Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-15
SOME EVERYDAY P.ToIS.
influence of the Parent Race. rpon
Language.
From the Pitisburg Dispatch.

FROM the Pitisburg Dispatch.
Walter said chief official of ono of
tie great railroad systems. speaking ia his
confidential messenger. Walter. please
don't say all right whenever ! give Won
instructions or orders. All right is not
business-like"
Walter flushed to his ears dropped his
mead ana as he withdrew from the Official
presence he stammered. all right"
Where do We get that expression. My
hands are all over dirt" when We r.al1,,
mean that the dirt is all over our hands
Another Pittsburgism as universal as ,to
stoEie or the dirty face Is the misuse of IN.
words wait on when We mean wal, TOT.
Ihls mistake is so deep rooted AMI 50 fro
qu@at that We seldom notice IL unless our
attention is drawn to il and the error -
proven by az outside authority W. wait
On car when We should wait for a car.
We wait on friend to keep his apppIn;-
ment when we should wait for him. walt
on has the meaning of TO serve" TO at
tend. ITO supply wants.
Take the word got or get" The
meaning OF GET is TO acquire or TO
gain possession Of" But disreeardiEg Ills
meaning We say we got an invitation"
got sick, got rich" got home" got
married" Ia very vulgar terml. and II is a
wonder that we don't say along with cur
German friend that We got dead" We
might just as easily and much more cor
rectly say We received an Invitation" Ice
came sick, became rich, arrived home and
We're married.
But. however this may appeal TO the
tastes of the ordinary reader, there is an
other use Of the word got. which srnacks
OF Chicago and which has called down the
special male Lotions OF that sturdy defend
er of good English. Richard Grant White.
When We wish to say we have "A thing or
We have to do thing, We almost Invariably
say We have got" thing and We have
got to do thing. The exact reason for
this Is not very plain. but no doubt IL can
be found in the fact that the word have"
is not very strong or emphatic WORD,
while got has force and vim about IL
that brings il into constant play.
This subject recently came up at a meet
ing of the Twentieth Century club Of Pitts
burg. The matter of dialects in virginia.
West Virginia mountains and central OHIO
was handled very intelligently. Finally tn.
question arose, Has PIttsburg dialect Of
localsms?" The fact that it. was almost
unanimously decided that she had not may
well bring smile from any one OF a philo-
sophical turn.
more correct pronunciation. She looks to
the east for encouragement and help.
When the college girl returns in the early
summer. changed and yet the same. she
starues her friends with such words as
bicycle Obisigh-cle) and asked mot asD. She
causes inQuiring glances when she pro-
nounces mot at ALL" She says 1t lie T.
and not. It's me-" She lies" down and
sits" al the table.
The native element Of the vicinity II
Pittsburg is undoubtedly Scotch-Irish This
Is sho Hn 10y the fact that she is the strong
hold of four great branches OF the presby-
terrain Church. The Scotch parentage has
left its trace. Any one who has read those
delightful dialect sketches of Scotch life 10y
Mr.. Watson dan McClsren) can easily de-
tect the Scotch influence in western Penn
sylVania. The Scotch transformed the
word Just" into "juist." ON the streets Of
plttsburg we continually hear ''jist'-a de-
testable word and one that has thrust itself
into the portal of good society. That IL has
not gotten A foothold there is subject for
sincere generalization. The Scotch habitu-
ally contracted the word of into 20" 1t
is seldom that we hear Pittsburger pro-
nounce of with a full, cleai accent. The
Scotch word sic meaning such" has
had the effect of producing the American
',sich-" Scotchisms are without number in
our ordinary every day life. We know bet
ter than to use them and We never write
them, but the influence Of the mother
tongue is slow to die.