♦ KNOWLEDGE 



^P^ AN ILLUSTRATED^^ V^' 



^ MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE ^ 



,^^ PLAINLY\yQRD£D-£XACTLYDESCRIBH)f 



LONDON FlilDAY, AUGUST 28, 1685 



CoMEMS or No 



Rambles wilh a Hammer B/W 1 —The Retmal Decomposition of 



Jerome Harnson 177 i L ght— Oil gland in Durk~S«-in« 



Final Operations for the Removal of j Fljing-Tncycle Query-Mu ■ I 



Tn ycles m IfSo (lUm) By J l Oa/ln^n^rs' Column 1 



Browning 180 Our Chess Column 1 



Face of the Sky By F K A S 181 1 Our Whist Column 1 



AME RICANISMS 



{Alphaheticallij arranged). 



By Richaed A. Peoctoe.* 

 Alrn.jn,!^ in- Ah, rijoins is the Western way of calling 



Alisqi(,il iil'ili .signifies to run away. It is now less 

 ofteu licia-1.1 lluiu uf yore, having been replaced in some 

 degree by the word " skedaddle." 



Accotmf, " of no account " is an American way of 

 expressing worthlessness. No account becomes an 

 adjei'tivf : "no account men," Bret Harte says, mean- 



.1-/,,/ ,.. To ^vonder at. Often used with at. "I 

 admiir at that," for I wonder at that. The expressionis 

 good old English. 



Aftur night, in the middle States, means " after night- 

 fall." 



All-fired, a polite form for Hell-fired, — the meaning is 

 not mistakable. 



All to pieces, and all to mnn^], siijiiify " utterly." 



Allow. To assert, affirm, or luii-cly to express an 

 opinion. This expression isofdn lait liy iOiiglish writers 

 in the mouths of Yankees; hut as a maltei- of fact it is 

 only used in the Southern and MaMlo Stairs. 



Ahm'j. " Cu't along" is iiS'-.l in Aiiierifa where in 



I I. ,:i,. : I. 'i , expression. I have only 

 lie:,i!-i: . ling house in Pittsburg. The 



^-M"-' --''" ',- "^"' '" !■ .\vlvania. 



Anh . To^((,i/e a Slim, is tori.sk it. The expression 

 belongs to a game called poker, much played by the lower 

 class of gamblers, horse-thieves, politicians, cowboys, and 

 the like. 



Anijthimj else, Not, — meaning " just that." If an 

 American is asked whether some one really did such and 



* I have taken as my chief but by no means my sole authority 

 Bartlctt's " Dictionary of Americanisms." I should be obliged to 

 any correspondents who may note omissions or corrections. 



such T, thing, 

 will 81} , " H. 



id In w Isles to emphasise his reply, he 



/ uid l^y/ lac] A strong liquor fer- 

 m.ntMl nn,n 4 pie juict 



\, I I ' IS sometimes used m America — incorrectly. 

 I f I m tor "approve " 



I,',, , 1 ntlpi.l A bu%\n, knife, TV ith closing blade. 

 llii\ene\.i 1 1 n. \i.i 1 . m pi, k his teeth with an 

 Aikmsis J 1 1 III I I Ik \L anything about 



tooth inckiiu I ^ 111. 1 iililie display of such 



arringtmtiits h i ^ m in n limls desirable for his or 

 her teeth must he iigmhd is x intional institution. In 

 England a min -nill endure some pam rather than pick 

 his teeth m public In America, scaicely anyone, man 

 ■woman ni child, deems it necessary to rtfiam Americans 

 iithii sit 111 to rtjoice m the performance Possibly it 

 ni i\ 1h thouglit something to be proud of to have teeth 

 left to pick, — iftei much eating of hot biscuits and hot 

 eikes Ui it nny be ie<,xrded as in expression of inde- 

 pendence If so, Vmei lei, thus judged, must be regarded 

 lb I ti ij flee — md t is} 



Aioand " To be iiound " is used m America for " to 

 111 neii " 01 " by Thus i ineichei m Ameiica spoke of 

 M uy IS "stindmg aiound the cross " 



I , foi ' that ' " I dont know is I skill go there,' 

 i)ti "Onlj heaid imong the illiteiate ' siys Bartlett ; 

 but I imagine that nine out of ten whom I have heard 

 use this ungrammatical expression would be offended if 

 they were described as illiterate. I have heard college, 

 professors use it freely. 



At is sometimes used for " in," as " at the north " for 

 " in the north." 



At that, an odd expression used to intensify something 

 already said, as " He is a Methodist and a hypocrite at 

 that ; " "he has an ugly wife and a shrew at that." Pro- 

 bably an abbreviation of " added to that." 



-4((/mZ, used for "very," is purely American, though 

 aivful, used wrongly as to meaning but rightly as to 

 grammar, is now common enough in England. In the 

 Eastern and Middle States one often hears "awful 

 handsome," " awful hungry," and so on. 



A.<; To (for to ask), is a Yankee relic of a very old 

 English word, still used in many parts of England. 



Ikick of is used for " behind " ; " you'll find the stick 

 back of that box." 



J-'t/cA- Ihwn. To " back down " is to yield. 



Bach Out. To. To retreat. 



Hack track. " To take the back track," is to retreat. 



JJackwoods, the woods behind or " back " of cleai'cd 

 land. 



Bad lands. Waste lands unfit for any sort of agricul- 

 ture, and hard to travel through. The French .settlers 

 calleil tilis M,i itr.iis,.-.- /,,■,■..-. a iiimie still remaining in 



'ill" 



r for 



admission of 

 1 well. So, 

 111 well and 



,1 feel good," 



Engl I 

 per|.K 



■! (the refer 

 11 America where we say " luggf 



■ liagg.igo " in England has often another 

 neaiiiiig. "To say that a man had a little baggage" 

 ivith him might be misunderstood in England. A story 



