IGO 



KNOWLEDGE 



[March 1, 18SG. 



Arkansas Tootlipick ; but I c;iu believe anythimi about 

 tooth-pickiuo' in America. The public display of such 

 r.rrrngements r,s auy American finds desirable for his or 

 her teeth must be regarded as a national institution. 



Around. " To be around " is used in America for " to 

 be near " or " by." Thus a preacher in America spoke of 

 Mi'.ry r.s " standing around the cross." 



As, for " that." " I don't know as I shall go there," 

 &c. " Only heard among the illiterate" says Bartlett ; 

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

 use this ungramuiatical expression would be offended if 

 they were described as illiterate. I have heard college 

 professors use it freelj*. Of course it is often heard in 

 England also. 



-K 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 ttgly wife and a shrew at that." Pro- 

 bably an abbreviation of " added to that." 



Aivful, used for " very," is purely American, thongh 

 awful, 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. 



-Li;, To (for to ask), is a Yankee relic of a very old 

 English word, still used in many parts of England. 



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

 back of that box." Used in Engrland. 



BacJc Boivn. To " back down " is to yield. 



Bach Out, To. To retreat. Used in England. 



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



Bachwoods, the woods behind or " back " of cleared 

 land. 



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

 ture, and hard to travel through. The French settlers 

 called these MaitixiUes tcrrcs, a name still remaining in 

 the form '• Movey star." 



Bad. Constantly used for the adverb " ill " or for 

 " badly. ' I feel bad, is not in America an admission of 

 moral deiiravity, but means simply I don't feel well. So, 

 " I feel good" is not Pharisaic, but means I am well and 

 happy. " Drink that wine, it will make you feel good," 

 would mean that the drinker will feel jolly after his 

 dratiglit. Where something nice, thoitgh (conventionally 

 perhaps) naughty is referred to, the expression " it will 

 make you feel good" has a siugitlarly odd sound in 

 English ears. See Ghemiloon. (The reference is all 

 right, perplexed reader.) 



Baijijage, is ttsed in America where we say " luggage." 

 The word "baggage" in England has often another 

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

 with him might be misunderstood in England. A stoiy 

 is told of an English wife in America being told that her 

 husband had arrived with " a little baggage " : She went 

 to look for that little biggage with a potato-masher. 



Baggage-smasher, the name very appropriately given to 

 the persons who move baggage to a.nd from cars, &c. 



Balance, the rest. " Peter r,nd Andrew, with the 

 balance of the twelve, stood around.' 



Bang-up. First-rate. 



Banhit. I heard this expression once only, in New 

 Orleans, for side-walk. (Fr. hanquette.) 



Bay, The Bay State, is Massachusetts. " Let the grand 

 old Bay State proudly," said Lowell, " put the trumpet 

 to her lips," &c., saj-ing, " you go one way we go t'other, 

 guess it wouldn't break our hearts," — an early cry for 

 Secession, — forgotten subsequently by the North. Cut 



the South maintains still that the Northern States were 

 the first to secede from the Union, by failing t<.) adhere 

 to the constitution. 



Bayou. The outlet of a lake. 



Bear State. The State of Arkansas, so named from its 

 more characteristic inhabitauts. 



Beat. As a verb, to suvpass. " That beats all ever I 

 heerd." Also to astonish, to overcome. " That beats 

 me," means that is utterly surjirising to me. But " I'm 

 dead beat " means I'm thoroughly tired. 



Beat as a noun also has two meanings. It means some 

 thing or person surpassingly good or effective or sur- 

 prising, as, "I never saw the heat of that." But n 

 " beat " is also one who is thorottghly exhausted, gene- 

 rally in pocket. A " dead beat " is for instance a man 

 without a cent, and not willing to earn a cent. 

 Bed-spread. A coverlet or counterpane. 

 Bee. A gathering of friends and neighbours to get 

 throtigh work for a person or family. 



A spelling-lee is a gathering to test .skill in spelling, 



and tolerably dreary such gatherings are. Grede e.rpcrto. 



Bee-line. A straight line, — where in England we 



should say "as the crow flies," an American would say 



" on a bee-line." 



Being as, an elegant way of saying " since " or 

 "because." "Being as you're a friend," would mean, 

 since you are a friend, or considering that you are. 



Belihed, for liked : probably as justifiable in reality, 

 though not by English usage, as " beloved " for " loved." 

 It is, however, often heard in England, too. Shakespeare 

 has " belike " for " probably." 



Belongings, used sometimes for jiroperty, but occa- 

 sionally as a euphemism for trousers, a "gentleman's 

 belongings." The former use is good old English. 



Bender. To "go on a bender" is to start on a frolic. 

 An unbender would seem nearer the mark. 



Best. Used as a verb, meaning to get the better of. 

 Betterments. Improvements. Bettermost, for the best. 

 Biddy. An Irish female servant. 



Big. Used not only for '"large," but for fine or excel- 

 lent, as " big whisky " for whisky of first-rate quality. 

 Big Bugs. Persons of consequence. 



Big meeting. A term applied to camp-meetings, 

 gatherings of ])eople for religions services of the sensa- 

 tional or hysteric kind, a custom invented by the coloured 

 people, bitt known also in the wilder j^arts of Ireland. 

 Some persons in America find it good business, I am told, 

 to attend these religiotts gatherings, — they get a holiday 

 and credit for being more religious than those who keep 

 away. 



Biscuit. A biscuit in America means what we would 

 call a hot roll in England. Some are much smaller than 

 our hot rolls ; but they are the same in character. They 

 are indigestible to a degree ; but Americans will assure 

 you (with face dismally contradicting their words) that 

 hot biscuits are good and healthy food. 



Bishop. A "bustle,' — article of feminine gear. 

 Bit. I must admit great ignorance as to the real 

 meaning of this word. In the South, a "bit" is 

 generally half-a-quarter, i.e., 12ic., equal in value to our 

 English sixpence ; but I have known a quarter and a 

 dime (25c. and 10c. respectively) called a "bit." I 

 believe, however, a bit usually means 12Jc. 



Blamed, condemned theologically, i.e. damned. I 

 suppose this particular use of the word belongs to the 

 old coiintrj'. I had a clerical master who used to say 

 "Blame the boy," with as much tmction and as obvious 

 relief as though he had said, " Damn the fellow." 

 Blanked. Similarly useful. 



