Honorifics

Honorifics—Among the honorifics and euphemisms in everyday use one finds many notable divergences between the two languages. On the one hand the English are almost as diligent as the Germans in bestowing titles of honor upon their men of mark, and on the other hand they are very careful to withhold such titles from men who do not legally bear them. In America every practitioner of any branch of the healing art, even a chiropodist or an osteopath, is a doctoripso facto, but in England, as we have seen, a good many surgeons lack the title and it is not common in the lesser ranks. Even graduate physicians may not have it, but here there is a yielding of the usual meticulous exactness, and it is customary to address a physician in the second person asDoctor, though his card may show that he is onlyMedicinae Baccalaureus, a degree quite unknown in America. Thus an Englishman, when he is ill, always sends for thedoctor, as we do. But a surgeon is usually plainMr.[20]An English veterinarian or dentist or druggist or masseur is neverDr.

NorProfessor. In all save a few large cities of America every male pedagogue is a professor, and so is every band leader, dancing master and medical consultant. But in England the title is very rigidly restricted to men who hold chairs in the universities, a necessarily small body. Even here a superior title[Pg118]always takes precedence. Thus, it used to beProfessorAlmroth Wright, but now it is alwaysSirAlmroth Wright. Huxley was always calledProfessorHuxley until he was appointed to the Privy Council. This appointment gave him the right to haveRight Honourableput before his name, and thereafter it was customary to call him simplyMr.Huxley, with theRight Honourable, so to speak, floating in the air. The combination, to an Englishman, was more flattering thanProfessor, for the English always esteem political dignities far more than the dignities of learning. This explains, perhaps, why their universities distribute so few honorary degrees. In the United States every respectable Protestant clergyman is a D.D., and it is almost impossible for a man to get into the papers without becoming an LL.D.,[21]but in England such honors are granted only grudgingly. So with military titles. To promote a war veteran from sergeant to colonel by acclamation, as is often done in the United States, is unknown over there. The English have nothing equivalent to the gaudy tin soldiers of our governors' staffs, nor to the bespangled colonels and generals of the Knights Templar and Patriarchs Militant, nor to the nondescript captains and majors of our country towns. An English railroad conductor (railway guard) is neverCaptain, as he always is in the United States. Nor are military titles used by the police. Nor is it the custom to make every newspaper editor a colonel, as is done south of the Potomac. Nor is an attorney-general or postmaster-general calledGeneral. Nor are the glories of public office, after they have officially come to an end, embalmed in such clumsy quasi-titles asex-United States Senator,ex-Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals,ex-Federal Trade Commissionerandformer Chief of the Fire Department.

But perhaps the greatest difference between English and American usage is presented bythe Honorable. In the United States the title is applied loosely to all public officials of apparent respectability, from senators and ambassadors to the mayors of[Pg119]fifth-rate cities and the members of state legislatures, and with some show of official sanction to many of them, especially congressmen. But it is questionable whether this application has any actual legal standing, save perhaps in the case of certain judges. Even the President of the United States, by law, is notthe Honorable, but simplythe President. In the First Congress the matter of his title was exhaustively debated; some members wanted to call himthe Honorableand others proposedHis Excellencyand evenHis Highness. But the two Houses finally decided that it was "not proper to annex any style or title other than that expressed by the Constitution." Congressmen themselves are notHonorables. True enough, theCongressional Record, in printing a set speech, calls it "Speech ofHon.John Jones" (without thethebefore theHon.—a characteristic Americanism), but in reporting the ordinary remarks of a member it always calls him plainMr.Nevertheless, a country congressman would be offended if his partisans, in announcing his appearance on the stump, did not prefixHon.to his name. So would a state senator. So would a mayor or governor. I have seen the sergeant-at-arms of the United States Senate referred to asHon.in the records of that body.[22]More, the prefix is actually usurped by the Superintendent of State Prisons of New York.[23]

In England the thing is more carefully ordered, and bogusHons.are unknown. The prefix is applied to both sexes and belongs by law,inter alia, to all present or past maids of honor, to all justices of the High Court during their terms of office, to the Scotch Lords of Session, to the sons and daughters of viscounts and barons, to the younger sons and all daughters of earls, and to the members of the legislative and executive councils of the colonies. Butnotto members of Parliament, though each is, in debate, anhon. gentleman. Even a member of the cabinet is not anHon., though he is aRight Hon.by virtue of membership in the Privy Council, of which the Cabinet is legally merely a committee. This last honorific belongs, not only to[Pg120]privy councillors, but also to all peers lower than marquesses (those above areMost Hon.), to Lord Mayors during their terms of office, to the Lord Advocate and to the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Moreover, a peeress whose husband is aRight Hon.is aRight Hon.herself.

