The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1908-12-10

time ago q member of this circle asked
the question why was this SO, and one
or two explanations were given. /
have been waiting to see il the right
one would be forthcoming and as 1t
has not will explain it. When Amer
leans talk about billion they think of
q billion as one thousand millions.
The word billion was first used in
France to denote million millions, or
one million raised to the second power.
At that time figures were pointed off
in series of six by the French. When
the custom of pointing in threes came
into ex stence the French began to use
the word milliard to denote one thou
sand millions. In England billion
means q million millions, certainly the |
most consistent meaning, in view of
the origin of the word. A billion
means the same in France today.
Another choice topic is, how is it
Americans speak better English than
they do in England. The cockney
with his blawsted lingo, don't you
know, and his dropped h's is put up as
the one and only type of English spok-
en- in England. Every county in Eng
land, Ireland and Scotland has differ
ent dialect. The Yorkshireman will
make game of the cockIey in York
shire, and the cockney will take it out
of him in London. Talk about rivalry
in sport, let Northern club get into
the final for the football cup with q
Southern or Midland club and you will
see 10000 natives bowling in every di-
alect the Anglo Saxon speaks.
Most Americans speak the dialect
found in Manchester, Liverpool and
Dublin where the people are as much
as Saxon, only they will not own up.
The man down East who thinks he is
the goods With a dialect Of his own,
calls it Yankee. He is mistaken 1t be-
longs to Norfolk where they have the
same twang. Anyway they can jaw
for all time, but the fact remains that
the language that was most hated in
Europe has left them all behind, aud
it is not British at that. 1t is not Irish,
Welch or Scotch but English. Its lit
erature speaks for itself. lrishmen,
Scotchmen, and Americans have all
done something for it. Strange to say
the Americans have not been men of
mixed blood. Take Roche, Whittier
and Longfellow, for instance. No city
has turned out more native writers in
the first-class list than London, aud in
poets they have john Milton, Dryden,
Cowper, Pope, and Grey, whose elegy
is admitted to be, both for expression
aud composition, the greatest poem in
tie language.
That Scotch barbarian, A. Carnegie
tried few stunts with the spelling
He has had warm time, but he will
have warmer one when he crosses
J the Styx and meets DR.. Johnson, who
had style all his own for dealing " ith
encyclopedias and verbal reformers
He used to hold forth at great length
on the integrity and purity of the great
| est vehicle of expression the world has
. ever known. The Greek champion,
3 Jared badly in his hands, so Andrew il
= to be pitied. 1t is Impossible to decid,
s such question as to where the bes
a English Is spoken; it is certainly not il
3 New York where the street vendor
!, and newsboys speak worse than the.
Q do in London. You can understan,
3 the newsboys with their shrill cry o
o papers in London, but to hear then
:; shout, Wextry World, Sun, Wextry, al
8 in one breath in New York is to caus
9 you to stand still to find what tn
q trouble is. A native of Derbyshir
8 will say Darbyshire, the Highland ma
q will say Keltlc for Celtic and believ
8 they are right.
VI The press is to blame in 10th cour
Q tries for wrong Impressions gaines
n Look at the case of FL. M. Stanley, fc
instance, the hot air that was shot O
10 at the time he came up with Living
y stone. He did not find Livingston
n because he was never lost. But it We
" American this and that which robbie
. him of the honor which really belonge
10 to him. When the storm had blow
le over it turned out that Stanley Was q