352 



♦ KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



[October 1, 1886. 



him the oljecfc of their journey. ''■ Soon after you leave 

 this place you will hear a deafening .sound ; it is the sky 

 descending on the edge, but it keeps moving up and down. 

 When it moves up, you will see a vacant space between it 

 and the earth. You must not be afraid. A chasm of awful 

 depth is there, which separates the unknown i'rom this 

 earth, and a veil of darkness conceals it. Fear not. You 

 must leap through, .and, if you succeed, you will find 

 yourselves on a beautiful plain." All happened as he said, 

 and Iosco and his companion leapt in safety ; but two of 

 the hunters who were afraid made a weak attempt. As 

 they jumped, the sky struck the earth with great violence, 

 and they were forced into a black chasm. Those who had 

 reached land in .safety found themselves in a beautiful 

 country, lighted by the moon, which they could see 

 approaching from behind a hill, &c.* 



NOTES ON AMERICANISMS. 



By Richard A. Proctoe. 



A DIGRESSION, WHICH WIGHT IN PAET HAVE BEEN A 

 PRE FACE. 



WRITER in the Sntnrdcnj Review, of 

 July 31 (a date which I observe) de,als with 

 my " Notes on Americanisms," in the 

 amiable style which that paper affects. 

 The Satiirday Review too often seems to 

 demand from its writers a touch of per- 

 sonal malignity, not caring particularly 

 whether the feeling has arisen from anger 

 at some real cause of offence or is due to meaner motives. 

 Whether the Saturdni/ Review is fair towards me the reader 

 shall judge. For his unfaii-ness my critic may have as an 

 excuse that I have (unwittingly I am sure) offended him ; 

 or, as a reason (which would be no excuse), that I have 

 condemned with a deserved severity .some offence of his. 

 But he may be merely moved by envy, or (more probably 

 still) he may h.ave received at my hands nothing but kind- 

 ness, and be angry with me because I have been so far 

 fortunate as to be able to render it to him : 1 have known 

 such cases. 



My critic opens with the remark, by way of a mild jest, 

 that I am somewhat unpatriotic in touching on " Ameri- 

 canisms " just now when the fisheries dispute l.>etween the 

 United States and Canada is " in an intlamed condition." 

 In the old country this dispute has not attracted quite so 

 much attention as in the States, or in the States as in 

 Canada — so that the joke falls rather flat. My critic knows 

 pretty well, too, that the " Notes on Americanisms " were 

 begun before the dispute began. I observe his reference to 

 this matter. 



He goes on to remark that in my " notes " I reveal my 

 h.atred of Poker, which he calls America's national game. 

 One who thus insults America (for Poker is not a game 

 of which American gentlemen are proud) cannot have been 

 born under the Stars and Stripes. I /lave expressed con- 

 tempt for a game which — as played for vumey — is fit only 

 for horse-thieves and cow-boys. The Saturday Revino finds 

 here a neat opjiortunity for somewhat womanish spite. He 

 remarks that I " do well to eschew Poker, since it rer^uires 

 coolness of temper, and knowledge of human nature." 



* Schoolcraft, " Hiawatba Legends," p. 289. The idea of night 

 coming clown on tlie earth is referred to figuratively in a hymn 

 used in the Catholic Church — 



Dark night hath come down on us, mother, and we 

 Look out for thj- shining sweet star of the sea. 

 Such references to natural phenomena are significant. 



Were I as warm as he, I might be excused for retorting, 

 with possibl\' more truth, that he naturally values Poker, 

 since it requires for success chiefly a false face. Suffice it to 

 remark, however, that I obsei've this comment on Poker. 



Taking in hand my '• Notes on Americanisms," my critic 

 remarks, somewhat clownishly, that " Mr. Pioctor has been 

 at it again." " With delightful self-satisfaction," he says (I 

 observe this word), I have attacked this subject even as 

 Lord John Russell might have taken command of the 

 Channel Fleet, or have undertaken to write a Zola novel. 

 My want of due modesty is chiefly shown, it appears, by 

 my having originally taken Bartlett's " Dictionary of 

 Americanisms" for my guidance. And because, as I pro- 

 ceeded, I recognised many of the mistakes which (I find) 

 Grant White had also noticed, the Saturday Revieir charges 

 me with absolute want of knowledge as compared with 

 Bartlett's half knowledge.* I should imagine my critic was 

 an Irishman, only I know better. 



AVhen I am in doubt about an Americanism I say so 

 ("a virtue that was never .seen in" the Hotspurs of the 

 Saturday Reviev). This my critic natui'ally denounces, 

 presenting it (again Ilihernice) as part of the evidence of my 

 " delightful self satisfaction." Take the word a " bit," as 

 used in Amei'ica. I do not know the true meaning of this 

 word, and I honestly admit as much. Therefore the 

 Saturday Review snarls that neither do I know the real 

 meaning of many other words I set down. But why did 

 not my critic define " bit " ? He ought to know what the 

 word really signifies, for he j^rohahly does not know too 

 much about it. During my travels in America I have 

 visited almost everj' State, and so have heard the word 

 " bit " used in all its various ways, and remain doubtful 

 which has the greatest weight of authority in its favour. 



My critic next repeats the weak objection that many of 

 the words included among my " Americanisms " are heard 

 in England, or have been in the past. I repeat (see 

 " Gossip " for April la.st) " I know it." " I guess " is good 

 old English. I have met with it in at least a score of old 

 English books, from Chaucer to Locke, yet even my critic 

 would hardly deny, I suppose, that to say " I guess," is now 

 distinctly an Americanism. So with " I reckon," " 1 cal- 

 culate," and the rest. So also with the expressions 

 selected as examples by the Saturday Review. The cockney, 

 if ill-educated, .says " I feel bad," when he means " I feel 

 ill." I know that as well as the Saturday Revieir, being by 

 birth a cockney myself. I have never heard a cockney say 

 " I feel good " for " I feel well," or rather for " I am 

 enjoying myself." But in any case both these expressions 

 are lightly described as Americanisms by any one who, 

 having lived in America, has had an opportunity of noticing 

 how much more familiai'ly used they are in America than 

 in England, and how frequently you hear them used by 

 persons who are not ill-educated. The word " bullyrag " is 

 really old English in origin, and now rather Irish than 

 American in usage. Still it is so much more commonly 

 heard in America than in the old country, that it is 

 properly included .among Americanisms. I omitted it in 

 my first list (published when Knowledge was a weekly 

 journal), and my attention w.as called to it by three or four 

 correspondents, including one well-known American author. 

 " Dicker," to bargain, is ancient and honourable, as English, 

 says my all-knowing critic. Every one knows that. Lowell 



* Grant White's superior knowledge of the relative peculiarities 

 of English and American English may be inferred, perhaps, from his 

 essay, showing that forty years ago Englishmen all dropped their 

 h's, and his attempt to prove this bj' the use of such expressions as 

 " an hundred," " an liosier," " an hotel," in English writings. I 

 venture to back my acquaintance with this particular subject 

 against Grant White's, who was, indeed, but a shallow and 

 pretentious writer, and naturally, therefore, arrogant and insolent. 