The British colonies follow the jealous usage of the mother-country. Even in Canada the lawless American example is not imitated. I have before me a "Table of Titles to be Used in Canada," laid down by royal warrant, which lists those who areHons.and those who are notHons.in the utmost detail. Only privy councillors of Canada (not to be confused with imperial privy councillors) are permitted to retain the prefix after going out of office, though ancients who were legislative councillors at the time of the union, July 1, 1867, may still use it by a sort of courtesy, and former speakers of the Dominion Senate and House of Commons and various retired judges may do so on application to the King, countersigned by the governor-general. The following are lawfullythe Hon., but only during their tenure of office: the solicitor-general, the speaker of the House of Commons, the presidents and speakers of the provincial legislatures, members of the executive councils of the provinces, the chief justice, the judges of the Supreme and Exchequer Courts, the judges of the Supreme Courts of Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the judges of the Courts of Appeal of Manitoba and British Columbia, the Chancery Court of Prince Edward Island, and the Circuit Court of Montreal—these, and no more. A lieutenant-governor of a province is notthe Hon., butHis Honor. The governor-general isHis Excellency, and so is his wife, but in practise they usually have superior honorifics, and do not forget to demand their use.

But though an Englishman, and, following him, a colonial, is thus very careful to restrictthe Hon.to proper uses, he always insists, when he serves without pay as an officer of any organization, to indicate his volunteer character by writingHon.before the name of his office. If he leaves it off it is a sign that he is a hireling. Thus, the agent of the New Zealand[Pg121]government in London, a paid officer, is simply theagent, but the agents at Brisbane and Adelaide, in Australia, who serve for the glory of it, arehon. agents. In writing to a Briton one must be careful to putEsq., behind his name, and notMr., before it. The English make a clear distinction between the two forms.Mr., on an envelope, indicates that the sender holds the receiver to be his inferior; one writes toMr.John Jackson, one's green-grocer, but to James Thompson,Esq., one's neighbor. Any man who is entitled to theEsq.is agentleman, by which an Englishman means a man of sound connections and dignified occupation—in brief, of ponderable social position. Thus a dentist, a shop-keeper or a clerk can never be a gentleman in England, even by courtesy, and the qualifications of an author, a musical conductor, a physician, or even a member of Parliament have to be established. But though he is thus enormously watchful of masculine dignity, an Englishman is quite careless in the use oflady. He speaks glibly oflady-clerks,lady-typists,lady-doctorsandlady-inspectors. In America there is a strong disposition to use the word less and less, as is revealed by the substitution ofsaleswomanandsalesgirlfor thesalesladyof yesteryear. But in Englandladyis still invariably used instead of woman in such compounds aslady-golfer,lady-secretaryandlady-champion. Thewomen's singles, in England tennis, are alwaysladies' singles;women's wear, in English shops, is alwaysladies' wear. Perhaps the cause of this distinction betweenladyandgentlemanhas been explained by Price Collier in "England and the English." In England, according to Collier, the male is always first. His comfort goes before his wife's comfort, and maybe his dignity also.Gentleman-clerkorgentleman-authorwould make an Englishman howl, though he usesgentleman-rider. So would the growing American custom of designating the successive heirs of a private family by the numerals proper to royalty. John Smith3rdand William SimpsonIVare gravely received at Harvard; at Oxford they would be ragged unmercifully.

