The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-07
ideas for TAn1uen.

~&N ~ T1kll8tl6H C0lu6 lEOAt1
which we listen tor" said the really
Bright Girl at the Sewing Glass. I'm not
speaking of the Chimmie Fadden slang
not of slang at all in fact-nor Of the
stephen Crane atrocities. but of the com
mon. every day words and phrases which
nice people-realIy nice peopie-empIoy.
I should think so" the observant Girl
calculated f~ervently. ct is high time that
a S was begun. Do o realize hat
so many people now say. I don't think
So that you are APT to be thought pre-
else and advanced and that kind of
thing II you use another phrase. You may
laugh, but it is q fact. I said. I think not
yesterday in answer to the question of a
friend. a really up-to-date girl, too, as
far as other things are concerned. It al
most took my breath away when she
smiled and said:-
Goodness graciouss How thoroughly
correct you are with your little II think
not" But there was a slur in that
thoroughly correct Now what I want to
know is how women can say 7 don't
think sof II is awkward to the ear and
to the tongue"
And that other horror spoke Mrs.
Chaperon, II mean that fatal mixture
of the contracted verbs by which we
get the awful product of b. DON'T and
she don't How can educated people
forget that don't is q contraction of do
notp And that we never say he do not.
or she do not Verify the contractfons
of verbs are convenient things for con-
versation. And they come trippingly on
the tongue But the long and stilted form
even is preferable to the he don't idea"
Then spoke up the Girl with a Story to
Tell:-'You' can't imagins the shock I
received three days ago. she said. 81
wanted some biscuit eor my afternoon
tea table and ! stepped into one of our
large grocery establishments to order
them. What can I show you miss the
salesman asked? 7 want a couple of
pounds of water Biscuits I answered.
To my establishment the fellow stared
biankiy. When upwards of a minute had
elapsed he suddenly said:-'You mean
crackers, MISS"
And the fixed versus arranged con-
~troversy is everywhere" said the Bright
Girl Eight women out Of ten will tell
you that they fix their hair, which they
couldn't do without using mucilage or
glue or a nail. Blue Boards. five wives
had their hair liked But ! don't know
of any others who had.
"And in spite of the best school teach
ing which you can give q child in this
end Of the century she is going to say
fixed her hair. I demonstrated yester-
day with a small niece upon the subject.
You shouldn't say fixed" Elizabeth
said ], you don't fix your hair unless
you glue 1t to the wall or do something
with it which renders It immovabie.'
IT know was the deprecating reply,
We learned that at school, but I couldn't
say things X that, auntie. The girls
would call me a new woman"
80
And while o are IN the subject"
spoke up the Slangy Girl, 'syou had bet
ter crusade against those people who
don't know the first thing about their
~nominatives and detectives. I know a
woman who would no more use a bit
OF slang-even expressive s~lang-than she
would take IN vain a portion of the
Scriptures. But that woman mangles her
cases most atrociously. II wasn't a week
ago that she said:-aThe doctor sent It
to Maud and I. How is that for Eng
1ish?'s
THAT atroclous fancy, foo.y added
the observant Girl, which creates
those kind and chose kind of Ching in
the place of that kind and that kin
OF thing How a M explain the con-
struction of Il a woman's auricular
organs? How can any one say those
kind when 1t souuds as It does, FIRST of
III? And how can she secondly, when
fuhose' i q plural word and kind a
singular?
The little manr,erfsns Of American
English are also well worth a crusade
chined Mrs. Chaperon. 1.-THE incest
children will answer evry question put
to them with a sentence beginning In
why Wei educated people, too, have
q disagreeable and startling way OF
saying sHey?' or What? There is moth
ing 90 dreadful in conversation as one
of those vocal thunderciaps when you
are not expecting Them. And the per-
ceaytage OF people who say me, instead
of the possessive pronoun .my'-welI I
wouldn't like to say just what I believe
thai percentage to be"
SO
Muddy streets and pasty sidewalks con-
ffnue to make the lot of the feminine
pedestrian just at present a most un-
happy one! II she wears her prettiest
lace-trimmed frou-frou silk petticoat her
soul Is torn with anguish, knowing
that some Of the chocolate pudding mix
ture over which she dadntly picks her
way must Inevitably adhere to it's hem;
and, on the other hand II she is of
frugal mind and wears q shabby skirt,
her fate is equally unhappy, for rather
than Lift high her tailor gown and so
expose the deficiencies beneath. she lets
1t drag a little, and 1t not only soils her
dress, but muddies her shoes as well;
and then. intentionally self-consctous, SIZE
goes home wishing the word economy
were not so conspicuous a one in her
lexicon. and that silk skirts might be
had for the asking!
But, while I ~sympathfze with such
straits, I must acknowledge that the
course Of the women who wears her
daintiest lingerie in muddy weather is
far more clever.
There is nothing more fascinating than
to see a well-shod woman, serene In
the consciousness that she may lift her
gown without fear Of tell-tale rag-tags
end bobtails, dainty lifting her skirts
and skimming over muddy crossings.
Our clever French sisters have made
q fine art of rainy day lingerie, and a
o&,sNsx ~ fka uanro< - 4xx<t.-x -