was
knocked on the head by the mob in the preccd-
inc reign, SICK, which is universally used ID
the United States in the sense III Which WORD
IN is employed in this country, was, II heed
scare lily be said, perfectly good English IN tne
times of James |; the expression W, III tue
sense we now understand it, not once occur
ring, ] believe, in the authorized trahsla-
ton of the Bible. Bug, again, used in Amer
lea as a generic term for every species
of insect, is a good old English word. pug
hath buzzed il in my ears" says bacon IN one
of his letters; and the word will be frequently
found in contemporary literature. At the pres
ent day it is so completely obsolete in England,
that when, few years ago, au edition of the late
Edgar Allen Poe'S works was published IN Lon
don, the editor was Obliged to alter the tlte OF
that clever little story, "The Golden Bug, to
''The Golden Beetle, in order not to give ofense
to English ears. OF American idioms proper,
two of the most curious are the words cteuer
aud SldTt-Smart, throughoutthe United States,
meaning clever: while clever is used IN the sense
of GOOD natured. Why these two words should
have lost their original Specification is not easy
to conjecture; though parallel may ne tound
in this country in the case of the expressions
let and prereat which, in the course of the last
three hundred years, have interchanged mean
ings. LOgfer, lazy, idle yagabond, and rolcdy,
quarreisome, troublesome fellow, are both,
believe, purely American idiOms, Lord Bulwer,
therefore, in his comedy of "Walpole; or, Every
Man has his Price, has been guilty of slight
anachronism in putting the latter word into the
mouth of Sir Robert, who speaks, on one occa-
sion, of "rowdy electors. - Chambers Journal,