An Englishman, in speaking or writing of public officials, avoids those long and clumsy combinations of title and name[Pg122]which figure so copiously in American newspapers. Such locutions asAssistant Secretary of the InteriorJones,Fourth Assistant Postmaster-GeneralBrown,Inspector of BoilersSmith,Judge of the Appeal Tax CourtRobinson,Chief Clerk of the TreasuryWilliams andCollaborating EpidermologistWhite[24]are quite unknown to him. When he mentions a high official, such as the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he does not think it necessary to add the man's name; he simply says "the Secretary for Foreign Affairs" or "the Foreign Secretary." And so with the Lord Chancellor, the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister, the Bishop of Carlisle, the Chief Rabbi, the First Lord (of the Admiralty), the Master of Pembroke (College), the Italian Ambassador, and so on. Certain ecclesiastical titles are sometimes coupled to surnames in the American manner, as inDean Stanley, andCanon Wilberforce, butPrime Minister Lloyd-Georgewould seem heavy and absurd. But in other directions the Englishman has certain clumsinesses of his own. Thus, in writing a letter to a relative stranger, he sometimes begins it, notMy dear Mr. JonesbutMy dear John Joseph Jones. He may even use such a form asMy dear Secretary for Warin place of the AmericanMy dear Mr. Secretary. In English usage, incidentally,My dearis more formal than simplyDear. In America, of course, this distinction is lost, and such forms asMy dear John Joseph Jonesappear only as conscious imitations of English usage.

I have spoken of the American custom of dropping the definite article beforeHon.It extends toRev.and the like, and has the authority of very respectable usage behind it. The opening sentence of theCongressional Recordis always: "The Chaplain,Rev.————, D.D., offered the following prayer." When chaplains for the army or navy are confirmed by the Senate they always appear in theRecordasRevs., never asthe Revs.I also find the honorific without the article in the New International Encyclopaedia, in theWorldAlmanac, and in a widely-popular[Pg123]American grammar-book.[25]So long ago as 1867, Gould protested against this elision as barbarous and idiotic, and drew up the followingreductio ad absurdum:

At last annual meeting of Black Book Society, honorable John Smith took the chair, assisted by reverend John Brown and venerable John White. The office of secretary would have been filled by late John Green, but for his decease, which rendered him ineligible. His place was supplied by inevitable John Black. In the course of the evening eulogiums were pronounced on distinguished John Gray and notorious Joseph Brown. Marked compliment was also paid to able historian Joseph White, discriminating philosopher Joseph Green, and learned professor Joseph Black. But conspicuous speech of the evening was witty Joseph Gray's apostrophe to eminent astronomer Jacob Brown, subtle logician Jacob White, etc., etc.[26]

Richard Grant White, a year or two later, joined the attack in the New YorkGalaxy, and William Cullen Bryant included the omission of the article in hisIndex Expurgatorius, but these anathemas were as ineffective as Gould's irony. The more careful American journals, of course, incline to thethe, and I note that it is specifically ordained on the Style-sheet of theCentury Magazine, but the overwhelming majority of American newspapers get along without it, and I have often noticed its omission on the sign-boards at church entrances.[27]In England it is never omitted.[Pg124]

§ 4

Euphemisms and Forbidden Words—But such euphemisms aslady-clerkare, after all, much rarer in English than in American usage. The Englishman seldom tries to gloss menial occupations with sonorous names; on the contrary, he seems to delight in keeping their menial character plain. He saysservants, nothelp. Even his railways and banks haveservants; the chief trades-union of the English railroad men is the Amalgamated Society of RailwayServants. He usesemployéin place ofclerk,workmanorlaborermuch less often than we do. True enough he calls a boarder apaying-guest, but that is probably because even a boarder may be a gentleman. Just as he avoids calling a fast train thelimited, theflieror thecannon-ball, so he never calls anundertakerafuneral directorormortician,[28]or adentistadental surgeonorontologist, or anopticiananoptometrist, or abarber shop(he always makes itbarber's shop) atonsorial parlor, or a common public-house acafé, arestaurant, anexchange, abuffetor ahotel, or a tradesman astorekeeperormerchant, or a fresh-water college auniversity. Auniversity, in England, always means a collection of colleges.[29]He avoids displacing terms of a disparaging or disagreeable significance with others less brutal, or thought to be less brutal,e. g.,ready-to-wearorready-tailoredforready-made,usedorslightly-usedforsecond-hand,mahoganizedforimitation-mahogany,aisle managerforfloor-walker(he makes itshop-walker),loan-officeforpawn-shop. Also, he is careful not to use such words asrector,deaconandbaccalaureatein merely rhetorical senses.[30][Pg125]

