Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-07-05
Slang STARTED
With AMERICA
Pioneers Were First to Gre
ate Expressions That Best
Expressed Meaning.

| American pioneers WOulu Hecu Ht"
words is self-evident. Therefore the
name Americansm should not be
looked upon as term of reproach
True Americanisms are fraught with
| the genius of the English language
and many of them prove by their
adoption elsewhere that they fill a
real place in the expression o.
thought, say something that was for
| merly left unsaid.
Many so-called Americanisms, how
| ever, are really survivals Of old Eng
! lish words Grown out of more prim-
| tive conditions in old England they
naturally survived among those who
migrated to primitive times and
places. Richard Thornton has COM
piled volume called can American
Glossary which tries to distinguish
between words really coined west of
the Atlantic and those brought over
from England that outlasted their
vogue in the old country.
Words Now Rarely Used.
Among the less familiar of these
survivals is the word bonify. This
was used in the American congress in
1912 by 1.-The gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania," Representative c. j. Ingersoll.
1t is a good old English word and
means to benefit. So late as 1918, cir
culate, meaning to encircle, was used
in the Massachusetts Spy. To daw,
meaning to play the fool, is an old
English word, also found in the halls
of congress, and on the lips of a
Pennsylvania, Mr. Cooper, in 1S41.
Defy, as a noun, was formerly current
in England, from Sidney, 1880, to
Philadelphia Inquirer in 1907. Gin,
meaning neat or spruce or gay in
dress, is a good old word that per-
sisted in Massachusetts till 1896, when
it was found in the Massachusetts
Spy. Jower, meaning. to growl, is
correct old word of 1923, found in
the Boston Post in 1867, and still US
ed in the South of the United States.
Peen means to hammer, found in the
Spy in 1928, and rakestale, found in
Chaucer, meaning rake sandle, was
used in the United States as late as
1858 in Paxton's "Stray Yankee in
Texas" Roynish, meaning coarse, is
Shakespearean, and the Spy again is
the conserver of the excellent word,
found in the newspapers down to the
nineteenth century and clomb, glode
and sitten are seen in American print
even later. Something for somewhat
is found in the Maryland Journal in
177S.
Old Ones Only Discussed.
| Mr.. Thornton calls attention to the
fact that more than 80 per cent of
the words listed in his two stout vol
umes are over fifty years old. This
shows that he has not collated mod
ern slang. One of the most notable
of the words that spring to the eye
is absquatulate, because of the effect
i've use of it by Bernard Shaw in
''Fannie's First Play" recently
heard in New York and Boston. The
| word means to decamp or disappear
and Mr.. Thornton records it in the
United States from 1910. but found it
in a London book in 1887. 1t is rare
ly heard now. The Weekly Oregonian
of 1855 is cited and shows that Amer
| lea was indeed able to coin her own
words, for one heads, "Strayed, stol-
en-, lost, absquatulated muertoed, mi
meloosed or run away, one Alonzo
| Leland"
| Belittle is given as word coined
by Thomas jefferson. and was used
in 1896 in Morse's american Geog-
raphy." Darker ones doors" is a
phrase of Franklins. Cold snap is
dated back only to 1914 and is classed
as one of the straight Americanisms.
Small potatoes and some pumpkins
are real Americanisms, opposites,
meaning things of no Importance and
| of much. The latter has never gained
place of good usage, but small
potatoes and few in hill" is phrase
used by good speakers and writer's.
Smart Aleck, meaning conceited
fellow, had currency in many of the
states. It's origin is not known, but
as Aleck was the country nickname
for Alexander OF Alex, the saying
probably refers to that hero of an
cient vanities.
Sayings Indicate Experience.
The American pinoneer often knew
his classics. Smart as steel trap is
credited to the United States. Snag
has become good use, but sawyer, a
snag that swayed with the river cur
rent. has still an old-fashioned tang
to it. 1t seems to have been in COM
mon use during the first half of the
nineteenth century. Savannah, mean
+ ing a meadow, is credited to the Unit
ed States from 1905. 1t is Spanish
word, meaning a sheet. and was used
for wide, treeless plain or prairie
by Orviedo, writing on America in
1885, 1t became current among Eng
disappearing people in the southern
United States. and is now found in
English writer's, Wordsworth. for
u example. 1t is not heard colloquially
except in the South of the United
States. To "know the ropes" is ac-
credited to Richard Henry Dana in
"Two Years Before the Mast" nau'
tical phrase, of course.
Cute is one of the Americanisms
which English visitors occasionally
say they cannot interpret. Yet it is
an English word, used by Mrs. Cow
ley in 1873: you're cute girl anf
mayhap be able to make something
of him." Here, of course, it holds