184 



♦ KNOW^LEDGE ^ 



[June 1, 1888. 



Senate and of Congress, also to members of the State 

 Legislatures. It is retained afterwards for life. Bartlett 

 say.s the rule is " Once an honorable always an honorable ; " 

 but, according to the papers, the rule is not once an honour- 

 able always honourable, any more than in Great Britain 

 once a noble implies always noble, though an American 

 politician has a much better chance of being credited with 

 an lionourable chai'acter when he has retired from the 

 running. Men who, like Garfield, chance to die in office 

 even get qualities attributed to them which were not only 

 questioned during their lives, but which they certainly never 

 possessed. Anything more preposterous than the way in 

 which Americans abuse their " honorables " while they 

 hold office, and afterwards pretend to compare them with 

 Europeans not only lionourable but noble in their lives, 

 can hardly be conceived. Notoriety and fame seem regarded 

 as .synonymous. 



Hoodlum. A Californian word for a rough blackguard, 

 akin to a " coinerman " in Liverpool. Rough, rowdy, 

 larrikin, hoodlum — it would be difficult to distinguish 

 between them otherwise than as the " rough " is English, 

 the rowdy American east of the Rockies, the hoodlum 

 American west of the Rockies, and the larrikin Australian. 



Hook, To. To steal. Those acquainted with the literature 

 of English argot will be amused to find Mr. Bartlett classing 

 this word as an Americanism. In Hogarth's well-known 

 cockpit, the method of stealing, from which the use of the 

 word " hooking" for " stealing " had its origin, is illustrated 

 in practice. 



HoosiER. A nickname for native of Indiana. The term 

 was originally used in a disparaging sense to indicate rough 

 frontier ways. 



Hopping mad, for exceedingly angry, is a common expres- 

 sion among the more vulgar in America. It is not stated 

 by any competent authority that Americans in any part of 

 the States really indicate anger by hopping. 



Horse-fiddle. Any instrument constructed coarsely and 

 roughly to be played after the manner of a fiddle, and pro- 

 ducing execrable and atrocious noises. In different States 

 different ideas of the best way of making a horse-fiddle 

 prevail. But any arrangement from which, by a process 

 akin to " bowing," a gruesome noise to be heard a long 

 distance can be effectively produced deserves the title. 

 In England this particular form of " horse-play " is no 

 longer in vogue. Some Americans conclude, therefore, that 

 we are behind the times. But we had our brutal noises in 

 ]).ast ages {vide Hogarth's industrious apprentice — the 

 Charivari), and have got through that form of nonsense — 

 in which, strange to s.ay, even the roughest English folk have 

 long since ceased to find any fun. 



Hose. The modest way of mentioning stockings among 

 the immodest in parts of America, and especially in some 

 of the western States. Some persons are so depraved in 

 their imaginations that to speak of the human legs, or of 

 stockings, or breeches, or other appurtenances of the under- 

 standing, suggests (so far as one can j iidge by their talk) 

 all sorts of gross ideas. It is among these, unfortunately 

 far more numerous than Americans of the more decent sort 

 imagine, that the false delicacy ridiculed by travellers in 

 America had its origin. It is a pity, because visitors in 

 America often have no idea what nastily minded folk they 

 may meet in society otheiwise perfectly respectable. Gffence 

 has been unwittingly given, again and again, where no 

 offence had been intended or even imagined. And, oddly 

 enough, the persons thus astoundingly " nasty " consider 

 themselves exceedingly " nice." They retain their sense of 

 offence for years after the innocent event which caused 

 offence has passed away, and talk of the offender, who in 

 the meantime remains perfectly innocent of his oflence, as 



if he were a blackguardly fellow who did not know how to 

 address properly minded people. 



Hoss for " horse," and especially as a slang title for a 

 person of great courage, resolution, and strength, may be 

 regarded as an Americanism, though it is sometimes heard 

 in parts of England. There is a ridiculous story about an 

 American actor who represented Richard III., in Shake- 

 speare's ]>lay of that name, which curiously illustrates the 

 u.se of this term. " He came down to the footlights," said 

 the enthusiastic narrator, describing the death scene — " he 

 came down to the footlights — yes, sir ! — and he wrapped the 

 star-spangled banner around him, and died like the son 

 of a hoss." Higher praise could no American give. 



Hound. Although the word "hound" is in use in 

 America as in England for a term of reproach, as also is 

 " dog," you may use the word without offence in American 

 society : but to use the female name for the species, even in 

 talking about dogs and sport, is regarded by persons of the 

 kind described under " hose " as an offence of the first 

 magnitude. 



Hounds. A name very appropriately given to a gang of 

 cowardly ruffians, akin to " white caps," " vigilants," and 

 other such villains, who banded themselves together under 

 the pretence of " regulating " immigration into C.alifornia 

 in the old days of 18-1:9. It may be hoped that most of 

 them were in the long run shot or hanged, as they deserved. 



How? Pronounced Jiaoivl This interjection used for 

 ivhat 1 and intended as an abridgment of" how's that t " (for 

 " what did you say ? "), is very often heard in New England, 

 and not unfrequently (owing to intermixture) in other 

 States. It has a vulgar sound, more marked, I imagine, in 

 the ears of cultured Americans, who have learned to asso- 

 ciate it with inferior culture, than with us English folk, who 

 simply regard it as an amusing Americanism. 



How d'ye i Pronounced " howdy " — Southern for " how 

 do you do 1 " 



How's THAT FOR HIGH 1 Bartlett absurdly puts as the 

 equivalent for this quaint expression — "What is your 

 opinion as to the height of it 1 " He might as well have said 

 that it signified " How many inches, ascertained trigono- 

 metrically, does it span in a vertical direction 1 " The 

 expression is always used in a quaint and half-ironical 

 manner. For instance, a man will show a picture in 

 flaming colours, and with glaringly gi'otesque figures, and 

 ask " How's that for high 1 " Or he will ask the question after 

 reading some absurdly grandiloquent passage in a speech or 

 descrijition. 



Hub. Boston is commonly known in America as " The 

 Hub" — shoi'tfor Hub of the Universe. (How's </(«? for high?) 



Hull, for " whole," a pronunciation often heard in the 

 States. 



Human, A = a human being. 



Hunkey =: capital, ril'st-rate. A. " hunkey boy" would 

 correspond to our English " no end of a brick," and the 

 Irish " broth of a boy." 



Hunky dori, or Hunkytjorum ; something superlatively 

 good. 



Hurry up. To. Americans say "to hurry up" where 

 we say " to hurry." I remember the first time I heard the 

 expression it considerably startled me. In those days it 

 was customary for the railway conductors to go round 

 collecting tickets in the sleeping-cars at all sorts of unearthly 

 hours in the night. My ticket w\as asked for about -1 a.m., 

 and I was feeling for it through my pockets, when the con- 

 ductor called out impatiently, " Hurry up 1 " " Why, I 

 thought we did not get into New York till seven 1 " I said, 

 stopping in my search for the ticket to attend to the more 

 serious business of getting up. " Oh, shucks I " was his 

 polite reply ; " hurry up with that ticket." 