When we come to words, that, either intrinsically or by usage, are improper, a great many curious differences between English and American reveal themselves. The Englishman, on the whole, is more plain-spoken than the American, and such terms asbitch,mareandin foaldo not commonly daunt him, largely, perhaps, because of his greater familiarity with country life; but he has a formidable index of his own, and it includes such essentially harmless words assick,stomach,bumandbug. The English use ofillforsickI have already noticed, and the reasons for the English avoidance ofbum.Sick, over there, means nauseated, and when an Englishman says that he wassickhe means that he vomited, or, as an American would say, wassick at the stomach. The older (and still American) usage, however, survives in various compounds.Sick-list, for example, is official in the Navy,[31]andsick-leaveis known in the Army, though it is more common to say of a soldier that he isinvalided home.Sick-roomandsick-bedare also in common use, andsick-flagis used in place of the Americanquarantine-flag. But an Englishman hesitates to mention his stomach in the presence of ladies, though he discourses freely about his liver. To avoid the necessity he employs such euphemisms asLittle Mary. As forbug, he restricts its use very rigidly to theCimex lectularius, or common bed-bug, and hence the word has a highly impolite connotation. All other crawling things he callsinsects. An American of my acquaintance once greatly offended an English friend by usingbugforinsect. The two were playing billiards one summer evening in the Englishman's house, and various flying things came through the window and alighted on the cloth. The American, essaying a shot, remarked that he had killed abugwith his cue. To the Englishman this seemed a slanderous reflection upon the cleanliness of his house.[32][Pg126]

The Victorian era saw a great growth of absurd euphemisms in England, includingsecond wingfor the leg of a fowl, but it was in America that the thing was carried farthest. Bartlett hints thatroostercame into use in place ofcockas a matter of delicacy, the latter word having acquired an indecent significance, and tells us that, at one time, evenbullwas banned as too vulgar for refined ears. In place of it the early purists usedcow-creature,male-cowand evengentleman-cow.[33]Bitch,ram,buckandsowwent the same way, and there was a day when evenmarewas prohibited. Bache tells us thatpismirewas also banned,antmirebeing substituted for it. In 1847 the wordchairwas actually barred out andseatwas adopted in its place.[34]These were the palmy days of euphemism. The delicatefemalewas guarded from all knowledge, and even from all suspicion, of evil. "To utter aloud in her presence the wordshirt," says one historian, "was an open insult."[35]Mrs. Trollope, writing in 1832, tells of "a young German gentleman of perfectly good manners" who "offended one of the principal families ... by having pronounced the wordcorsetbefore the ladies of it."[36]The wordwoman, in those sensitive days, became a term of reproach, comparable to the Germanmensch; the uncouthfemaletook its place.[37]In the same way the legs of the fair becamelimbsand their breastsbosoms, andladywas substituted forwife.Stomach, under the ban in England, was transformed, by some unfathomable magic, into a euphemism denoting the whole region from the nipples to the pelvic arch. It was during[Pg127]this time that the newspapers invented such locutions asinteresting(ordelicate)condition,criminal operation,house of ill(orquestionable)repute,disorderly-house,sporting-house,statutory offense,fallen womanandcriminal assault. Servant girls ceased to be seduced, and began to bebetrayed. Various French terms,enceinteandaccouchementamong them, were imported to conceal the fact that lawful wives occasionally became pregnant and had lyings-in.

