The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-05-28
NOW OUT OF USE AS IN MIDDLE AGES
Fine Old Words That No Longer
Are Heard.
"Pernlckety" Has Become Obsolete,
With Many Other ColIoouallsms-
Expressions Gave Zest to
Conversation.

Our fprefathers brought from Eng
land number of colloquial express
sions and pithy phrases which they did
not fail to use on proper occasions.
Many Of these have gone out Of use
br are heard SO rarely that they are
marked Obsolete" in the dictionaries.
Hhe immense increase of reading,
which used to be confined TO the Bible
and Pilgrims Progress" has brought
the everyday speech of New England
Srs to a dull uniformity except per-
haps In remote districts.
: It Is calculated that every person
reads ON the average 5000 words q
day, and this can hardly fail to inf1u-
ence his vocabulary toward what is
considered proper in print and the dis
use of words essentially colloquial.
We rarely hear the old words de-
Ecribing personal appearance or man.
her, like "biggety," "uppety," mech
ing" and the like; nor that excellent
word, "pernickety," used by one wom-
an to indicate the manner OF another
who was little snappish and particu-
lar about trifes. "Pernickety" disap-
peared with hundreds of other words
about the time that the last passenger
pigeon left New England. How much
more expressive it is than the normal
school teachers equivalent, suffering
from nervous depression
"Peart," entirely distinct from pert
and implying no egotism, is not entire
ly out of use. "Trapse" is occasionally
heard, but an equally strong verb. to
''scrooge," meaning to crowd or press,
Is substantially obsolete. Proverbial
expressions like dark as a pocket,
to run like sixty" or he lis not all
there" have q more tenacious life
than the old vernacular words, but
they, except In the mouths of persons
fond of odd expressions, are used less
than formerly.
Mrs. Stowe had a full command OF
these expressive folk words, and her
Sam Lawson used them with excellent
effect Rose Terry Cooke was a past
mistress of New England colloquisms
and never failed to appropriate one
that she heard. Walter Scott, of
course, was unmatched in rendering
the Scottish vernacular, which, indeed,
was his mother tongue.
But modern writer's who try to put
on paper the speech of pioneers or
western miners and cowboys fail to
catch the spirit of vernacular speech.
They make it all slang and artificial
distortions, and bring in oddities, some
OF which may be funny, but are entire
" forced and unnatural. The bad ex-
ample was set by Bret Harte, whose
CaIifornians talk in a dialect never
used by frontiersmen, because plain
men are never affected in language.
Our own Mark Twain followed Bret
Harte in this regard though his dia-
lect is far more like human speech.
To hit it exactly writer would
have to invent lifelfke character, be-
cause peculiarities of speech are based
on character. But to invent charac-
ter and give it the attributes of life
is the task of genius, SO it is not to be
wondered at that most modern dialect
writing is artificial and depends on
grotesque spelling. But the strength
of vernacular talk lies in the words
more than in the pronunciation.
To return to the point, it seems a
pity that so many of our old New
England words are passing into OBJ
Iivion. They put things right before
the mind and gave a zest to talk it
misses in the mouth of the college
professor. You cannot combine the
old force and modern correctness.