The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-24

From Household Words.

FROM dOuSenOlQ w OrdS.
Not every great name has been honored
by obtaining place in the dictionary as
part of the English language, without
Whlch II would be so much the poorer
and less expressive. For the most part
the people whose names figure thus prom
inently have acquired this kind of imita-
ton immortality more by accident or sur
prise than Intentionally or on account of
given birth to more new diction-
airy words than the fame of heroes
and names which have Something ,derisive
more likely to live than the honored and
honorable, who must be content with a
place in Men of the Time" or other
purely biographical dictionaries.
A word little heard of now, but at one
time common enough in connection with
matters of dress, was spencer" the
name given to a sort Of outer skirtless
coat, which was christened after the Earl
Spencer of the days when George the
Third was king, and the dandies walked
the earth in all their unapproachable glo-
ries. He first wore the garment, or at
least made il fashionable.
Better known is the useful and portable
article called the Sandwich" Svihch is
so called after John Montague fourth
Earl of Sandwich, nick-named Jenny
Twitcher," a notorious gambler in his
day, who used to have food brought to
him in this form while he sat at the gam
ing table, that he might not have occa-
sion to interrupt his play. Fe
The very much more eminent Lord
godfather of the 'ibrougham," the well
known form of carriage.
In mechanical matters the name of the
familiar derrick a very common form
of crane has not the most honorable
pedigree. Derrick was indeed nothing
more exalted than the Tyburn hangman
of the early part of the seventeenth cen
fury, and his name figures frequently in
plays of the period. For more than a
hundred years he gave his name to glib
TlliR6 in a nSQfuI direction
modern derrick" srstaat
The dun" who is not a particularly
agreeable member of the community is
by title successor to notable constable
of the beginning of the century, named
John Dun, who had great reputation as
a first-class collector of bad debts. Others
might fail to colleca bad debt, but John
would be sure to get it out of the debtor if
the business was intrusted to him. Soon
the word passed into current speech,
where It has remained
Cant" is derived from the Rev.. An
drew Cant, who was minister of New Pits
igo, Aberdeenshire, in the time of the
CovenanterS, and was noted for his win
ming and pretended fervor. Though he,
and lke-minded brother, used to hold
that all those were accused who made
use of the prayer book, they used to pray
for all who suffered persecution for their
religious opinions. True, some have de-
rived the word ''cant' from the Latin
"Cantus," but certainly the particular
significance of the word as now used has
more connection with hypocrisy than with
music in any form.
Nicotine came from Jean Nicol, French
ambassador to Portugal, who in 1850 first
introduced tobacco into France, and had
the honor of giving his name to the plant
When in literary affairs "Bowdlerizing'' is
spoken of, the reference is to Thomas
Family SHAKESPEARE" in which nothing is
added to the original text; but those words
and expressions are omitted which can
not with propriety be read aloud in a
family" This well-meaning gentleman
has been subjected to much unmerited
ridicule