White, between 1867 and 1870, launched various attacks upon these ludicrous gossamers of speech, and particularly uponenceinte,limbandfemale, but onlyfemalesuccumbed. The passage of the notorious Comstock Postal Act, in 1873, greatly stimulated the search for euphemisms. Once that act was upon the statute-books and Comstock himself was given the amazingly inquisitorial powers of a post-office inspector, it became positively dangerous to print certain ancient and essentially decent English words. To this day the effects of that old reign of terror are still visible. We yet usetoiletandpublic comfort stationin place of better terms,[38]and such idiotic forms asred-light district,disorderly-house,blood-poison,social-evil,social diseaseandwhite slaveostensibly conceal what every flapper is talking about. The wordcadet, having a foreign smack and an innocent native meaning, is preferred to the more accurateprocurer; even prostitutes shrink from the forthrightpimp, and employ a characteristic American abbreviation,P. I.—a curious brother toS. O. B.and2 o'clock. Nevertheless, a movement toward honesty is getting on its legs. The vice crusaders, if they have accomplished nothing else, have at least forced the newspapers to use the honest terms,syphilis,prostitute,brothelandvenereal disease, albeit somewhat gingerly. It is, perhaps, significant of the change going on that theNew York Evening Post[Pg128]recently authorized its reporters to usestreet-walker.[39]But in certain quarters the change is viewed with alarm, and curious traces of the old prudery still survive. The Department of Health of New York City, in April, 1914, announced that its efforts to diminish venereal disease were much handicapped because "in most newspaper offices the wordssyphilisandgonorrheaare still tabooed, and without the use of these terms it is almost impossible to correctly state the problem." The Army Medical Corps, in the early part of 1918, encountered the same difficulty: most newspapers refused to print its bulletins regarding venereal disease in the army. One of the newspaper trade journals thereupon sought the opinions of editors upon the subject, and all of them save one declared against the use of the two words. One editor put the blame upon the Postoffice, which still cherishes the Comstock tradition. Another reported that "at a recent conference of the Scripps Northwest League editors" it was decided that "the use of such terms asgonorrhea,syphilis, and evenvenereal diseaseswould not add to the tone of the papers, and that the termvice diseasescan be readily substituted."[40]The Scripps papers are otherwise anything but distinguished for their "tone," but in this department they yield to the Puritan habit. An even more curious instance of prudery came to my notice in Philadelphia several years ago. A one-act play of mine, "The Artist," was presented at the Little Theatre there, and during its run, on February 26, 1916, thePublic Ledgerreprinted some of the dialogue. One of the characters in the piece isA Virgin. At every occurrence a change was made toA Young Girl. Apparently, evenvirginis still regarded as too frank in Philadelphia.[41]Fifty years[Pg129]ago the very worddecentwas indecent in the South: no respectable woman was supposed to have any notion of the difference betweendecentandindecent.

In their vocabularies of opprobrium and profanity English and Americans diverge sharply. The Englishrotterandblighterare practically unknown in America, and there are various American equivalents that are never heard in England. Aguy, in the American vulgate, simply signifies a man; there is not necessarily any disparaging significance. But in English, high or low, it means one who is making a spectacle of himself. The derivative verb,to guy, is unknown in English; its nearest equivalent isto spoof, which is unknown in American. The average American, I believe, has a larger vocabulary of profanity than the average Englishman, and swears a good deal more, but he attempts an amelioration of many of his oaths by softening them to forms with no apparent meaning.Darn(=dern=durn) fordamnis apparently of English origin, but it is heard ten thousand times in America to once in England. So isdog-gone. Such euphemistic written forms asdamphoolanddamfinoare also far more common in this country.All-firedforhell-fired,gee-whizforJesus,tarnalforeternal,tarnationfordamnation,cussforcurse,goldarnedforGod-damned,by goshforby Godandgreat Scottforgreat Godare all Americanisms; Thornton has tracedall-firedto 1835,tarnationto 1801 andtarnalto 1790.By gollyhas been found in English literature so early as 1843, but it probably originated in America; down to the Civil War it was the characteristic oath of the negro slaves. Such terms asbonehead,pinheadandboobhave been invented, perhaps, to take the place of the Englishass, which has a flavor of impropriety in America on account of its identity in sound with the American pronunciation ofarse.[42]At an earlier dayasswas always differentiated by making itjackass. Another word that is improper in America but not in England istart. To an Englishman the word connotes sweetness, and so, if he be of the lower orders, he may apply[Pg130]it to his sweetheart. But to the American it signifies a prostitute, or, at all events, a woman of too ready an amiability.

But the most curious disparity between the profane vocabulary of the two tongues is presented bybloody. This word is entirely without improper significance in America, but in England it is regarded as the vilest of indecencies. The sensation produced in London when George Bernard Shaw put it into the mouth of a woman character in his play, "Pygmalion," will be remembered. "The interest in the first English performance," said theNew York Times,[43]"centered in the heroine's utterance of this banned word. It was waited for with trembling, heard shudderingly, and presumably, when the shock subsided, interest dwindled." But in New York, of course, it failed to cause any stir. Just why it is regarded as profane and indecent by the English is one of the mysteries of the language. The theory that it has some blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ is disputed by many etymologists. It came in during the latter half of the seventeenth century, and at the start it apparently meant no more than "in the manner of a blood,"i. e., a rich young roisterer of the time. Thus,bloody drunkwas synonymous with asdrunk as a lord. The adjective remained innocuous for 200 years. Then it suddenly acquired its present abhorrent significance. It is regarded with such aversion by the English that even the lower orders often substitutebleedingas a euphemism.

