The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-17
ENGLISH IN ENGLAND.
1T DIFFERS IN VERY MATERIAL WAYS
FROM THAT OF AMERICA.
Some Distinctions in the Use and Mean
ines of Words as They Are Written and
Spoken Both in England and America.
Pronunciation and Railroad Terms.


inss of Words They Are Written and
Spoken Both in England and America
Pronunciation and Railroad Terms.
In England or universally hears, and
most English writer's use, differ to-
rather than differ FROM" though wher
pinned" down usually admit it to be in
correct. They take in" the newspaper
an expression where we economic a WORD
by only taking it.
| Attractive" as personal quality, car
ries further to the English mind than tc
| the American, who, for qualities beyond
the social, as IN statesman or command
er, would use magnetic" and thereby &C
quire finer shade of meaning. A gentle
man asked me if didn't find the English
"homely," which certainly could not be
| so uncomplimentary as to acknowledge in
| an American sense of the term. Seeing
my hesitation he changed it to "hospita-
ble," which most empbatically could as
semitic, and assent also to their having the
| better of us in that word which so beauti-
fully conveys its own meaning and bears
not the slightest resemblance to its Ameri-
can prototype of i'll favored. Clever" is
short English for intellectual" while the
American use of the word is quite the re-
verse.
Sick" is never used but to discriminate
the kind of Illness" an adoption we may
wisely make. Remember" is mind ~
Furniture is not removed" or stored, -
but ''warehoused" The expression top
and bottom" of the street or town at first
strikes one singularly, but it is easier said
than upper" or lower part of the same,
and certainly conveys the same meaning.
Stores" are SHOPS" and as we go ''shop-
ping why not shop in "shops?" If in
England we wish to shop for spool of
thread" we ask for reel of cotton;' for
Canton flannel" "swansdown Calico" for
'Shirting," Calico" though an English
writer on Americanisms asserts that we
ask for q "web of muslin;" or, if wish
samples" it is necessary to ask for pat
terms"
While Americans have been much and
deservedly ridiculed for their authorizations
of gents" and pants" / have seen both
used in England, which does not, however,
prove it a commendable custom, but only
eXemplifies the folly of throwing stones
by people who live in glass houses"
Draper" "haberdasher, 'ironmonger,"
etc, more briefly designate the kind Of
shop than do the American equivalents.
In pronunciation-wha ever may have
been his verdict as to the relative order Of
different words-this unprecedented umpire
must, If letters have any arbitrary signifi-
cation, give the victory to America. The
corruptiOns of the ignorant have, however,
so engrafted themselves upon the mother
tongue, many times even changing the
spelling-as when Rue du Roi became Rot
ten Row-that the true Briton looks with
lndulgent pity upon one who, ignorant of
the valuelessness of letters in these eXcep-
tional cases, uses them with the power be-
slowed upon him by linguistic English au-
thorities.
At Oxford you must never betray your
noninsularity by mentioning Magdalen
college, which to all good Englshmen is
'Maudlin." Cholmondely is CHUNKY"
Leicester, Lester" Marylebone, Marrow
bone,' while st. John as family name he
come ''Sinjin." Clerk is universally called
clark" though by what rule ''e'' can be |
made to have the sound Of "a" doth not |
appear; perhaps by the same rule which |
too many Americans apply to very" pro |
nouncing it vary" until in England it is |
accounted an Americanism.
American railroad" is English "rail- /
way" and everything connected with it is |
known by a different name, some of which /
better convey the meaning, while in others |
we have the advantage. Station" is GER
tainly more correct than depot, " borrowed F..
in spelling, though not in pronunciation |
or in Specification, from the French In |
England you book at the booking Of
fee" with the booking clark" while in
America you ''get your ticket" at the
ticket office" of the ticket agent
The car" is called a carriage" and
that European vehicle partakes more of
the nature of a carriage than does its
American prototype. The baggage car"
is a luggage van," and of course bag
gage" is luggage" But why-as it is
neither universally ''bagged' nor "lugged"
not sacrifice economy TO truth and give
to it the comprehensive Latin name, i'm
pedimenta?' Freight trains" are goods
trains" perhaps equally significant
Checks" would be ''brasses" if travellers
In England ever had the good fortune to
use them, and the rails are called met
MS" neither of which words CONVEYS an
dea of the use of the metals or their
Kind
Conductors" are guards" and as they
both conduct and guard the train have
perhaps equal significance. When about
% start the conductor" shouts, All
,board;" the guard, y Take your seats"
So in the interests of brevity we would
ave the guard" shout, "All aboard "
Street car is tram" each perhaps
'qually appropriate. So again the shorter
would win. The telegraph operator" be-
ONES telegraph clark" While ''oper-
ltorn conveys an added didnity, we might
accept clerk clark" never-Pittsburg
Dispatch.