The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1892-01-14
AMERICANISM AND SLANG.

ion that II nedTd every uaA- says Il ne
New York Advertiser 1t is genuine
American slang, but equally genuine
German 1t is mistranslation; but,
once made. 1t struck ths popular
American fancy, and the Americans
have gone on and rung the changes n
the synonyms OF fresh so that we
COW hear Don't be so green" and so
new" and so verdant," and all the
rest Of it. Frech, which is by no mea S
denounced ..fersh," IS a German ad-
iectiva, and means rude, impairment.
hammered. and Is word that Ger
man fathers and mothers often use to
their children
Cur friends from Germany do not
indulge in slang perse; or, if they do,
it is of that particular sort that it viii
not bear translation into English. 1t
is a remarkable fact that the United
States with her bare hundred years of
national existence, has not only sup
piled herself. but all the world else,
with the genuine article Of slang, with
a profusion startling and prodigious.
and she is indebted but little to other
languages for its piquancy- to Ger
may least of all As an indication of
how Ill the two tongues fit into the
same groove, just fancy how absurdlv
a translation from Gilbert and Sulli
van ; opera, Here's pretty how de
do" would sound IN German. Its
German equivalent would be, Heir
ist elm schemes vie gents a bald
statement that would drive the ordin-
airy German into incipient jimjams.
But little things like that" evidently
10 not deter the hardy American
| pioneer in slang, who literally steps III
where angels fear to tread, and who
ransacks all languages, dialects and
Idioms to enrich his already glutted
vocabulary.
I'VE do not handle such goods is
| a remark now common to every bust
ness, from dry goods to lager beer
Outside of a slang Interpretation,
what could such words mean? Ger
| tainly nobody handles beer, confec-
tionery and hundred other articles
Here is another mistranslation but as
it turned out to be happy one, it has
been accepted by the Americans, and,
Ike the new newspaper, it has come
| to stay The German word ''handeE
means trade, or traffic; 50 the merchant
| IN the quotation above means that be
does not deal, or trade, in such goods
There is an excellent journal in New
York called the Misunderstanding and
the street signs, ''Buchhandlung" and
Merchandising" stare Us in the face
almost everywhere III the German
quarters Of the city, and they mean
| something that.is Legitimate, while
we have adopted the meaning as slang.
We often hear the advice, Lay
yourself out, my boy" meaning, dc
the hest you eau. This would have
no meaning whatever in English, ex-
cept, perhaps, xiii YOURSELF but the
slangmongers have come to the res
cue and recognized that the word
autegen means not only to LAY OUT
but to strive hard for success, and
| they have picked out its more pleas
ant Interpretation and incorporated
it into our flexible, volatile English.
The oft heard inquiries, How goes
il? 2" and How do You find yourself?''
are pure slang to Us, but are literal
translations of correct German words
and sentences. Germans have nc
other ways than these Of saying;
How do you do?" and the latter
words, literally translated, would
| double up q German How did he
make OUT IS another Germanism
once slang, now tolerable, and will be
classical
The far westerner congratulates
himself on his felicitous expression
which when he dreams Of his own
region, he really believes is sui generis
Everything goes" It IS simply
slipshod English, but excellent Ger
man. ''Alleweil,' pronounced very
nearly ',all the WHILE has been cor
rupted in American slang into exactly
those words. 1t Is an innocent Ger
man word, and means now, at this
time. We therefore hear the jubilant
Americans, and even Germans, ask.
''Wie gents all the while" which, OF
| course. is correct in German, and alb
surd, and therefore slang in English.
These mistranslations, and few
more such as these, comprise about
all that Germany has contributed to
the immense volume of American
slang. The present use Of the words
IN the near coming yocabularies will
| probably be marked 'lovc," colo
quail doubtful" etc, but never 'ob-
solete," for they have come to join the
long list that Americans have evolved
out Of there inner consciousness. and
future photographers will include
/ them in n thpSaIlT,1S without comment