The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-28
QUEER USE OF WORDS.
Have a Meaning Different From That in
2 the Old Country.

~ the Oid country.
Australian history is little more than
80 years long, but the developments OF
language have been so rapid that 1t has
been possible to compile a dictionary
of more than 800 pages of Australian
words, phrases and usageS which, for
the most part, are peculiar to the anti
pooes and entirely different from the
English spoken anywhere else.
The early settlers in Australia had
a very strange experience, for they
had to name an entirely new flora and
fauna. In Australia the settlers found
nc oak trees, but seeing a tree that
much reser1bled it. they called the new
tree by the cid name. From resem-
blance, and also from associations, old
words are used to describe new things;
FIR instance, a jackass is a braying
bird, a marsh is a meadow a melon is
a small kangaroo, n lobster, robin;
cherry, maggie and many other names
are applied to animals and plants other
than those that bear the names in
otf er English-speaking countries.
There is a class of words in which,
without apparent rhyme or reason, the
name of the instrument is transferred
to the object. Thus, in Australia, a
lease is not the deed whereby the
property is rented, but the property
itself so obtained, and a "dam' is not a
barrier to keep back water, but the
water so kept back. By a similar pro-
cess push has become a gathering of
persons instead of the usual action of
a crowd, lust as crush" describes a
closely packed assembly. The Austria
lians talk OF a push" at government
house, when we should say an ''at
home" "Nobbler' in Australia is a
glass of spirits; in England "nobbler"
IL a blow on the mob" that finishes the
fight, or else a confederate of thimble
rigs or a ~swindling attorney. Nut
aIGn iS an intnrpctin0 urord IL nannnS
"a long, lank, lantern-jawed, whisker-
less colonial youth. generally 10 years of
age" Now. nut in England is associat-
ed with profit. Grose, in the first edi-
tion of his classical dictionary, dated
1855. defines cit was nuts for Them as
1T was very agreeable TO them" Nut
also is slang for the read. 'Duffer" in
Australia is p cattle thief. An old die
tionary refers the word to the German
"durfen" and defines IL as a hawker of
sham jewel-y, then a sham and finally
a fool. Grose explains buffers as per-
sens who ply about town. pretending TO
deal in smuggled goods, thereby deceiv-
ing country people.
'Old man" is a curious Australian
phrase. As a name il means a full
grown male kangaroo, but il is also en-
plCyed as an adjective in the sense of a
big, and an "old nan allotment means
a larger plot of and A "brumby" is a
wild horse. and the only association
which can IN any way connect the
word with the new meaning is that
some years ago a "brumby'' was known
ir certain pats of England as a cab
plying at a reduced rate and drawn by
one horse. Kit" in Australia is from
the MAJOR kete. n means a basket.
AMI has nothing to do with the English
HI. or OUTFIT. Gin" is a woman, and
is sometimes written gun" but is not
related to the Greek sune: IL is not sug-
gested that gin" is used either from
association with Sairy Camp. or be-
cause gin" is good English for a snare.
bur the use If the word is traced from
ar aboriginal source. The dictionary
ur der the title of "Austral English"
has been compiled by Professor NORRIS
of Melbourne university and is full of
interesting natter.-New York Sun.