The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-11-26
WORDS AND PHRASES.
NOW Their Meanings Alter According to
PLACE and vs'~c.

NOW Their meanings AItcr ACCorumS W
PLACE and ,s'-c.
It matters not brass farthing or a
red cent (which you willy whether one
says ',gradc" or gradient" "shunt" or
s.switch," 'tinned' or canned" lob
ster, says the London Saturday Review.
American use prefers enc TORN. English
The other, and that is oil. RAILROAD
Is ut most triilc old fashioned here,
and perfectly admissible. We should
write it ourselves without hesitation
when it Cited the sentence better than
s.railway." When we come TO words
of the general vocabulary, such as
s.clever." guess" reckon" some of
them arc New England or western
provincialisins in THAR own country,
dust as "canny" is or lately was n
northern provinciaiism in Britain.
They may be adopted on either side as
q part Of the general stock. 1t is con-
ceivablc that word might be freely
used by British writer's without any
sense OF local colcr before it had ceased
TO be provincial in America.
We cannot admit, however, that the
question of Aracricanisrn is concluded
by showing authority for the word or
phrase in English documents of the
seventeenth century or earlier. What
ever we consciously import from Amer
aca in our own time is not the less an
American import here and now because
1t was English long ago. Nor are we
the less entitled to import and use it,
if it is good, .bccnuse it is really of
American Growth. When old authority
, II -
the historical and grammatical purists
after their own manner. which often
times is convenient AS facts in the
history of the language these things
are always interesting; as guides to
what our language ought to be we cam
not, for our part, attach any great i'm
portauce to them. AS nineteenth CEN
tury coinage may pc good, SO seven
tecnth century coinage may be bad.
Both should prevail or be rejected on
their merits, except where usage has
already settled the word in it's right of
citizenship.
BranGcr Matthews carries the wars
into our COASTS and attacks "Briti-
cisms" of Britain. He says that Mr..
Bagenot used ''lillc" and Sir Charles
Duke uses WITHOUT us IL cOliJuuCtioh.
Very well, to that extent Mr.. Bagenot
and Sir Charles Dixie stand convicted of
bad English. But we must wholly de-
cline to be held answcrable for them or
to accept either of them as represent
ing the standard or even the average of
English us written in England. Many
able men ard some great men of letters,
have been careless writers.
Again, it may be n British habit to
say: VERY pleased" 1t is not the
habit of careful writers or good speak
ers. At one point we think Brander
Matthews makes n definite mistake.
He treats the uses of ministers"
meaning ministers in Office for the time
being, as growing neologism. Unless
our memory greatly deceives us it was
the common form of the last century,
and ''the ministry" the government" !"
are innovations, by comparison. We
did not know that the revival Of min
sisters" was on the increase. When we
have used it ourselves it has been with
Apleasurable feeling of slight archaism.
But If Brander Matthews has observed
that it is coming into fashion again he
Il very likely to be right. For our own
part we should welcome it.