So far no work devoted wholly to the improper terms of English and American has been published, but this lack may be soon remedied by a compilation made by a Chicago journalist. It is entitled "The Slang of Venery and Its Analogues," and runs to two large volumes. A small edition, mimeographed for private circulation, was issued in 1916. I have examined this work and found it of great value. If the influence of comstockery is sufficient to prevent its publication in the United States, as seems likely, it will be printed in Switzerland.

FOOTNOTES:[1]It should be noted thatmewsis used only in the larger cities. In the small townslivery-stableis commoner.Mewsis quite unknown in America save as an occasional archaism.[2]Sometimeswhiffle-tree.[3]The latter has crept into American of late. I find it on p. 58 of The United States at War, a pamphlet issued by the Library of Congress, 1917. The compiler of this pamphlet is a savant bearing the fine old British name of Herman H. B. Meyer.[4]Living-room, however, is gradually making its way in England. It was apparently suggested, in America, by the Germanwohnzimmer.[5]This form survives in the American termcity-stock, meaning the bonds of a municipality. But government securities are always calledbonds.[6]Cf.A Glossary of Colloquial Slang and Technical Terms in Use in the Stock Exchange and in the Money Market, by A. J. Wilson, London, 1895.[7]Orbailiffs.[8]But he isrunby his party organization.Cf.The Government of England, by A. Lawrence Lowell; New York, 1910, vol. ii, p. 29.[9]Until very recently no self-respecting American newspaper reporter would call himself ajournalist. He always usednewspaper man, and referred to his vocation, not as a profession, but as the newspaperbusiness. This old prejudice, however, now seems to be breaking down.Cf.Don't Shy at Journalist,The Editor and Publisher and Journalist, June 27, 1914.[10]Cf.a speech of Senator La Follette,Congressional Record, Aug. 27, 1917, p. 6992.[11]According to the New International Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Art.Apartment House), the termflat"is usually in the United States restricted to apartments in houses having no elevator or hall service." In New York such apartments are commonly calledwalk-up apartments. Even with the qualification,apartmentis better thanflat.[12]Canoeing was introduced into England by John MacGregor in 1866, and there is now a Royal Canoe Club. In America the canoe has been familiar from the earliest times, and in Mme. Sarah Kemble Knight's diary (1704) there is much mention ofcannoos. The word itself is from an Indian dialect, probably the Haitian, and came into American through the Spanish, in which it survives ascanoa.[13]"An act was passed to prohibit playingnine-pins; as soon as the law was put in force, it was notified everywhere, 'Ten-pinsplayed here.'"—Capt. Marryat: Diary in America, vol. iii, p. 195.[14]"The termchapel," says Joyce, in English as We Speak It in Ireland, "has so ingrained itself in my mind that to this hour the word instinctively springs to my lips when I am about to mention a Catholic place of worship; and I always feel some sort of hesitation or reluctance in substituting the wordchurch. I positively could not bring myself to say, 'Come, it is time now to set out forchurch' It must be eithermassor chapel."[15]Certain dissenters, of late, show a disposition to borrow the American usage. Thus theChristian World, organ of the English Congregationalists, usesEpiscopalto designate the Church of England.[16]So long ago as the 70's certain Jews petitioned the publishers of Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries to omit their definitions of the verbto jew, and according to Richard Grant White, the publisher of Worcester's complied. Such a request, in England, would be greeted with derision.[17]But nevertheless he usesbegotten, notbegot.[18]This specimen is from theCongressional Recordof Dec. 11, 1917: "I do not like to be butting into thisproposition, but I look upon this postoffice business as a purely businessproposition." The speaker was "Hon" Homer P. Snyder, of New York. In theRecordof Jan. 12, 1918, p. 8294,propositionis used as a synonym for state of affairs.[19]Already in 1855 Bristed was protesting thatto fixwas having "more than its legitimate share of work all over the Union." "In English conversation," he said, "the panegyrical adjective of all work isnice; in America it isfine." This was before the adoption ofjollyand its analogues,ripping,stunning,rattling, etc.