Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-12-03

HAelrs OF WRITERS.
come Specimens Of New England. wesa-
ern aud other PrOvtncialisms-

ern and other Provtnoiaiisms
II matters not a brass farthing or q
red cent (Which you Will whether ons
says grade" or gradient, ''shunt'
or switch" 'tinned" or canned
lobster. American use prefers one term
English tfe other, and that is all
Rail road" is at most tritle old fash
Toned here and perfectly admissible
We should write &c our-elve, without
hesitation when it fitted the sentence
better rIau railway When we come
90 words of the general vocabulary
such as clever, guess. reckon"
some Of them are New England or
western provinciali-m- iu their own
country just as "cauuy' is or lately
was "a northern provincialism in Great
Britain. They may be adopted on
either side as part Of the general stock
Il is conceivable that a word might be
freely used by British writers without
any sense Of local color before it had
ceased 70 be provincial in America.
We cannot admit, however, that t1e
question of AmericanisIn is concluded
showing authority for the word or
phrase in English documents Of the
Seventeenth century or earlier. What
ever we consciously import from Amer
lea in our own time is not the less an
American in port here and now because
it was English long ago. Nor are We
the less entitled TO import and use it,
if we find it good, because il is really
OF American growth. When old au-
thority can be produced we are able to
answer the historical and grammatical
purists after their own manner, which
eftentimes is convenient. As facts i'm
the history of the language these things
are always interesting; as guides to
what our language ought 10 be we can
not. for our part, attach any great i'm
portance TO them. IS Nineteenth cen
! tury coinage may be good, so Seven
teenth century coinage may be bad
Both should prevail or be rejected on
| their merits. except where usage has
B already settled the word in its right Of
citizenship.
Mr. Brander Matthews carries the
war, into our coasts and attacks Brit
.
/ Bagchot used like" and Sir Charles
. Dixie uses without" az conjunction
+ Very we'll 20 that extent Mr. Bagehot
. and Sir Charles Dixie stand convicted
T of bad English But We must wholly
decline % be- held auswerable for them
/ or 20 accept either of them a. repre-
-entiu- the standard or even the aver
aga Of English a> written in England
Many able men and some great men.
. even some sraqt men of letters, have
been careless writers.
Again. IT, may be British habit to
say. VERY pleased. II is not the
habit of careful writer's or cood speak
er,. At one point ve tliuS Mr. Brand
ar Matthews makes "a definite mistake.
He treat, the uses of ministers"
meaning tine m.ri~ter- .u office for the
time being as growing n-olo-ism-
Unless our memory greatly deceives Us
il was the common form of the last
century, and "Jhe ministry. ''the gov
ernment" ara innovations by compari-
son. We did not know that revival OF
ministers" was on the increase. When
We have used il ourselves il has been
nth "A pleasurable feeling of slight
archaism. But if Mr. Brander Mat
thews has observed that il is coming
into fashion again he is very likely to
be right. For our own part we should
welcome it.-London Saturday Review.