Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-12-22
Certain Amerlcnnisnis,

In Eogland we use the word SHOP" both
for place where things are male or done
and for place where things are sold. Iu
America the word is confined TO the place
where things are made or done, a. ''barbet's
shop carpenters shop;' place where
things are sold is store" Less old, most
likely (both certainly not of " esterd,y.) is the
usage which c)ntines the name corn" to one
particular kind of corn, that, namely, which
we know Us Indian corn or maiz.. /
heard a most distinguished Engishman--
Brltisher. at all events-lccture to an Ameri-
can audit nee on the history Of the English
corn laws and | doubted in my own mind
whether all his hearers would unders and
that lie WAS mainly speaking OF wheat Now,
neither Uf these forms Of speech comes among
the cases in which the colony has kept on the
elder usage Of the mother country
THIS hardly needs prot IN the case of
corn But the narrower use of that word
is exactly analogous TO the narrower Use Of
the word beast among ENGLISH grazcrs,
and Of the word bird" among English sports
men. In the case OF ''shop,' The word is
perfectly good English both in the wider and
in the narrower sense, as 1t is In II good many
other sens 5 besides. But can not lind that
'',toic' was ever used in England in the
American sense till it came in quite lately in
the case Of ''oo.opcralvc stores But
have no. the slightest doubt that rcrf, ely
good reason for tic difference Of usage could
be found in some circumstance Of early
colonial lie. ! can fancy that in one OF TIE
INST New Enelsnd settlements Il shop would
really be store, in scnse in which it
hardly is now on either side Of the ocean.
And tie cooperative store may be 81 call
cd for some reason Of the same kind or it
may be because tho name is thought H. be
finer. or it may be II mere transrantau4u OF
the American.
The shop or the store suggests ITS con
tents aud dare say that there is sDms COOL
reason, though do not see II, why tic N.
tents ui unt particular kind of store should
be sle ially called dry goods Tic c,n.
tents of some other kinds Of store EN- 10
the mt, clinical mind to bc equally dry. But
lhe phrase, however it arose, is just like our
phrase "hardware,' which does not take in
all things that are themselves hard Then
aslin. have known some foolish Briishers
mock nt such phrases as ''lowu lot ''city
Iot;' bu, these are perfectly good and natural
nnmes for things fer which we have nothing
exactly answering in modern England The
constant use OF the phrase "hlock,' in
showing man his way about town, struck
me at rirst as odd. But it is n perfectly good
|
a way in which the elder English towns ut
least are not. The "city lot" suggests tue
''cily" itself, of which we ainly hear
much more in America than in England.
| The Use of the word City in land Is
rather strange. AT some time later than
Domesday and earlier than Henry VIII, il
came to bc confined on one hand and extend
cd on The other, 50 as to take in all place.
that were bishops secs and no places thst
were not. In America City" means what
we should call corporate town or munich
pal borough. But in England the word
City Is seldom used, except either in ra;h-
er formal speech or else to distinguish the
real city ut London from the other rarts Of
tie "proyiuCc covered with houses which in
common speech bears its lame. In
Am rica the word CITY is in constant
use, where we should use the word
Town." even though the place spoken Of
bears the formal rank of city. | reUem-
Der getting into strange cross-purposcs with
au American gentleman who, in speaking Of
visit to London, went on speaking of "ihc
city, while be meant parts of the province
covered with houses far away from whit
understand by that name. Town" in New
England at least, has another meaning. 4
town" or township may contain city
or it may not. On the other hand, one often
hears the phrase "down-town," evenin New
York itself. New York. by the way. calls
itself a metropolis; in what sense of tn.
word it is not easy to guess as it can hardly
he because it is the seat of Roman Csth0-
lie Archbshopric. And | have even known
n New York paper speak If the rest Of the
United States as the provinces. Tha in,
sultiny name is bad enough when it is ap-
piled to an slish shire it is surely wor,c
still when it is applied to a sovereign com.
nOnwcallh