[20]In the Appendix to the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases, London, 1916, p. iv., I find the following: "Mr.C. J. Symonds, F.R.C.S., M.D.;Mr.F. J. McCann, F.R.C.S., M.D.;Mr.A. F. Evans, F.R.C.S".Mr.Symonds is consulting surgeon to Guy's Hospital,Mr.McCann is an eminent London gynecologist, andMr.Evans is a general surgeon in large practise. All would be calledDoctorin the United States.[21]Among the curious recipients of this degree have been Gumshoe Bill Stone, Uncle Joe Cannon and Josephus Daniels. Billy Sunday, the evangelist, is a D.D.[22]Congressional Record, May 16, 1918, p. 7147.[23]Videhis annual reports, printed at Sing Sing Prison.[24]I encountered this gem inPublic Health Reports, a government publication, for April 26, 1918, p. 619.[25]For theRecordsee the issue of Dec. 14, 1917, p. 309. For the New International Encyclopaedia see the article on Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip. For theWorldAlmanac see the article on Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, ed. of 1914. The grammar-book is Longman's Briefer Grammar; New York, 1908, p. 160. The editor is George J. Smith, a member of the board of examiners of the New York City Department of Education.[26]Edwin S. Gould: Good English; New York, 1867, pp. 56-57.[27]Despite the example of Congress, however, the Department of State inserts thethe.VidetheCongressional Record, May 4, 1918, p. 6552. But the War Department, the Treasury and the Post Office omit it.VidetheCongressional Record, May 11, 1918, p. 6895 and p. 6914 and May 14, p. 7004, respectively. So, it appears, does the White House.VidetheCongressional Record, May 10, 1918, p. 6838, and June 12, 1918, p. 8293.[28]In the 60's an undertaker was often called anembalming surgeonin America.[29]In a list of American "universites" I find the Christian of Canton, Mo., with 125 students; the Lincoln, of Pennsylvania, with 184; the Southwestern Presbyterian, of Clarksville, Tenn., with 86; and the Newton Theological, with 77. Most of these, of course, are merely country high-schools.[30]The Rev. John C. Stephenson in theNew York Sun, July 10, 1914: ... "that empty courtesy of addressing every clergyman asDoctor.... And let us abolish the abuse of ...baccalaureatesermons for sermons before graduating classes of high schools and the like."[31]Cf.Dardanelles Commission Report; London, 1916, p. 58, § 47.[32]Edgar Allan Poe's "The GoldBug" is called "The GoldenBeetle" in England. Twenty-five years ago an Englishman namedBuggey, laboring under the odium attached to the name, had it changed toNorfolk-Howard, a compound made up of the title and family name of the Duke of Norfolk. The wits of London at once doubled his misery by adoptingNorfolk-Howardas a euphemism forbed-bug.[33]A recent example of the use ofmale-cowwas quoted in theJournalof the American Medical Association, Nov. 17, 1917, advertising page 24.[34]New York Organ(a "family journaldevoted to temperance, morality, education and general literature"), May 29, 1847. One of the editors of this delicate journal was T. S. Arthur, author of Ten Nights in a Bar-room.[35]John Graham Brooks: As Others See Us; New York, 1908, p. 11.[36]Domestic Manners of the Americans, 2 vols.; London, 1832; vol. i, p. 132.[37]Female, of course, was epidemic in England too, but White says that it was "not a Briticism," and so early as 1839 the Legislature of Maryland expunged it from the title of a bill "to protect the reputation of unmarriedfemales," substitutingwomen, on the ground thatfemale"was an Americanism in that application."[38]The Frenchpissoir, for instance, is still regarded as indecent in America, and is seldom used in England, but it has gone into most of the Continental languages. It is curious to note, however, that these languages also have their pruderies. Most of them, for example, useW. C., an abbreviation of the Englishwater-closet, as a euphemism. The whole subject of national pruderies, in both act and speech, remains to be investigated.[39]Even theSpringfield Republican, the last stronghold of PuritanKultur, printed the word on Oct. 11, 1917, in a review of New Adventures, by Michael Monahan.[40]Pep, July, 1918, p. 8.[41]Perhaps the Quaker influence is to blame. At all events, Philadelphia is the most pecksniffian of American cities, and thus probably leads the world. Early in 1918, when a patriotic moving-picture entitled "To Hell with the Kaiser" was sent on tour under government patronage, the wordhellwas carefully toned down, on the Philadelphia billboards, toh——.[42]Cf.R. M. Bache: Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech; Phila., 1869, p. 34et seq..[43]April 14, 1914.

[1]It should be noted thatmewsis used only in the larger cities. In the small townslivery-stableis commoner.Mewsis quite unknown in America save as an occasional archaism.

[2]Sometimeswhiffle-tree.

