, 1923-02-11
Tracing American EXPIRES.
sion.

Just h is an Am~ericanism, any
now? One prominent Briton has
said It is ANY word an Englishman
doesn't like" An impartial student
or the American language, however,
fnds that there are two large groups
of words in current use in this coun-
try which are unknown or unaccept-
able across the Atlantic.
One group consists of words now
obsolete in England which were
brought to this country by the Massa-
chusetts and Virginian colonists. 1t
Is enc of the immutable laws of
language that transplanted words
tend to crystalize and become fixed.
The other group. in conformance
with another law of language. con-
, S SITS OF new words that have been
coined to express our changing life
and thought. 1t is this latter group
of words that is most offensive to
British ~cuatodians of the language.
Now that American movie captions
are flashing. these so.calIed barbaric
terms on the screens of England they
are especially alarmed. This infux
Of cotnages OF American origin can
not be regarded without serious mis-.
givings," the Daily Mail stated not
long ago, "if only because It Eener-
ates and encourages mental indis-
cipline so far as the choice of ex-
pressions is concerned"
And side by side with denunciations
of the American coinages some of the
London newspapers attempt trans
lations Of such words as band
wagon "bunco-steerer.' cleanup
'clnch,'' drummer" dive" in the
sense of a den of thieves. ito feature
getaway" graft" hobo" hood
lum." "hold.up," 'live.wire." quit.
ter 'road agent rubber neck
shack sucker" and ''stuck.up."
Some of the t%ranslators go a little
astray, as when they define Conf
dence queen.' as "a female detective,
c!ety." '~'torchl!sht procession as
drinks" and 'doughnut" as "a baker
of the German variety"
The other group of Americanisns,
that consisting of words Of ancient
and honorable lineage hat have be-
come obsolete in England or are dis-
liked by certain Englishmen, is less
bitterly opposed in the homeland.
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts,
has taken time from affairs of state
to defend many Of the Americanisms
ridiculed in the English comic papers
and on the English stage. In one of
his essays he races back these
typical American expressions, such as
ito guess in the rense of ito think"
and well used as an intersection %
Shakespeare himself.
For instance he cites from MEAS
lure for Measure" an emphatic IT
guess notl' used with the exact shade
of meaning given II by Americans IN
current speech today. And again in
winters Tale" he points out (which
I do guess, you do not purpose to
him"
BE It said also in passing that
guess is n far better word than
fancy which tho British are fond
of putting TO a similar service" Mr..
Lodge comments.
Shakespeare uses "wellp over and
over again In precisely the same way
/ as VIC use 1t today. For instance IN
Hamlet in the conversation be-
tween two soldiers, these lines occur:
"Have you had n quiet guard?"
met n mouse stirring"
"Well, goodnight"
Mr.. Lodge also finds excellent au-
thority for the American use of
"sick" in preference to the word "ill"
as used by the British. In the first
place the Bible uses sick through
out in the way It is still used In this
country. Shakespeare constantly
uses sick" as in "Cymbeline," whore
he speaks Of 'sick OF the govt" The
marriage service also speaks OF 'in
sickness and In health" In none II
th.se citations would the British use
Of Sick as a synonym for "nau'
seated" be applicable.
Some s~o-cslled slang words are also
traced back to a classical lineage.