The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-24
IN OUR FAVOR
fW. A. CrosFas. ln Currea,.l

NO AmexacMA Can lave aKAW@1A6 tn England without learning that iss people are no wAit superior to ours In bearing og in speech. MoreOveg, their seeasmR of complacency ofeen depSives them of the power of changing foE the Oeseef--that is ef learning. The nation that does not progress Eeksogrades. Enyland ls insulAT AMd provincial. America is ccntinental and cosmopolitan. Engiishmen seldom change except by forgetting. Ameri- cans. during censuFy, have added huA- drNds of neetif0l words to the language. What we ought to do is. not to drop good words because the English do not use them, but to hold on to them, and get more ot them, 10 6ll ap the awkward chinks ot the common tongue.
 What should we in America do without such words as breadssaiis, bakery, bureau. calico, caucus, deadhead, dry~soods, dress tor gownsl indosse, tall (for au. tumn). 6x tor adjust1 freshes, fleshy, hardware, laundry, ievee, loaser. lobby, locate, lumber, molasses, narrate. notify, pond, perfamery. posted, quite, reliable, ride tin a wagonl sleigh, sm art, span for pair), stoop tor porchl sparse, store. ugly for cruel or crossl, venison, vest, wcodsp
 These aFs all good, honest words, sAa, ought to be and will be retained perma- nently in the language. yet none of them are known in England in the American sense. except two or three that have re- gently been adopted for convenience.
 The Eagiish have no comprehensive word meaning what our |" dry. goods" means, and they need one.
 For " calico they use the vogue aad ambiguous word "print"
 For "mirroa they always say "glass t'sgiaSs though, as there are hundred differeat kinds of glass. mirror is word they ,orely need
 For "homely," as applied to the lea. sssss, EaS!ssa al=sy. say either plain or "ugly," and deny the proprie,y of the meaning which Americans give to the word. But Americans are r,ght. !" Homely" Is exactly what they want to say, for 1t means COD siderably more than 4 blair" and considerably less than ugly" The English have no equiva- lent for It.: hence, when they wish to say that lady is homsly, they cannot say h; they can say only that she is plain, sha, Is, that she has no positive beauty, or that she is ugly" thai is, de- foraed or repulslve and neither is what they mean.
 For "ioafer" the English always say either vagrant," vagabond.' or dandy" and q loafer h generally neither. England has thousands ol lnaierA, but not one word to describe them.
 The English never speak of the waist of a iady's dress" but of the body" of her "gown," which Is certainly neither more correct nor more elegant.
 For "burcau" they say "chest of drawers." which Is employing creumlo- cution in place of a name.
 For "candy they always say "sweets," which is a similar sub.erfuge, using one of the qualities of the article to describe the whole thing itself. Candy" is no, ouiy q needful word, but also (which Is of tar less cousequence), l, is etymolo. gically accurate, fading it's root in French, Italian, Arabic, Persian and Sanscrit.
 For "bench the English say form" Each is equally good. It is matter oi taste.
 For "pantaloons they always say |" trousers" which is, perhaps, preferable because shorter; but both words had better be retained.
 For "bakeSy," lumber" and hard. ware," they have no equivalent words whatever, and have 10 resort to phrases and sentences to indicate wha, they mean.
 For "perfumev" the English say "scent," and insist that the long word Is preferred by Americans because they are pedantic. But this charge of a preference for big words is scarcely borne out by the habit of Americans in saying help" in- stead Of servants" "bossb instead of employer" shop" instead Of "manu- factory,s guess /" instead of copject. ure,' sparse instead of "thinly popu. lated" and, above all, "fix" instead Of the Latin words " adjust" repair" or !" renovate."
 The revolutionary war is far off, and travel has much mixed us up, and young men Of culture in this country seem to think it meritorious 10 unlearn the yer. nacslar and substitute English words it seems 70 me to be mere fiuHkeyism, without any redeeming grace. In the sketch of his fathers haunts, in the cur- rent C<sfsry, Julian Hawthorne says of the picturesque old Wayside, the nsas- est shop is three. quarters of . mile dis. taat" He means the nearest store why doesn't he say storer
 ]: the application of words .o modern inventions Americans have shown thsm- selves superior to the English. When the hrst railroad vas buiit the Eugiish applied to its parts, ss far ss possible the =esds already h rss ss sssss-eescAssg l while Americans adopted or invented new set o1 words fog fke new things. For railroad the English say "railway :" for depot, " station . for track, line :" Gor locomotive, engine" (which is only part oi locomotivs); fos enginser, driver . for car, coach v for eonductof, "guard :" for baggage, "iuggage :" for buying . tieAs4 which is exacAy what fl ! |, . booking" which is exactly whs. is isn't; for switch, shunt,S merely 2 | wnixas r1etSarstnsR af @ skor tsw