The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-11-05
T EIE PRES s.
Thu RsDAY MORNING. NOV. 5, "a
IN. Y. Times.)
Local IdiOmS.
DiVersries of speech in various Paris of
the Country.

1 -, sfucCtS vi locdi pursuits anu habits. a
wen as tne fact of ancestry, in changing ant
modifying that English tongue which is ann
posed to be the common language of Amer
lea. " 1ADe'
visited New Hampshire while lad. ant
was impressed with the oddity of seyera
idioms which were then, and 1 presume ar,
now, part OF the daily speech of the peo
PIE. They were certainly unlike anything
that had ever heard in New York. Thus
la farmer, desiring to know whether his
ne,gnoors oxen are well broke, and draw
wen IN the YOKE, invariably puts the cues
ton, 'Are they handy?' In New York The
adjective might well be applied to useful
| BOY, or smart servant girl, but never to an
| animal.
In the Granite state also often heard the
singular question asked in regard to a partic-
ular individual, SIS he forehdpded?, A
stranger hearing such a query for the first
time would certainly need to be told that It's
almost the equivalent OF the very common
us be well off?" Of the Middle States. One
| OF the strangest errors as to the derivation OF
an idiomatic word that could be well made,
was that of person who insisted that this
word was properly spelled 5our-handed, and
that the pith of its meaning lay in the fact
| that person with two sets OF hands, if such
a monstIosity could exist, would be able to
rake in money very fast.
Still another popularity of New Hampshire
speech is the question, "hOto do you Hke?"
never heard the pronoun added; where the
interrogation related to a book, a town, q
new song, or human being, it invariably
ended in this abrupt fashion, as though the
objective prounoun were scarce and costly.
Coming somewhat nearer home, I wonder
il the remarkable pronunciation of "begretch"
for ''begrudge' is ever heard elsewhere than
IN the Empire state? Ii so, / never hap.
pened to hear it elsewhere So have heard
people from other states crticise, with good
natured rldlcue, the frequent use in New
York Of the barbarous, not to say ungram-
matical expression. "He hadn't bought TO do
il" an expression by no means infreuuent
The use of the word ''levep' for s'levy'' by
sheriff or constable is in very frequent
use by out common people. This, of course,
Is merely misconceptiOn of the correct word
to be used; but, in time, language becomes
corrupted Dy just such means. So of the
outlandish "baffot'' for barefoot and
''bagnet" for s'bayonet."
The use of the Americanism ''tote,'' to
signify carry or "bear," is popularity sup.
posed to be confined to the West and South
west. heard it tused during the war by o
white woman of Virginia with ri1iculoHs
effect, and with personal application which
believe is not given to it in the West. She
was standing in the doorway of her kouse,
near Berryville, watching the army pass,
when one OF our officers rode up and politely
asked if he could buy a loaf of bread and
canteen of milk of her. She instantly put
her arms akimbo, and delivered herself thus
mo, you can't! We hain't got no bread.
We haint got no milk We'r5 clean done
gone up spout; SO you kin tote yourself
1t is unnecessary to say that the officer felt
constrained to s'tote.''
The use of the words ''done'' and 'done
gone" not only by the negroes, but by many
OF the whites of the South, to express the
idea OF full and complete perfsfmanSSn0t Ap m
pening, has very often1een b;.n c9ninie..u ,,5 W
tom: tm Dy Te Cost absurd use Of this idom
that Z ever he3rd-and yet no more absurd
than the use that is daily made of twas by
my negro servant, who volunteered to in
form me one evening that the sun had ''done
sot."
''We 'uns" and "you 'uns," manifestly cor
ruptions of such tautOlogy as 1--WE ones" and
you ones,'' were expressions which so often
greeted the ear of the Northern soldier dur
ing the war, that he almost ceased to think
them outlandish. A very striking example of
their use was contained in the doggerel
rhyme sent by the Confederate soldier in the
field to his sweetheart at home. l believe it
has been in print before; but as heard it
read from the letter itself, part of the con-
tents of a captured Confederate mail, it may
be worth while to republish it in connection
with this certificate of its genuineness:
"'Tis hard for we 'uns to live in camps
lis hard for we 'uns to fight the Yanks;
'Tis hard for we 'uns and you 'uns to part,
Since you 'uns has stolen we uns' heart.''
1t will be remembered that in Sheridan's
final raid up the Shenandoah Valley, in the
spring of 1865, a large number of prisoners
were taken near Staunton. They brought to
Winchester, where heard one Of them mar
rating the story Of his capture. The burden
of it as that 'syou 'uns came down on we
'uns, and scooped we 'uns up like herr'np'
In this connection, and it is perhaps not
wholly foreign 10 the subject under consiler-
alton, I am reminded that In this same
spring of 1865, at a house near Winchester,
inhabited by relatives of the Washingtons,
the chances of war brought to my hands
three original letters of Martha Washington,
written from Mount Vernon, in 1897, to the
then resident of this mansion. They were
lost by some after mishap; but I well remem-
Der that they were written in bold, round
hand, on heavy unruled paper, and-to tell
the whole truth-they abounded in dreadful
misspelling. But, of course, we must re-
member that in those days there was no fixed
standard of photography, for Noah Webster
had not been heard from, and Washington
himself wrote about shaft" AMI ''cloathes."
These letters of Mrs. Washington were fire.
quent in their mention of s'the General" as
they invariably styled him, speaking of his
health, of his having recently ridden out in
his carriage, and of his desire to pay visit
to the valley. But, perhaps, more singular
to alien ears than anything that have here
in noticed is the expression, "those molasses,"
which actually prevails in some parts of the
West. Yet can any one give any good rea-
son why molasses should not be plural as
well as ashes?
"Gobble'' and ''skedadde" were peculiar
to the army in war time, and have not out
lived that period, believe, to any extent.
They were very expressive words, and gave
a significant meaning to what wonld other
wise have been called 'splunder'' or Capture
and "fight." They were used both as verbs
and nouns.
"Bummer"- perfectly descriptive word
for military yagabond and plunderer-is
still heard occasionally in the press or in COM
mon speech, and may possibly survive the
war long enough to become ingrafted upon
the language with other queer additions of
the last two decades.
believe the use of the expression .'outen,"
for ''out of is not confined to any locality.
l have heard it in widely separated places.
STousc," which appears as dictionary
word, signifying pulling, hauling, or dis
turbance, has become obsolete almost every
where in this country; though have heard
it used in New England as the expressions
training" and 'carrying-on' are elsewhere
used to designate the capers and pranks of
exuberant young people.
Upon reviewing the above, l find that the
Great Unabridged contains 'forehanded''
''tote'' and s'skedaddle." The latter is stated
to be an importation from Sweden and Dem
mark and to have been in use among immi-
grants to our Northwestern country for sew
eral years. The word was certainly never
known to the nation at large till the war
popularlzed it, and furnished illustrations of
its meaning.
.sOrnery" for ''ordinary'' has been in use
in many parts of the country for some years.
And the list might be almost indefinitely
extended.
1t is quite apparent to any one who has
paid much attention to the use of this "argot'
(ride Victor Hugo in Les Mserables,) that
in its creation it is the offspring of common
and uneducated people. But its chief pecu-
liarity is its wonderful tenacity of life, and its
faculty of spreading among the refined and
educated. And although these slang and
corrupted words always lead the existence of
pathological outlaws, and only crowd them
selves into the lexicons when their use be-
comes so prevalent that they can no longer
he ipnorod vet IL NAV truthtully be said of