Febkuary 1, 1888.] 



♦ KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



83 



" guess " is used to signify conjecture without any know- 

 ledge at all, it rightly represents the idea o{ getting, just as 

 the word " find " is rightly used in such a sentence as " I 

 cannot find the way." " Can you guess this riddle 1 " means 

 " Can you get its answer 1 " even though every attempt 

 depends on pure conjecture. But equally " I can guess 

 your meaning " is correctly expressed, though it implies not 

 mere conjecture without knowledge, but right opinion based 

 on just reasoning. The fii-st of the two American usages 

 mentioned above is equally within the limits of the word's 

 origin. Such expressions as " I guess it will rain," " I guess 

 you're tired," and so forth, mean that such is the opinion 

 I get on thinking about the matter, whatever it may be. 

 And lastly, the use of the word " guess " to imply certainty 

 veiy obviously corresponds with the idea of getting at some 

 thought — getting at it certainlj/ instead of doubtfully. 



It appears to me that the American way of saying " I 

 guess," " I calculate," " I reckon," and so forth, instead of 

 expressing definite assent, is to be i-egarded as chai-acteristic 

 in much the same fashion that an Iiishman's way of saying 

 " I will," " I did," " I do," ifcc, instead of saying simply 

 " yes," Ls characteristic. For I notice that in many other 

 cases Americans use a method of expressing assent akin to 

 saying " I guess so." Thus, you ask an American at talile 

 if he will partake of such and such a dish, and his answer, 

 instead of being given in the usual English form, will probably 

 be, " I believe I will." Again, if you ask whether in some 

 matter the case is such and such, the answer may take any 

 one of a score of different forms rather than simple " Yes " — 

 from " That's so," or " That's the shape of it," down to 

 " You may bet your bottom dollar," or " You may bet your 

 pile, " or " You may bet your boots on that." The true 

 American seems to have a strange objection to saying 

 simply " Yes." Even " Yes, sir," does not satisfy him, except 

 where the expression of assent has to be very often repeated. 

 Occasionally he may say (euphemisticall)', as Bartlett puts 

 it), " Yes, sirreebob," a strange affirmative, which, so far as 

 I know, has not yet a))peared in literature, common though 

 it is in convei'sation ; but usually he prefere to say, " I guess 

 that's so," or " I reckon that's about the way of it," and the 

 like, though there is no real " guessing " or " reckoning " in 

 the matter. ^Vhy this should be so, while his English 

 cousin stands by the old ways and makes his yea yea and 

 his nay nay, it would be difiicult to determine. 



In old English, by the way, " I gesse " seems to have 

 been equivalent to the " y wis " of Chaucer, and to the 

 " wus," " wusse," and "I wusse " of the less cultured 

 characters in the plays of the early English dramatists. I 

 have sometimes thought that the presence of the silent " u " 

 in the later spelling of the word indicates a real connection 

 between " guessing," " wissing," " witting," and so forth, 

 even as the forms "guard," "guardian," «fec., are connected 

 with " ward," " warden," <fec. But I suppose the connection 

 between " guess " and " get " has been made out to the satis- 

 faction of philologists, or it would hardly be so confidently 

 insisted upon as it is. 



Gulch. A deep ravine caused by the action of running 

 water. The word is akin to the Swedish golka, to swallow. 



Gulf States. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, 

 and Texas, the States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. 



Gum. The use of the word " gum " for gum-tree Is 

 probably purely American. And certainly the use of the 

 same word for india-rubber, and thence for anything made 

 of india-rubber, is strictly American slang. It will be 

 remembered that not long since the Snturdaii Review (some 

 of whose young buccaneers would write an essay on 

 Gujerati, knowing nothing beyond plain English, or on 

 the scenery of the river Lena, having seen but the Thames 

 and Severn) gravely told its readers, in an article intended 



to crush these American notes of mine, that recently in 

 PhUadelphia the word " gums" had come to be applied to 

 india-rubber over-shoes — or something " to that defect." As 

 a matter of fact india-rubber shoes have been called "gums" 

 for generations. The expression has been familiar, not only 

 to my own ears, but in my own mouth, for more than four- 

 teen years — ever since, in fact, in December 1873, my 

 esteemed friend, the late Professor E. L. Youmans, enlight- 

 ened me as to the use of the word by asking at the Cen- 

 tury Club (about 2 A.M. on a frosty morning) if any one 

 had seen his " gums." But for a Saturday Revieioei-, who 

 probably had never travelled beyond Margate or Brighton, 

 it was something to know even so much — or so little — about 

 Americanisms. 



COLLISIONS AT SEA. 



By Sidney G. D. Andrews. 



ilY attention has been drawn to an article 

 written imder the above heading in last 

 month's issue of this paper, discussing the 

 '• Action of the rudder upon steam and 

 sailing vessels." The writer has undoubtedly 

 put forward an argument that at least 

 would serve as a judicious warning to all 

 seamiu ;i_:;iiust the reckless use of the helm (especially the 

 port helm). Yet his argument becomes somewhat weak 

 when he infers that the present regulations ought to be 

 modified. 



Before I say anything of those regulations, I will first 

 of all take the examples he has put forward to prove his 

 case, and endeavom- to show that neither of them in any 

 way shows the regulations for preventing collisions at sea to 

 be at fault. 



His first example was when the Cunarder Merlin, leaving 

 Halifax on a voyage to Bei-muda, came into collision with 

 " a large square-rigged vessel." He gives me nothing reliable 

 to go upon as an argument, but simply quotes the com- 

 mander's reply to his remark : '• A pretty close shave that. 



Captain S ." " Yes, but Lf I had followed the sailing 



instructions we should not be here now to talk about it." 

 The writer then adds that although he could not ask the 

 captain to explain, still he " felt that at a critical moment 

 his thorough se;imanship had inspired him to do something 

 which contravened official orders for such emergencies, but 

 had saved their lives." I think those who have read his 

 account of that collision, brief as it was, and also the com- 

 mander's reply to him on this occasion, will almost doubt 

 whether he realises that such an article as Art. 23 

 exists in the " International Steering and Sailing Rules," 

 for if he did, I could hardly imagine him making use of such 

 a sentence as the above. 



Several years afterwards, the writer tells us, he was 

 standing on the pier at Halifax, seeing some friends off. 

 As the Cunarder Alphi shot out into the stream, he was 

 asked by a friend (a shipowner), " What coui-se will that 

 steamer take when her helm is put to port 1 " The answer 

 given by the friend was, " The stern of the vessel will be 

 deflected to the left, and not the bow, which moves around 

 in the direction you suppose." On observation, the writer 

 says he found this to be correct. 



In this, to a great extent, I agree with the writer that 

 there is a considerable amount of deflection of the stem, 

 consequent on the ship's answering her helm, and, so to 

 speak, mo\-ing on a pivot placed amidships : but I do not 

 think he is right in saying that it is the stern and not the 

 bow that is deflected, for with a steamer going full speed 

 ahead through the water and turning on her helm, the 



