The Washington herald., 1907-03-13
AMERICAN-MADE WORDS
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

BY FREDERI
The manufacturing instinct of the
American has not been confined to tire
material things Of life. When he has
needed a word he has made it. just as he
has invariably made other things that ne
wanted. Sometimes be grated the bud
OF his thought on 10 some foreign stem.
sometimes he took foreign words and
acclimatcd them, and sometimes he cvi-
denced a glorious amount of independ-
enee and made his words, as the world
was made, "oUt of nothing
Have you ever heard the reason why
the American government is called
Uncle SAM" It was because one sam
ueI Wilson. government Inspector Of beef
and pork at Troy. n. Y, in 1872, had
way of marking his barrels with his own
iaitials and u S" meaning United
States. A workman who was something
of "a wag saw the letters. and facetiously
remarked that he supposed they stood for
Uncle Sam. The joke was rctOld and
retold until it became a common saying,
and the general government has been so
nisknamed for nearly a hundred years.
over a century ago the United States
was also known u England and other
foreign countries as Brother Jonathan"
Why? Because George Washington was
very greatly influenced by the opinions of
Jonathan TurnbulI. and had "a way Of
!. ..H
Jonathan" before he made decisions.
The term became local and then drifJed
To its general use.
Tammany. the name adopted by
Democratic club in New York in 1871, had
beer used for nearly a hundred years. It
was the anglicization of the name of
wise, old Tamane and Indian chief who
lived in Pennsylvania. and whose name
had been borrowed by Continental troops
when they were casting about for an
American saint TO faunt in the face OF
the British enemy who had st. George
on their banners. When the Pennsylva-
MIA troops acclaimed st Tamanend'
many other col0nials took il up. and he
appeared later in all American alma
macs in the form of his canonization- A
day was even set apart as Indian Saint S
Day" He was recognized IN hali-Jest as
the 'tutelar saint of the American
colonies" The Virginia Gazette of May
3. 1774. contains an account of celebra-
ton in honor OF the fine old chief who
afterward lent his name to the political
club that now immortalzes him.
'.Skedaddle" was bequeathed TO the
American vocabulary by a war cor
respondent from the London Times, who
came over to report the battle of Bull
Run. He watched the very hurried and
undfgnided manner I'm which the Union
soldiers left the field. and applied 10 this
rout the term skedaddle. Il was catchy
kind of word. and though its origin is
traced to "a dignlfed position in The old
Irish Bible. it retains the popularity given
it I'm its new meaning. An offshoOt OF
this word is the now popular "skidoo'
The true story of the origin of the
slang use Of "twenty-three" is a classic.
or at least a uear-classic. It came from
the works Of Charles Dickens. In The
Tale Of Two Cities" the hero takes the
place OF another man. condemned TO die
under the knife Of the guiuotine- About
the dreadful place sit terrible women.
knitting record of the number of lives
sacrificed to the sharp blade AS Sydney
Cartons head rolls from the knife to the
basket the women knit "twenty-three.'
Mr.. Dickens makes a sentence a para
graph of that word with great dramatic
effect When the story of the book was
staged under the title "The Only Way
the actors took up the use of twenty
three TO indicate that the story was
done. that the play was over, that it was
the end of things. The stagehands took
il up. and after a while it was common
property. Like many other bits of slang,
it was in general use in the West for a
Year before Manhattan adopted it. Those
who desire further information should
read the last chapter of THE Tale of
Two Cities"
EIbridge Gerry. of Massachusetts, redis-
tricted the State 20 his own advantage in
1Su. and when some one looked at the
new district and remarked that it looked
for all the world like salamander. some
one else replied: Better say Gerry
mander." And so the name was born.
and has been kept to represent all such
political redsucting. Borghese, a very
corrupt gentleman of the West IN early
days Of history. had such a fashion of
framing fictitious checks, notes, and bills
Of exchange, playing on the Credulity of
traders that anything ia the line Of
forged paper became 20 the Westerner
''bOrghese' or bogus and SO the name
has remained. David Bowie, of early
pioneer fame invented a broad-baded,
sharp-pOinted knife which has since
borne his name.
Buncombe County. North Carolina, has
lent its name to the countrys vocabu-
larry, ana is q synonym of hypocritical
enthusiasm, not because that is "A char
aeterisuc Of the people Of that section,
but because many years ago a member
of Congress from BUucombe County per
sisted in making q speech when a gen
Cral exodus of the members showed they
didn't want TO hear it, When il was in
timated that he might as well stop, he
replied: Never mind, I'm talking to Bun
combe.' The word in its new sense was
first applied to the speeches that were
made in Congress for the express .pur-
pose Of being sent home 10 the admiring
constituents, and later received its pres
ent application.
The word that is most typicalIy Ameri-
can in its coinage and use is possibly
graft. Like many other popular things
this name came out of the West. and be
came at once incorporated into the Ian
guage and customs of the people. It's
origin is not definitely known for though
il first appeared i'm print in the writings
of the late Josiah Flynt" Willard when
he went "Tramping with Tramps he
never claimed the word as his own, and
authorities show that it was known in
the West before he ever used il.