Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-01-23

| Problem Tor EtymOIoKlsISs
| From the San Francisco Argonaut.
| Another book on Americanisms, principally
political, has appeared, and our British Cousins
| having conquered the etymology Of 'geryman-
! ders' and 'half-breeds,' are now struggling
| with that of s'mugwumps." Since the late Rich
ard Grant White wrote his slashing review Of
"Bartlett's Dictionary Of Americanisms," COM
pliers have fought shy of the subject, and the
remarkable expressions used by Americans In
| modern English novels are either evolved from
the inner consciousness of the authors. or caught
4 from the Cooks tourists, who make yearly
stampede across the Atlantic. American slang
will be forever \ mystery to foreigners. How 1t
| is used, what it means, and, above all, who uses
| 1t, is more than they can grasp. When such q
| writer as William Black makes a charming
American girl say That's the kind OF a persim-
airy of American slang, with an appendix to
show how, where and by whom 1t is employed
1t is Thackeray who makes the prlggisn
Laura say that modern men are so AFRAID OF
being laughed at as sentimentaists that they
have invented slang as a non-commlttal way Oh
| expressing themselves, even in their most earn
| est moments. But Laura's remark does not
| hold good on this side OF the water: Slang in
the western states, where it attalns It's gam1est
| flavor, Is merely an exaggerated form OF ex-
preston. The weSterner loves to be emphatic.
He was not content with the modest Little ad-
jective "heap;" he coined q beautiful composite
word, with a hyphen, and now says heap
| sight'-"He's heap-sght bigger nor YOU The
| somewhat antiquated, though stu popular, "a
eackle,'n are nothing more than an emphatic
form of eyes, and are first cousin to why, GER
tainly" There is saying current In n; the ;, east
asks with lerosiogs j1eirhar,ty ns,
Joke tns n did the SterH general this is
joke, ,tul.private James, It's joke Of doubtful
Hnted states wera
be of English extraction. Wickliffe employed
! it in his translation of the New Testament as
/ Cranmer as "has thought and Chaucer used it
| in '.Troilus and Cressida" and other works for
/ both ''think' and suppose"
1t was originally SOutherner who threat
| ened, after the manner of gods and Titans, to
"fing a rock at your head" and then let fly a
the extravagance of the phrase. promptly
adopted it, Southerners are also responsible
for ''you'uns' for you and '.weuns' for us;
During the war a northern officer met an old
woman and asked her if she had seen any
Union troops Whereabouts. 'Wall," said she,
| chewing a straw and considering, ''thar was
| some of you'uns over thar cross the road but
some OF we'uns come long, and them uns got up
and busted"
This is, after all, only American for nous
autres. Authorization of syllables reaches Its
highest pitch in calling rubber shoes 'guIns," as
| have been the feelings OF the lady who, when a
| young couple visited her, was answered by the
husband, on inquiring for the wife, EMILY?
9 @a,. she's outside cleaning her gums on the
do tell" and 81 want to know" are confined
| to New England. rs that So" lengthened
$50 is to the German. 1t is capable OF convey
| ing q dozen different meanings. None but the
| initiated know the amount oil teilcateiy ve1ied
| sarcasm with which 1t can be infused. 1t is one
of those apparently harmle less little phrases that
can be made to sting. 1t was also in New Eng,
/ land that "budge'' was seduced from its good
old Saxon meaning, and converted into sym
onym of intimate" "Budge' was never a
| pretty word, and when it appeared in such
he
bulge" it sounded more unwieldy than ever.
