CHAP. IX.] PECULIARITIES OF LANGUAGE. 129 



isms, respecting which every nation has a right to enforce its own. 

 arbitrary rules. The frequent use of the words, &quot; sir&quot; and 

 &quot; ma am,&quot; in the United States, like &quot; oui, monsieur, oui, ma- 

 dame,&quot; in France, for the sake of softening the bald and abrupt 

 &quot; yes&quot; or &quot;no,&quot; would sound to a Frenchman or Italian more 

 polite ; and if the Americans were to conform to the present 

 English model in such trifles, it might happen that in England 

 itself the fashion may soon change. There are also many gen 

 uine old classical phrases, which have grown obsolete in the 

 parent country, and which the Americans retain, and ought not 

 to allow themselves to be laughed out of. The title of Madam 

 is sometimes given here, and generally in Charleston (S. Carolina), 

 and in the South, to a mother whose son has married, and the 

 daughter-in-law is then called Mrs. By this means they avoid 

 the inelegant phraseology of old Mrs. A., or the Scotch, Mrs. A. 

 senior. Madam, in short, very commonly serves as the equiva 

 lent of dowager, as used in English titled families. There are 

 also some antique provincialisms handed down from the times of 

 the first settlers, which may -well deserve to be kept up, although 

 they may be subjects of diversion to English tourists. In one 

 of Shirley s plays, written just before the middle of the seven 

 teenth century, when the largest emigration took place from Old 

 to New England, we find the term, &quot; I guess,&quot; for &quot;I think,&quot; or 

 &quot; I suppose,&quot; occurring frequently ; and if we look farther back, 

 it is. met with in the &quot; Miller s Tale&quot; and in the &quot; Monk&quot; of 

 Chaucer : 



...&quot; For little heaviness 

 Is right enough for rauchel folk, I guess.&quot; 



And in Spenser s &quot; Faerie Queene&quot; 



&quot;It seemed a second Paradise, I guesse.&quot;* 



Among the most common singularities of expression are the 

 following : &quot; I should admire to see him&quot; for &quot;I should like to 

 see him ;&quot; &quot;I want to know,&quot; and &quot; Do tell,&quot; both exclamations 

 of surprise, answering to our &quot; Dear me.&quot; These last, how 

 ever, are rarely heard in society above the middling class. Ocea- 



* Canto x. 23. 

 F * 



