The news & observer., 1897-02-07
WE RETAIN FOLKLORE.
SHAKESPEAREAN VERNACURAL
is VET RAMPANT IN
AMERICA.
MANY of the Old Bard's Good English
Phrases are Now Used as
Poor Slang.
(From Lippincott's Magazine.)

| this America, the vernacular English
which Shakespeare's Englishmen brought
with them yet persists to q greater de-
gree than it does even in England, by
reason of negro slavery, the diversion OF
| immigration, the lack of free schools, OF
railroads, and of other promoters of
change; and that this vernacular is the
yerpacular of large body of our people
to-day, who, with it, also retain no little
of what may be called the folklore of the
England from which our early colonists
came; all these are facts, not only of
much interest but OF much importance,
when we consider that they indicate a
new field for profitable research toward
the elucidation of many obscure and dis
puted passages in ,Spenser, Chaucer and
even earlier English writers, as well as in
Shakespeare. AS Shakespeare wrote, his
men and women, his speech, proverbs
and saying manners, customs, signs and
superstitions were freighting argosses for
America.
"They laugh that win," says Othello,
and Desdemona asks Emilia If itching
eyes bode weeping, to which Emilia re-
plies: ''Tis neither here nor there" 1T
makes us or it mars u.s." said Iago, who
also asserts that Othello can easily 'be
led by the nose" Iago uses 'go to" sew
eral times, and it is a frequent phrase
throughout all the plays. To most read
ers it is a meaningless exclamation, or an
interjection of impatience. Yet the phrase
is retained in our vernacular IN the same
sense it had in Shakespeare's day-that
of shut" or "shut up" Our people still
say that gate, door or shutter will not
"go to-" meaning that it will not close.
r. = 4ofx r rlxy
used in conversation as we now employ
its equivalent, ''shut up" meaning "hush'
or stop talking that way" go to" in
the Bible has a like signifance. Two
Gentlemen of Verona" has made yir-
tue of necessity" as ''plain as a nose on
a mans face" you gave me bitter pills"
You, Sir Thurio, are not sharp enough"
say Proteus, and Valentine tells Thurio
that upon a homely object love can
wink" ''homely" being used in the very
same sense that is now said to make it
an Americanism. Then we have in the
merry Wives" good luck lies in odd
numbers" despite of the teeth of all
rhyme and reason" Il cannot tell what
the dickens his name is, upon familiar
ity will grow more contempt" 1.-The short
and the long of it," throw cold water
Oh, Wudl IL ldkluS WIS III, run
through fire and water for a person or
thing, ''she does so take on" ''as poor
job" and in this comedy Dame Quickly
praises Rugby as mo telltale nor no
breedbate." A few years ago a member of
the Virginia legislature used "breedbate"
/ in a speech, and fellow member at once
GbaIlespqfa1ffi hi eeerydaiy use among our IN.
lettered people, meaning a fomenter of
quarrels by carrying tales to and fro,
and, with the same definition, was once
well-knwon legal term.
In the first part of King Henry W.
Falstaff declares that "f reasons were
as plentiful as blackberries would give
! no man reason on compulsion, Il we
are told by commentators on this that
raisins were called reasons in Shakes
peare's time, and the same pronuncia-
ton of raisins prevails in our vernacular
to-day. Care killed a cat" says Claudia
in much Ado About Nothing;" there
also we find ''milk-sop land Richard LII
calls Richmond "a milksop;") also "like
to have had our noses snapped off," Mac
beth urges that ''we have scotched the
snake, not killed it; she'll close and be
herself" wherin we have not only one Of
our most familiar saws, but a reference
to popular belief, still strong in Vir-
ginia, that certain snakes, although beat
en- into pieces, can close up and become
whole again. The fool in king Lear
says of sunshine friends that they Twill
pack when it begins to rain" Besides the
common proverb the line contains a word
as common here as it is in Shakespeare,
but we are assured that it
is American slang when en-
ployed in the sense of "go,'' as
it is often employed here and in Shakes
peare. In king Lear" we have "follow
their noses," upon the gad," "and pat
he comes," ''when the cart draws the
horse" Tor as we have it "the cart be-
fore the horse" ''more knave than fool"
the prince of darkness is a gentlemen"
worth the whistle" In Romeo and Ju- |
tleliet' we have make thee think thy |
wan a crow" wild goose chase" ga fool |
paradise" "as word and blow" 81 ann |
neppered-hit, wounded blistered by
thy tongue" Romeo at th ball says he |
will be only candle holder" In Gas |
you Like IT. We have that's all one,"
1.-TWO much of good thing" In "Per- |
icles' the fishermen promise the prince |
'puddings and fapjacks." Still we are |
solemnly assured that "fapjacks" is a |
WiChtu AmtflCttIilSlu lOT pducdkeS.
The meaning Of "hefted," as used by |
Lear, is still under discussion, some in |
sisting that the word and it's meaning |
are from helft, a handle, haft, hilt, while |
others favor the derivation from heft, |
heaying, quick breathing, painting. In |
the Virginia vernacular we have ito feel |
the heft' for anything by lifting it or tax
ing it in the hand, the phrase meaning |
''to feel the weight" We also have |
in common use the verb theft" meaning |
ito feel the weight" "Squander," as en- |
ployeds by jShylock with reference to |
Antonio's ships, still survives among our
people in the sense of to disperse, to scat
ter. In ante-bellum days, some of our old |
country militia captains, instead of pro-
claiming to their men that they were dis
missed, or ordering them to break ranks.
used to cry, "Squanderr' You can hear
the word to-day often used with respect
to fbo ri ofY +p;J