The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-12-09
BY lanes W. Silver


of one-World.
There are five of us: the old
man, whose job is to impart a
fleeing glimpse Of Yankee his
tory TO students at Kings col
lege; the wife. Dutch, who
grows tiresome Boosting of her
Mclean and Akin ancestry and
discussing the intricacies of
tartan patterns; frankie Wilson,
13-year-old niece, who has dis
covered that the only warm
place in Scotland is bed. and
Billy, aged 10. and Betty. 6,
who remain amusing with their
peculiar Southern manners and
speech to the boys in the gram
mar school and the young la
dies of girls high.
Sometimes it is hard for US
to remember that we have the
same ancestors and language as
these British people we like so
much. For instance
You may well imagine the
raised eyebrows of a dignified
newly met lady the other night
when ! suggested that her hus-
bsnd take off his vest. We YER
attending a very small. quite
informal dinner party where
The heat and the conviviality
seemed TO indicate such action.
but my chasrin must have
popped out when il was pointed
out to me that / had really
asked the man TO discard his
undershirf.
That same day | discovered,
having purchased a pair of Brit
ish socks, that they come nearly
up to the knees and are kept
in place not by garters but by
suspenders, Suspenders, you
know, are really braces.
There may be austeritv in the
Britisher's diet but not in the
number of his partakings of
food. Judging by the quantity
consumed, I'd say that five
meals a day over here are nor
NAL, three the same as ours
with tea and late supper thrown
in. or course that does not pre-
clude sundry other cups of tea
throughout the day.
But never be too certain of
what you are eating. A soda
cracker Is a water biscuit and
a cookie is a biscuit but a bis
cult is a scone with sugar.
Blackberries are brambles. oats
are oats bit more likely to be
corn, while corn. naturally is
maize. A dessert is not usually a
sweet, nor a sweet a sweet. and
a sweet may be followed bv a
savorie.
All of which is very simple
when compared TO our trying to
teach the kids that pushing food
on the back of the fork with a
pusher (smail knife) and then
carrying the food TO the mouth
in the left hand is good form
over here but that they had bet.
ter forget il when they return
to America.
The other day frankie was
pouring tea when one of her
customers remarked on the
presence of three strangers in
the cup. Having in mind a few
friendly southern gnats. the
Mortified young lady immedi-
ately offered to get rid of the
offending cup and to pour an
other. That is, until she discov-
cred that the strangers were
parts of tea leaves which had
been deposited on the edge of
the cup and were really good
omens to be used in predicting
the future.
AS my half-dozen loyal read
ers probably know, over here
a radio is a wireless, a barber
is a hairdresser, general deliv-
cry is poste restante, football is
soccer, hunting is shooting. a
stream is a burn which NAV be
running through a den or even
a corrie, a dortor's office is his
surgery with or without med
zeal instruments. a slaughter
house is a knaekery, a brae is
a hill, and a corporation has
nothing to do with free enter
prise.
You don't ask for LONG dis
lance but for a trunk. you 40
10 a chemist instead of a DRUG.
sist. you don't reserve a pull
mon but you do book a sleeper,
and you deposit your bags in the
left luggage. You buy bread un-
wrapped. meat hangs unrefriq.
Grated in the butcher shop. and
you may smoke in the theater.
AT a formal dinner. however.
you don't smoke until after the
toast 10 the king. And. 10 an
swer a query from Mississippi.
banks T not called shilling
stations.
For a while We stayed at the
Northern hotel. a four story
buildino tn GET IN a,,Y. -aar,e