The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-01-03
England's Bad English.
North American Review.

MOTH American heNleWs1
remember hearing, with establishment, a
dozen years ago, from an English gentleman
of culture and high social standing, that it
was necessary to remove the gates of Que
bee, "to give more room for traffic" 1
asked no questions, but wondered inwardly
whether the people of the American Gibral-
tar were in the habit, like the ancient ORR
entails, of resorting to the gates of the town
to exchange commodities with each other.
On our arrival next morning the mystery
was solved; it was travel, not barter, that
my friend meant by traffic. The word is
continually thus misused in England, and it
must be sorrowfully admitted that the bad
habit is now slowly invading this country as
we'll Other examples--as yet, happily, not
naturalized in American usage-are: Fam
Gus, for excellent; bargain, for haggle; tire
some, for disagreeable; rot, for nonsense;
jug, for pitcher; good form. for in good
taste; trap, for light wagon; tub, for battle |;
stop, for remain; assist, for be present;
plant, for fixtures; intimate, for announce;
andtidy for almost anything compliment
airy. A London paper made mention the
ObuCI udy VI d fCly tid9 Duii, bEC Wl1bC1
meaning valuable animal, and by no means
intending to refer to any particular neatness
in the beasts habits. English hostlers also
to get pretty well~~4doMn in the
social scale, though by no means going as
low as do the compilers of what are termed
Americanisms in their search for blunders-
English hostel rs sometimes speak of chill
ing cold water, meaning warming it slightly
an extraordinary perversion of very
M a1nmQptapV word If il
| anomalous assigning of new meanings to
old terms. that the English have made reck-
| less changes in the body of our speech where
| the American practice adheres to.the former
STANDARD They have swung off In the op,
4 posite direction also, cttrptiSs..5 nand
| purpose the significance of several words
| a s'young person. is always a girl IN En-
| gland. An invalid is ILL.,, not SICK, unless
| he happens TO be nauseated, though 1t is re
| garded as perfectly proper TO describe him al
confined to sick room or stretched upon a
sick-bed. A Briton is Mortified at the ide;
of yidinq in q carriage, although he make
no scruple of riding in an omnibus or
street car When you enter the VENICE a
the side YOU drive when al the end you ride
And if the author of macleod of Dare
a trustworthy guide, the word up, USED Il
reference to a journey in Great Britain, IL
dictates not that the traveller is seeking.
|
but solely that he is going toward the cap
tai; cup to London" and ''down to tn
Highlands are, it appears, the correct TO
mulm. A third kind of variation that sees
to have grown up in Great Britain to grroee
err extent than in this country is the hap "a
turning active and especially reflexive ros
into neuters, as "Don't trouble" for ION "a :
: trouble yourself' As long ago asIoo,4a
Miss Yonge wrote lin Heart sIDu.
ssTheodora flung away and was iu ~
ing off, Charles Reade, whA tne
sthe choicest of living English M TdIe s,
: is guilty of such phrases as marulaw w
whipped before him. little. la aH ouo 81
, the ROOM" and various Others n nese anu
}, similarly incomplete sente,sssd in ,aniy
strike the American ear as dtvu 81 dio,in.
tions, and constitute pecubi: s ID alS tIa
g very rarely to be observed oniS 'iuo =. .ne
a water. The English have - ia prac'ice.
e more pronounced by far Il lords T., 80 .ho ~
abbreviating good man, their con r,seii
: common talk. They ney anvt With vonI Sn+
y idated Government eI1 st,o Gardens in Lon
Ia "consols. . Inc series of popular
- don are tne Aoo, aibn in the same city
le concerts giem 49, ds, mated the ''Monday
u Pops" HampshiEs >, Herffordshi Ta
u nghamshire. liborty IL t OBJ r0n ,ni.r
re .Herts." a slRSmith & CO. is made
N the names OF formal business letters.
81 q to do duty, eyer title, sSmith, Brown 8,
A. NJ Robinson" Yer, an opposite plan Is
NJ sentences, Owed, the insertion of
IF frequently lous words. Thus one
" utterly smulrs English ladies ask, what
We occaslonaploing" meaning ssWhat are
in ecer j S,in = In Herbert Spencer on Edu-
ch1 so,;ae Fad that ''in Russia the infant
re uaorsi;s something enormous Few
we Hu rio would have put in the ''some-
hit IL. III And who has not been disguised
cy ht1bg1numerable COTS with which SO
lp- u,,SSeSnglish pages fairly bristle?-ln
he e / mean, where the author Ices not
lic sid to convey the slightest idea of getting
5only that of present possession The
IN, neral American dislike of this word, and
rtlr practice, where the past participle of
leet must be used, of adooting the old and
potter form gotten NOW scarcely ever heard
in Englandl are not exactly what would be
expected of people who are running the
sanguage.