Sunday morning globe., 1901-09-15
JULIAN RALPH
Points Out Differences in Language
as Spoken in England and U. S.

Most people are aware Of the fact
that the English language, as spoken
I'm the United States, and the same IAN
guage. as spoken I'm England have
many points of dissimilarityi but
manv' American globe-trotters even
will be surprised to see how varied
are the terms employed in the two
countries for the common affairs or
life when these variations are gather
ed together in brief compass. as Is
done by Julian Ralph For Instance
"If YOU ask a guest at your home IN
England whether he likes his meat
rare. he asks what you said, because
he does not understand you He calls
meat underdone when it is not thor
oughly cooked. II you tell him you
fear the asparagus is canned, he Is at
a loss again, because he would nave
said it was timed. To ask him to pass
the powdered sugar will again set him
TO wondering. for he calls it Icing su'
gar. generally. though he knows that
n As sometimes called caster or sitted
sugar And if you have candy on the
table YOU may not call it so without
betraying your foreign origin, for he
calls candy sweets. abbreviated from
'sweetmeats.' and used to designate all
preserves, puddings, pies, candies, and
jams
ITO 20 farther along the eccentrici.
ties of English at the diningtable
most persons know, I suppose, that the
beet Is called beet-root, cornstarch is
corn -four. corned beef Cor particular
cut of IT'D is called 'silversides of beer,
and napkins are serviettes.
If in shop I say, 4 want paper
| of pins the clerk says, Thank YOU A
great many Americans in London, now
aren't there? oh, yes say; i
meant a packet Of pins To ask for a
spool Of cotton is to set a clerk to star
| ing at you, and to speak of babycar
riage is to speak Of the unknown, ne
cause spools Of cotton or silk are call
ed reels, and baby-carriages are known
as perambulators-shor tC
'prams' in the speech Of Millions
Mr.. Ralph conducts us on a shopping
/ four i'm London that we may listen tC
tbe strange language of the shop ant
! store-a store being always a depart
ment.store i'm England. He writes:
"Now when the American reader
knows that a whisk, or egg-whisk, Il
an egg-beater, a coal-scoop is coal
scuttle. a face-cloth is a wash-rag
footbolds are small thin rubbers,
body is slang for bodice (just as the
slang of the shops and masses makes
/ chemise into 'shimD when he learns
that the roughs' are chapped hands
/ a block of paper is a pad, a camisole Is
| a corset-cover. preserver is a dress
shield. knickers are knickerbockers, ol
drawers. in Americanese-then he will
get a great deal of light on what this
very foreign.speaking foreign'thinK
/ ing lady has been doing She washes
her hands and face by the aid Of jus
and basin. because she never heard
those utensils called a wash-bowl anC
pitcher. With some of the English the
word pitcher only describes little Jugs
but none Of the servants l have al
present ever heard the word pitcher
used at all. As for a bowl, all oyel
| England IL is a thing i'm which to serve
food. The lady Of my story calls
letter.box a pillar-boX, just as she calls
a lamp-post a lamp-pillar; and what
we call a doctor Is always a medical
man In her mind, though she may have
/ heard that the Americans even apply
the title doctor to surgeons and to den
lists, who are plain 'misters' in Eng
/ land"
Charles Dickens, we are told, had nc
idea Of the real cockney lingo, to judge
from his books.
What he set down as the speech OF
! the masses I never once heard In Lon
don, and what the cockney lingo really
Is he gives no hint Of in a single line
that / can recall In all his books. Had
he been dealing realistically with his
characters, he could not have mad,
Master Charles Bates say, Pray, pray
send them back the old lady viii
think I stole them because what the
thief must have said is, 'Prv pry
send. etc. the hold lidy will think
stole EN-. Dickens makes Bates say
Hold me while l laugh 1t out whereas
we all know he must have said, 'OlC
\ me whole laugh II aout.' "