The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-08-29

"a heap of people" The Heaven of tho
Pharisees" is with him the sour dough OF
the Pharsees. When we "apprehond" Il
was then perfectly correct TO get on" or
catch on" MS is done now only by tho
improper people who talk slang. II Is I'M
possible, however. for any one, no matter
how long he has been reading Saxon and
middle English not to feol something like
shock when told that the disciples Of
Christ did not get on to" his meaning.
Not only did the best educated and most
dignlBed OF our ancestors talk slang OF this
kind without hesitation but from our etand-
point their grammnlr 10 objectionable, Thus
both Wyclffe and 1yndaie say that the
disciples ''axed him his meaning" and
again that they were 'afcard for TO axe
him" So. too, John is reported as saying.
"Maister. We seen sum 'un for to cast cur
iends IN thy name" literally. "Mais,er, We
syghen sum Don for to cAsta out fendis In
thi nancy and the you uns" OF the
southern mountaineers is Of frequent oc-
currenco as far back as the Gothic Bible
OF ulphilas, the Oldest Te,Eonic literary
document cxtaiit. Many words are now
used only in a single one OF the various
senaes they had In Wycliffe's time. Thus
when Peter says: Lord. we han lcf, all
things and sued thee he does not mean
that he bad begun a lawsuit but simply
that he had followed" as In the accepted
version.
The spelling at that period was entirely
phonetic and every one followed the very
convenient method OF spelling to suit HIM
self Indeed. this habit has only been out
lawed within recent memory. What We
now consider the bad spelling shown In
Washingtons letters was stiil looked on
In his days as an allowable license, AS the
dictionary had hardly been accepted as a
compulsory standard. Until Dir. Jpbnson's
time no dictionary lad come into common
use as authority, though many had been
published some OF them with the defini-
tons printed in the most scholarly aud
correct Latin.
spelling cast much light on the. pronuncia-
ton then In vogue in educated circles.
Thus when Wycllffe makes two syllables
OF the word horn" t"bortn'D. We know
that he gave his RI the double roll which
IL now supposed TO be a distinguishing
trait OF the Irish brogue or OF the English
| spoken IN some parts or Chicago. Tyndaie.
| not quite 200 years later. spells the word
horn" with only one r. and without tho
a." thus showing the distaste for the
| dog letter" which IN almost universal in
| tho Southern States OF America, AZ 1t IL
| also In New York City.
| In the popular dialect now under process
| OF formation in New York city. many
| changos are taking place closely related
| to those which took place In ne formation
| OF the middle English out OF Saxon, Danish
| and Norman French. EnR'ish has the kaine
overwhelming predominance on me BOW
cry that Saxon mad atter me panisn aha
Norman tnyasions, nut the SOUNDS ana
meanings OF English WORDS are neihs moo no..
ifled III New YORK by inc lniIuence OF MN
dred tongues 1ust az th.y were IN Enslaau
city English IL seen In the temperance 81
words that nave been opsoie'e IN Ehb, y, -
fof centuries, though ansy nass sursme' !,
German. aieioc1 nus suen mo LIE, q
get on anu eaten On, aIea ny, n ~" 4,
come BACK WIN .ne n.aan,hs wy -" - ~,
saxon. propaoIy utonsn p'esesS s, ~
oral translation Tpm popun" ~, 80 IN.
German in'o Ensh a',n,. ~ ,as,,, ,,,.c
marked cnaneeh whlcn s'e anut na,
both IN pronunciation an IN .ne 49, =