The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-16
ORIGIN OF ODD SLANG.
Many Sections Rich in Survivals of
 old English Expressions.

| old English Expressions. Washington Post.
 Why doesn't some contemplating student of folk lore set about the task of trac- l ing the origin of a large number of American colloquialisms? The western portion of Virginia. the Chesapeake Bay region, the Ohio valley, Tennessee and Georgia. and the mountains aNl sea- coast of North and South Carolina are
 sections rich in survivals of old English | speech and customs. Many years ago, when Sir Richard Burton visited this | country, and journeyed across the plains | to California in an OK wagon he was
 struck by the influence which secret so- cieties seemed to have exercised in the everyday forms of speech. He pointed
 out that many such descriptive sen- | tences as he is square man." The is
 level-headed," etc.. were evidently con-
 tributions from the craft of Masonry. l where terms are used with regard to
 men which were formerly applied. by l the old operative masons. to stones and building material. "On the square, and 1 Ion the level." were expressions which he heard all over the West. and were
 evidently borrowed direct from the lodge- | room.
 In Tennessee and along the great Ap- palachian chain of mountains, there Is
 saying, If he ran for dog-pelter, he ! couldn't get elected" which ! generally 1 employed in the case of some particu- | larly worthless person to designate the | measure of his unpopularity. Hearing | this expression, one would naturally
 wonder where on earth these mountain eers ever gained the idea of such an office as that of dog g-pelter,' seeing that
 no such position exists in their economy; and in failing to discover it's origin, l might be led to conclude that 1t origi- mated in some off-hand remark, during some particularly close and exciting county election. But. to one familiar ! with British antiquities, it appears more | than likely that 1t is survival of an office that once actually existed in many
 parts of England. but which has long
 since disappeared.
 During the days of Cromwell and the | Stuarts, and down even to a period as l late as the reign of George I, many of
 the parishes of England had an officer
 known as the dog -pelter," or dog
 whipper" ("dogge- -wipper') who was
 regularly elected every year, and who
 received a stated salary from the paric..
 treasury. It was the duty of this off,
 cial to be in church during services on | Sundays and holidays, and, armed with | a stout whip, to drive out intruding
 dogs and to prevent the indifferent
 from going to sleep. If he saw any per- | son dozing or to sleep when he should
 have been awake and listening to the | minister's sermon, he gave him a sharp poke in the ribs to remind him that he was setting a bad example. Quite re-
 gently, an article appeared in one of the | English magazines on the subject of this
 now forgotten office, together with pie | ture of the dog-pelter rod, one of which
 Is still preserved at one of me old Eng
 fish churches as a curiosity.
 I Fkxk l knglish term in the Southern mountains
 calls to mind another equally curious
 Tennessee, or rather, East Tennessee, is | perhaps the only state or quarter of the 1 Union where the words elected" and | election are used in other than a po-
 litical sense. Just after the downfall of
 the Stuarts. in Scotland, there was a
 heavy immigration of Scotch and Scotch Irish into the United States particular
 ly to North Carolina. where Flora Mac Donald lived for many years, and where
 at one time there were eight counties
 in which Gaelic was spoken. these Scotch Highlanders were excellent iron tiersmen. and at the outbreak of the
 revolutionary war, nearly all .Ae Indian
 traders were Scotchmen. They married
 among the stronger and weaIthier tribes
 of Indians, and this is the reason why to-day the names of the Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw aristocracy re- mind one of the roll of the clans. All
 through the Indian Territory one en-
 counters families of Adairs, MacgiIlyv-
 rays, Macintoshes, Macpherc ns, Giles
 pies. Carmichaels, Omohundros, Stew
 arts and Leslies.
 Now 1t happened that Tennessee was settled almost entirely by this Scotch
 element. so that to-day religious map | Of the United States will show a great
 CT number of Presbyterians in Tennes-
 see. in proportion to its size and popula-
 ton, than in any other State in the Un-
 ion. In fact, East Tennessee Is Presby-
 terian to the core. The people who set
 tied the last named section, being Pres | byterians of the deepest dye brought
 with them the Calvinistic doctrines O
 election and predestination. so to-day.
 the term "elected" and election" as| derived from Presbyterian doctrine, is
 employed all over East Tennessee, espe-
 cfally in the country districts, in the
 sense In which 1t is understood end em- | pioyed in the creed of Calvinism. Veteran of San Jacinto.