The Press., 1886-04-01
ODD SOUTHERNISMS.

s. Pardee, in the March number of Dixie, the new southern magazine, cites the following curious provinclalisms in phrase
 Some years ago Richard Grant White wrote delightfully."- interesting book on Americanisms. He might well have divi- ded the subject into two parts: Yankee isms and southernisms. Absolute correct ness in the pronunciation or in the forma- tion of sentences is most difficult accom- plishment, and few there be, either north or south, who have reached such degree of perfection that no exception can be taken by ''oarp1ng critics" to their utter ances. In the matter of pronunciation the times are changing, and one can scarcely keep pace with the innovations being introduced by the leading orthoe- pists.
 The purpose of this paper is, however, to present in 8 sufficient way, 8 few of the structlon held to by the southern people comes to mind is the custom of omittlng the last two letters of such words as ''more, "store," ''four'-which are pro- nounced ''mo, ''sto," and "fo." "What o'clock is it p you ask the Carolinian, aud ten to one he tells you it is '"half pas fo,' y if that happens to be the hour.
 Another common southernism is the use of ''like as ii, or ''hke'' for the words "as lf." 'sShe looked like she knew me" is common expression, or ''she looked hke as ii she'd die" This is very com mon ln Washington, and In all the states south of Mason and Dixon's line.
 The word 'tunny" IS frequently. used instead of strange, and sometimes with startling effects. A young southern girl was vls1tins Us once, and 8 caller Was tell ing of the death of her motber throug , swallowing 8 fshbone. ''Oh wasnt IL funny l" exclaimed our visitor ar the Con- clusion ot the narrative. II ihiuk you meau stiauge," sad the c.ller, as suon as sne recover from the Aat,nIshmeAt. Our girl friend nas never used ihe word fun nJ since.
 Ii you happen to hear anybody say rye Cheer" yuu may know It Is ln1ende. to mean "right here" For ssauc<, A Soul h CaroIlIlau ~lA Say: 'fWhere Was ne at iast night ? anu his felow-cltizeA ~l.l say: ':he & aid rs t ches with me. ; Dl r-l'ronouneed l., o..e syilablr-l> not kussla,s w,ud, $ tnigut De suppose d :; II n4ea4Is "-D, you hear P, aIlu IS ue.4Aliy address d to servants ln lhis form '.YOu
 
 ''lo get 0 go IS ess> Il lal y G orgsa xpressl,u. Ih,y say '.Do, dou'l fan .o come to-nignt,' , a..d tne reply Ii, Il ve ri,u ,o ge, to go ihree WtieAs, now, so 1 reckon Ill be there t'night." The ex pres~i.,n, ''uu dol't' is hs ard ill Georgia a. South CaEoiiua, l.ut rareiy elsewhere. One of the most imaginable things you ev, heard is tue peculiar pronul cia tlon ot the word ''auout" It IS lmpossible to expr, ss tn South Carulmian's prouuucla- tiun phont tical,y. It sounds ike abaout -pronon, ced very quickly h three sylla- blss. "Quare," tor queer" is another word T..e use of ''r, ckon'' for presume Is. sad to have been derivs d from the Yan- ktes, as was the expression ''rignt smart, !" for the word ssmucn."
 In imita ton of Englishy perhaps, is the custom of saying ''I'v. got 1t" for II have ii, ;" and the general use of the word 'sgot'' where it IS quite unnecessary. Also Eng llsh is the use of ''obliged," as ssI'm ob- liged to do it'' for must do 1t :" sshe is obliged to go'' for '::he must go" Ambl- guilty of expression is too prevalent in Dlxie, and too many people sacrifice sense for sound.
 Low-country people and the residents of Middle South Carolina say .sgee-arden'' for garden, s'gee- -yard' for guard" ]" with the hard sound of 'sg." So, too. with such words as 'scard, scar,'' and 'scart,' into which is introduced the sound sfkee, to take the place of the first consonant, thus: s'Kee-ard, 2 s'kee-ar," stkee-art. :"
 The use of delightful for delicious in such 8 sentence as ssThe ice cream is delightful, !" is very common. Pretty" is a word very often misused. for instance. "Isn't this pretty day ?"-and this error is very general one. North Carolinians say the scenery is pretty meaning pie turesque the day is ''pretty" meaning