1t has still another slang meaning-w a
gentleman is extremely intoxicated it is deli
cately said of him that he is 'full of bulge"
New Jersey, besides a talent for breeding mos
quitoes as big as pullets, has little knack OF
inventive unique AmericaniSms, which are
peculiar in thai they say quite the contrary of
what they seem to mean, as in parts of Lanca-
seyman says: what ails you at him?" he
means "What las he done to you?"-a form of
words popular even among The clergy. Only
rcnding tones: My brethren, what ails you at
| the Lord Jesus Christi" y New York man,
| while staying in New Jersey, was asked by a
| friend to drive. At the appointed hour the
friend arrived, and with long lace, said sadly:
| ave can't go. Ican't use the wagon; have no
| pected incipent mania and felt relieved that
| they couldn't use the wagon. He was not
aware that in New Jersey sword means a
coupling pole.
/ The etymology OF many Americanisms is
| impossible TO discover. "Boss" is taken from
| mate. BOOM some clever person says, is
derived from the nautical phrase Ito boom
| OUT" as applied to vessel tearing before the
wind; but the origin of :. blizzard is enveloped
| in obscurity, and "bulldOze" has vanquished
! all the etymologists in turn. Even Richard
| Grant White was worsted in a struggle to ex-
| A disciple OF Max Muller proved lately that
| in slang we find the same elementary process
/ at work which in prehistoric ages caused man
to make words by direct adaptation of sound
to sense. In this way, he says, originated the
| slang French name for an omnibus, .'aie- ale, -
/ which is a close imitation OF the call by which
! the eQuipage is hailed; "tee-hee y for the giggie
| OF a school girl: "chink " for money, ETC. He
also accounts for the hitherto Unexplained
| "pluck " for courage by the somewhat far
fetched theory that as butchers formerly called
the heart, lights and liver or the life of ami
| NAL "the pluck, activity and courage became
| known by the same name, and, of course,
! plucky followed. a. Ove," used in tennis and
billiards to signify nothing, is derived from a
mans marrying for love, or expecting nothing
I with his wife.
English slang is distinctly different from
American. Its expressions are more easily
| traced To their source. and have generally an
| ineligible meaning. The now antiquated "GO
| to Bath" somewhat equivalent to .Oh, get
| originated with the retreat of the Norwegian
| legions under Sweyn from London to Bath be-
1hs saSs Sn and
| by usage, are derived from Kettle, as are many
| English terms.
| Elizabeth was fond Of slang and was the aI,-
thor of several expressions, some of which still
! live. IT was in her reign that His room is
| better than his company was first used. Later
| Burke, who had a fancy for coming phrases,
| said OF William Pitt that he was "a chip of the
| old block" which was considered SO neat that
1t was universally adopted. Chesterfield en-
joyed smart slang phrase. He describes some
where the eXtrav-gant use of the word vastly ~
| which was as great conversation hack in his
/ day as lawfully is in ours. A gushing thing OF
/ his Acquaintance once said to him, in speaking
of a snuff box: Indeed, / was vastly pleased,
! for 1T was vastly great compliment to receive
/ such vastly little snuff box
| Chesterfield was also present at the birth of
| the word filtration" which, like Minerva,
! sprang full grown from the brain of the pretty
| wit, Lady Frances Shirley, and was immediate
| ly snapped up something quite delicious by
| Coliey Cibber. It was some time before his day
! that the word .'lady" was used among the mid
die classes TO designate a morganatic wife. The
/ irish bishops wife, who upbraided a tradesman
| for not promptly attending to her orders, which
| was not showing proper Difference to her-"the
| Madam, il would have been the same IL YOU
mad been the bishops wife,"
| or the hundreds of slang phrases current in
| the United States, not One-third have any def
mite meaning, or can be traced to a probable
| source. sample Is chestnut" Who can give
4 the evolution or exact meaning of chestnut
/ The word is, apparently, perfectly meaningless.
| Yet, with the select few who understand it, IL
| seems TO carry weight. Witness the two ac-
! tresses arrested the other day, one of whom OBJ
| served TO the other that she was going to marry
millionaire: The other, Jealous, answered
| scornfully, 'Oh chestnut" whereat the pros
| beat her full sore. All for one small "chest-
4 null"