Evening star., 1896-01-11


gentlest Of men, andnhasfan attentive ear
for any tale of woe. Ilie is quick in debate,
with fund Of repartee that has more than
once ranked in the d5smofratic bosom.
AMERICAN SPEECH FORMS.
Some Words ColIdetedYby the Dialect
Society,"
From the New York Times. IN
In the word lists found in the last report
of the American Dialect Society are many
used in Tennessee, and some of these are
original, others in some cases with deriva-
tive meanings, and others of pure invention
'Ambuscade" may mean in Tennessee dis
agreement. Battling stick" is a stick
washerwomen use to beat clothes, and is
common in England. "Blinky" for sour is
novel. Busy" for sweetheart, must come
from buss-a kiss. For a girl to get
"chaw" on fellow ought to be that feline
attribute-"a claw" "Gawmed up" as
This yere floors gettin' 'gawmed up"
is common to negroes all through the south.
child eating bread and molasses, the nurse
will say, "has its face gawmed up" When
year or so ago the Athenaeum used this
word, describing parts of Westminster Alb
bey as having been gawmed-or gaumed-an
England was in.linguistc spasms.
Fist" for dog. is merely the dropping
old English. The table is "givey," meaning
unstable. is fair word. The derivation
of ..givey" might be give way as "the
scaffGld Id save way" Head" for the best
during. as "theys the fastest blossoms in
the garden" is full Of meaning. Long
sweetening," for molasses. in contradistinc-
tion with sugar, which must be short
main big rabbit the qualifying character of
the main is excellent. "a poke of pea
nuts" means of course a poche or pocket
or bag, and "a pig in poke is a common
branch of creek, is novel. 1t comes, how
ever, from good source-only change of
applica tion-and is no more out of the way
than the prong Of fork, for the prong of
the creek Is in fact fork of the creek.
Any boy in New York public school
would say, just as they do in Tennessee,
stop your scrouging." Snack house." for
a restaurant must be old English and it
says exactly what 1t means. Sweltersome.
What Il sweltersome day. describes nine
ty-eight degrees in the shade quite per-
fectly sS does "Sweltering."
Some of the Jerseyisms have their nice
qualities. "Heckel to tease, Is novel, 1t
Is metaphor, as the dialect notes tell u.s.
and is derived from the heckling of flax
''Slummock,' for an untidy woman, is only
'lummock'' with an IS" added, slummock
being applied to the "gentler' SEX "Strull-
irg," female tramp is again novel. 1t is
applied, not in it's worse sense, to gadding
woman. If it's derivation were known, New
Jersey people would not be SO prone to use
it.
Among general words, "I bonas it,"
meaning Il claim it," must be a variation
of II bone it, but whence "bone it,"
"Brash," meaning sickly, must be local,
because 'brash" generally stands for
"coura geous." 1t might come from rash
for brother. would begin in Virginia and
end in Louisiana. 1t is pet shortening
for brother or brudder. "Chouse'' is hard
ly peculiar to Ohio. 1t = used all over the
country in the sense rather of being cheat
ed than of a forcible expulsion. "Clied."
for cloyd, is a curious dipping of word.
DAY down." for sunset. used on the Vir-
verse. "Diked out" for rigged up of
dressed up. is by no means peculiar TO
South Carolina poor whites "Fantal," for
stern paddlewheel is exclusively west
'Frouch." meaning to botch. is delight
full word. "Hogo" of New Hampshire,
used as indicative OF a bad smell. is the
om as fGgS both hanes derived
velins' sounds good. and is said to be
used exclusively on Long Island, meaning
the toothsome hits of any dish at table.
1t is unquestionably Of iseagoing origin.
this word. Mattresses" :" used in Glouces-
ter, is only Yankee, French for sailors.
Plug" an old, worthless horse, is of wide
American use, and not peculiar to Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut or New York. It's
derivation might be something of this kind,
that horse would not be worth a plug of
tobacco Yet plug" is used as verb,
meaning to drive. as boys plug tops.
"Rattled," the dialect notes tell us, is Call
sornian. Horses get sick from eating rat
tie weed" 1t is. as we all know, of uni
versal application. Nerves are supposed to
be unhinged, and the individual rattles, or
is ratified" "Shim," meaning a fat stone
in Massachusetts, is brand new, and in
comprehensive.
"Snipttous," meaning smart perky used
in New York and the west, is fine word
The derivation is the German '.schnipp.sh"
'Tacky,' for sticky, Is used in New York.
1t serves mothers in baby talk to children,
in lieu of nasty" "Dingswizzled," ex-
pressing surprise, comes from New York
1t must be newly invented word-and not
good enough to be lasting. The word
hike meaning ever SO many things, as
to throw, or chase, or to hurry, wants a
single definition. 1t is a prime word, and
you will hear it associated with base ball
play. The oeth "Jeswax,' or "Holy Jes-
wax" is uncommon today. "And he went
hckety SWITCH" we all know. 1t means a
regular motion, such a machine would
take. No; we do not like ''scamuljugate1"
In the sense of two young people being
fond. of one another--as John and Jane
seem quite scamuljugated." 1t Is an &C.
centric, and nothing like as expressive as
IN ashed." Stunt is fair word, but the
trouble is that it has so many different
meanings. Doing stunts" is used by New
YORK boys in the sense Of performing some
feat OF rivalry, and that is the proper en-
ploymcnt of the word