The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-03
so-oAL1ED AMER1oAN1sMs.
Many Phrases Which Had Their Origin
in Transatlantic Countries.
From the London News.

From the London News.
The slang of people is one thug, and
its language is another. Most of the
Americanisms are simply slang; many of
them have beeu adopted by slang-lovers
in England The phrase "like" for "as, 4"
''She cannot love like can" is at least
as common in England as in America and
has been defended on good and old poet
ical authority, by William Morris, if we
are not mistaken. Still, there is no actual
harm or crime in nsing "as"-''she cannot
leye as l do''-if we happen to preferit, like
we do. Wemay call a keyless watch key
less watch. 1t is a free country. Amer
leans call it a "stemwinder," and who
shall throw the first stone at theml 1t is
a graphic expression, so is "two-shoot
scatter-gun" for a fOwling-piece There
are American words for American things
like 'chewing-gum, +" an abomination very
well known to Scotch boys, but they call
it iDdia-rubber. However, they chew it,
nobody knows why, or, rather, we do
know why. BY chewing a piece of india
rubber for months it becomes a vicious
solid, and can be used to produce crack
ing noises, but whether this is the end
and aim of 'chewing-gum" is another
question.
Some words are not American at all,
but English ''Chirk" is used by Mr..
Swinburne in the "Masque of Queen Ber-
sabe, - and no doubt he has old authority.
"ChOuse" is perfectly good English
"Curlicues" is rendered "pranks, - Ca
pers." 1t is no more American than
''chouse" or ''chirk." Andrew Fairser-
vice, living "the Fifteen" applies "curli-
cue" to the architectural ornaments of
Glasgow cathedral. The phrase is in
Rob Roy" and no doubt is good Scotch;
the sense of the term may have been
altered in America. Fl. F. "" is only
the initials of First Families of Vir-
GINA" How far from distinguished some
OF them may have been, the readers of De
Foes "Moll Flanders" is very well aware.
MY Juvenile Union Blue" reads like a
form of Mr.. Weller's "my Proosian
blue" To "guess" is English He
was lovely youth, l guess" says Will
liam Wordsworth, quite seriously as
ever, and Chaucer uses the phrase,
though perhaps in more common sense
Honey" a phrase of endearment, is
Scotch Limbo means 'leg" in Amer
ica-we do not know what is the Ameri-
can for back, y or whether it is recog-
nized at all. MIR Howells blames an Eng
glish lady in one of his moral tales for
mani ng her back 1t would be useful to
know what she ought to have called it.
Americans do not if polite, go to bed
tuGy tGblIb. 4A6g uO ilOb bdkb bUb view
of bed proclaimed by M Anatole,
Frances latest hero. The 'loan" for the
"lend" is Chaucerian, but undesirable
'Mad'' for ''angry' is Scotch and Irish,
both races thinking that ira est brevis
Juror, F" as the Latin grammar says. ITO
meechn is of course, old Eng
lish and Shakespearian. "Mohocracy'
ought to be "ochlocracy," but
it Is not particularly American Mug
wump" is difficult, but is said to be Red
Indian-"M ugqump," ga superior per-
son." like the Phairson. Naturally a
mugwump is ever in the majority.
"Netop,' a friend, is obsolete and is
Indian "Ha, "Nitzhi, shangawaba," is
the way to address an Indian-"Ho,
friend, whisky!'' admire" is used by
Milton, and, in fact, is not uncommon in
the American sense The anxious
bench, y or moaning bench" at a reli-
gious revival, is not the stool of repent
ance Burns occupied the latter; the
former, never. The protesters introduced
in Scotland, about 1852, the phenomena
of revivalism, the ventriloquial meanings
and crowds and excitement, as Principal
Baltic saw and remarked. But the stool
of repentance is something perfectly diff
ferent.