Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-07-08
American English,

From Paper by G. NJ. Tucker Of the Country Gentle
|
We have no dialects in this country either of
locality or of caste. In regard TO enunciation
the average American will make himself heard
and understood, wherever there is difficulty i'm
! hearing. far better then the average Briton-
not by virtue of vociferation. but on account Of
his clearer and more accurate speech, especially
| In following more closely the spelling This is
illustrated by such words as trait. silver and
schedule, which are pronounced In this country
according to regular analogy, but have In Great
britain special and exceptional pronuncations.
| liz Is illustrated still more clearly by dozens OF
| geographical names.
American spelling differs from British I'm one
respect only-its greater simplicity. Illustra-
tons: Wagon, parlour, storey (of a house.
pease plural of peal, plough. draught. shew'
| cyder, gaol, and many other words that have
been simpliied in this country
American speech changes less than British
| lO We have preserved hundreds of words that
nave gone out OF use in Great Britain. and we
avoid the use Of many novelties invented in that
country, such as 'totalling" or. 'tottng" hip
PED, navy" fad. y 'randpmgn ..puting"
and 'tund." o. We avoid many recent
English. such as using traffic" for travel" or
passage, famous" for excellent, bargain"
for "haggle," rot" for nonsense" jug" for
pitcher good form for lin good taste"
nop loI CdfTiage, ''tuO' Tor ''Dathe,
starved" for frozen" stop" for .'stay," las
sist' for ''be present." intimate" for IAN
nounce," etc. Co We refuse to follow the
British in their arbitrary restriction of the
meaning of certain words. THUS ''young per-
son is always girl in England. The Briton
rides in an omnibus, but always drives" in
a carriage, and though he will say that he is
connned to sick room or stretched upon a sick
bed. he is Mortified at the idea of being called
sick, unless suffering from nausea. Cd We
DO not turn active and reflective verbs into IN
transitives. (e) We do not abbreviate words
so much. % We are not so apt to get in
superfuous words-"what erer. are YOU do
ing!' 1.-The infant mortality is something
enormous" 81 don't say but ,cbdt this work
has got to be done"
American writers of the first class seem to be-
on the whole, rather more careful about gram
mar than are British. OF course however no.
body denies that the language has suffered some
bad treatment here as well as abroad. No less
than tour elaborate lists have appeared of words
supposed TO have been either invented or
wrenched from their proper meanings. in this
country. Among (supposed to be- genuine
Americanisms either entirely omitted or not
satisfactorily treated by Bartlett, the following
are mentioned:
BLIZZARD with some account of the history of
this remarkable world; boom with its probable
etymoOgy); to buck against; canaille kind Of
f1our) coral OF lobster mot correctly defined in
any dictionary; dodger (handbill): escaIan fair
ian eXhlbition) furore; gripsack highwines;
institute Ga convention) liable. for likely; You
must not" for "You may not; ninepence: pit
(stOne OF fruit); smirch; solid-colored; spilth
(street mud; super (of theater-Bartlett SAYS
it stands for superintendent; tenderfoot (anew
arrival from civilization in the wild regions OF
the far west)