The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-26
WHAT THE HELLp
Literary Beginnings Of q widely Cur
rent Expletlve.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-Sir:
Upon the occasion OF the dinner Of
farewell TO the old SuN building the
POSTMASTER in introducing me as one
OF the speakers referred to q certain
expletive to which wide currency had
been given by THE SuN through some
of my writings. In response | said
that the expletive had first attracted
my afectionate attention in the writ
ings of George Eliot. After the din
ner a dozen or more of the guests
expressed to me surprise that George
Eliot should have used What the
hell" When l maintained that not
only had she done SO. but that her
character had employed the expletive
with precisely the meaning Chimmie
Fadden e~ndeavors to express when he
uses 1t, I was challenged to cite book
and page.
In my edition Of George Eliot's
Works." Estes & Lauriat. Boston,
1887, in "Middlemarch." Vol. J., page
2i7. cambridge. the horse trainer. Is
telling young Fred vincy an unpleas-
ant truth about the horse Nincy Is
riding. | IA to quote the whole
paragraph because, line upon line. 1t
adds to the evidence that cambridge
and Chimmie were clutched by identi-
cal linguistic perplexities when moth
ing but What the bell!"-nothing, at
least, that their torg'!es could utter
would round out the thoughts that
arose in them:
"You made a bad hand at swapping
when YOU went to anybody but. me. whey
Why. you never threw your leg across a
finer horse than that chestnut. and you
gave him for this brute. II you set him
cantering. he goes on like twenty savyerv
| never heard but one worse roarer In my
life, and that was "a roam. IL belonged TO
Pegwell. the contractor he used to drive
him IN his gig seven years ago. and I've
wanted me TO take him. but | said, Thank
you, Peg, but ! don't dee. In wind instru-
ments' a. was what ! said, II went
the round OF the country. that Joke did.
But. what the he'll, the horse vas a
penny trumpet to that roarer OF yours"
] have spoken II the meaning OF
What the hell" I should have said
meanings; it is rich in them; 1t is
a whole vocabulary in the mouths of
those apt in its scale OF infections.
| have read that IL a Chinook Indian
ID asked the distance to some place
he will answer with one quantity
sounding word. Ask him the distance
to a carer or further place and he
replies with the same word differently
accented
The Chinook has nothing on many
New York newsboys. Late n ve-
ming on Park Row ] saw a little news
boy p~iteously approach n big news
boy and ask. TRADE me two suns for
one POst9"
Thereafter this conversation was
carried on wholly with What ten
expressively varied In accent. for
which ! give TRANSACTIONS:
Big BOY: What tell" what Do
you think | am. an easy mark?)
Small Boy: What tell" tPlease
do, You can sci, Posts late in the
evening only at the bridge entrance
II 20 there a big boy will knock
my head of. can sell Suns any
where.)
Big Boy. What tell" well o.
all the cheek, What do | car II your
head Is knocked or0
Small Boy What tell" 'But I'm
50 little, | don't want to he stuck
with an unsold paper. Please'D
Big Boy; What tell con al
right. you little beggar. But you sure
have your nerve with you.)
The big hoy gave two EVENING Suns
for one Post and the small boy scam
percd Of. happy.
What the hell" in its form OF d
condenseI vocabulary reached New
York at the water front, brought
hither 10y British sailers. 1t was toe
good for scabua,d enjoyment alone
So THE SUN allowed me to pass II or
10 "A grateful nation.
EDWARD W. TOWNSEND.
MoNTCLAlR. y j., August ~