Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-06-21

ENGLISH is BUTCHERED MOST CRU
ELY THERE.

First wns the TngnI, Then Came the
ChInnmnn, Ne.t the Spnninrd and
Now the American, All Adding to
an Already Badly Twisted Dialect.
"Thore are more cadooies out in the
cadingbat." The orderly OF an officers
mess announced this at dinner the other
day, snys the Manila correspondent of
| the Washington Post 1t developed that
| if anybody cared for more biscuits there
! were plenty Of them left in the oven.
For the butchcring of good, modern
languages and the ringing in of the worn
out dead ones ! defy any one to find an
other town which can equal Manila. The
| Tagalc is at the bottom of it all. This
| language was crusted with the rust of
/ centuries ages before ages began to be
| reckoncd, ages before the square corners
! Of the earth were worn round. Inasmuch
/ as it has no verb "to be" It is beyond the
| ken of the white man. Those who have
/ tried to learn il say that Chinese is kin
dergarten number work in comparison.
Forgetting that there was anything but
Tagalic here, let us see what happened
when the Chnaman came. The two Ian
guageS met, FLASHED and compromised.
Neither nation made an attempt to learn
the language of the other, but each set
aside certain words and phrases for com
mon use. Then the Spaniard came, and
not only covered the ante OF the others,
but he saw them many better, because his
language is easy Now comes the Ameri-
can soldier and shoves into the nicely as
sorted pot the Bowery and the back
woods slang and the language of the bar
racks, which is a language alike Impress
i've to man and beast.
The result of all this is worth scrutinz-
ing. For instance:
Three correspondents living together in
one house found it necessary a few days
ago to hire n new stable boy. A young
Filipino presented himself for the place.
Quite likely he knew about ten words in
each Of the three languages outside of
his own-the Chinese. Spanish and Eng
lish. 1t seems ms il the boy had lately
been following an infantry outfit and
some soldier expressions were simmerDg
in his head. He was accepted and went
below to fix himself up bunk in the sta
hles While the three Americans were at
dinner it occurred to them that it was
time for the horses to be fed. The boy
was called.
go down to the stables and iced the
horses" said one of the newspaper men
kindly.
mo sabe go down." answered the
boy.
"Sabe throw yourself out?'" the scribe
asked impatiently.
"No sabe, senior"
"Sabe 'hikeT" suggested one Of the
other Americans. This word is the Amer
lean soldier for hotfoot.
Hike" repeated the young native
medtatively. "IIike-vamoose. 81, Sc
nor, sabe 'hike'-much vamoosc."
Hike out to the stables and feed the
horses then" ordered the newspaper man
who spoke first, resuming his dinner
NO sabe 'sta-bulls;' no sabe feed
At this juncture there came from the
three newspaper men certain expressions
which were so peculiarly American sol
der that printing presses couldn't handle
them adequately. At Length the CONVEX
sstion was taken up again in this way:
"Sabe casa de caballes|" the new
coachboy was asked. This means liter
ally house of the horses and is pretty
good stab at the Spanish for stables.
'No sabe, senor," the native replied pa
thetcally.
"Sabe 'casaT" yelled a correspondent.
Isl, senior"
Glow the dickens VII we tell him
'horses| gasped the sweating reporter.
The language Of the American soldier
came to the rescue again.
"Sabe .skotcsY" asked a white man
who wns obout 70 90 to pieces. II was
an insnirotion
Isl sahe nucha 'skates'"
"Saho chow chovP'" This was the
last difficulty and il ia the Chinese OK
prossion for "feel' the world over.
Isl. senior. sahe Chow chow"
-. aoIioJ ~