[3]The latter has crept into American of late. I find it on p. 58 of The United States at War, a pamphlet issued by the Library of Congress, 1917. The compiler of this pamphlet is a savant bearing the fine old British name of Herman H. B. Meyer.

[4]Living-room, however, is gradually making its way in England. It was apparently suggested, in America, by the Germanwohnzimmer.

[5]This form survives in the American termcity-stock, meaning the bonds of a municipality. But government securities are always calledbonds.

[6]Cf.A Glossary of Colloquial Slang and Technical Terms in Use in the Stock Exchange and in the Money Market, by A. J. Wilson, London, 1895.

[7]Orbailiffs.

[8]But he isrunby his party organization.Cf.The Government of England, by A. Lawrence Lowell; New York, 1910, vol. ii, p. 29.

[9]Until very recently no self-respecting American newspaper reporter would call himself ajournalist. He always usednewspaper man, and referred to his vocation, not as a profession, but as the newspaperbusiness. This old prejudice, however, now seems to be breaking down.Cf.Don't Shy at Journalist,The Editor and Publisher and Journalist, June 27, 1914.

[10]Cf.a speech of Senator La Follette,Congressional Record, Aug. 27, 1917, p. 6992.

[11]According to the New International Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Art.Apartment House), the termflat"is usually in the United States restricted to apartments in houses having no elevator or hall service." In New York such apartments are commonly calledwalk-up apartments. Even with the qualification,apartmentis better thanflat.

[12]Canoeing was introduced into England by John MacGregor in 1866, and there is now a Royal Canoe Club. In America the canoe has been familiar from the earliest times, and in Mme. Sarah Kemble Knight's diary (1704) there is much mention ofcannoos. The word itself is from an Indian dialect, probably the Haitian, and came into American through the Spanish, in which it survives ascanoa.

[13]"An act was passed to prohibit playingnine-pins; as soon as the law was put in force, it was notified everywhere, 'Ten-pinsplayed here.'"—Capt. Marryat: Diary in America, vol. iii, p. 195.

[14]"The termchapel," says Joyce, in English as We Speak It in Ireland, "has so ingrained itself in my mind that to this hour the word instinctively springs to my lips when I am about to mention a Catholic place of worship; and I always feel some sort of hesitation or reluctance in substituting the wordchurch. I positively could not bring myself to say, 'Come, it is time now to set out forchurch' It must be eithermassor chapel."

[15]Certain dissenters, of late, show a disposition to borrow the American usage. Thus theChristian World, organ of the English Congregationalists, usesEpiscopalto designate the Church of England.

[16]So long ago as the 70's certain Jews petitioned the publishers of Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries to omit their definitions of the verbto jew, and according to Richard Grant White, the publisher of Worcester's complied. Such a request, in England, would be greeted with derision.

[17]But nevertheless he usesbegotten, notbegot.

[18]This specimen is from theCongressional Recordof Dec. 11, 1917: "I do not like to be butting into thisproposition, but I look upon this postoffice business as a purely businessproposition." The speaker was "Hon" Homer P. Snyder, of New York. In theRecordof Jan. 12, 1918, p. 8294,propositionis used as a synonym for state of affairs.

[19]Already in 1855 Bristed was protesting thatto fixwas having "more than its legitimate share of work all over the Union." "In English conversation," he said, "the panegyrical adjective of all work isnice; in America it isfine." This was before the adoption ofjollyand its analogues,ripping,stunning,rattling, etc.

[20]In the Appendix to the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases, London, 1916, p. iv., I find the following: "Mr.C. J. Symonds, F.R.C.S., M.D.;Mr.F. J. McCann, F.R.C.S., M.D.;Mr.A. F. Evans, F.R.C.S".Mr.Symonds is consulting surgeon to Guy's Hospital,Mr.McCann is an eminent London gynecologist, andMr.Evans is a general surgeon in large practise. All would be calledDoctorin the United States.

[21]Among the curious recipients of this degree have been Gumshoe Bill Stone, Uncle Joe Cannon and Josephus Daniels. Billy Sunday, the evangelist, is a D.D.

[22]Congressional Record, May 16, 1918, p. 7147.

[23]Videhis annual reports, printed at Sing Sing Prison.

[24]I encountered this gem inPublic Health Reports, a government publication, for April 26, 1918, p. 619.

[25]For theRecordsee the issue of Dec. 14, 1917, p. 309. For the New International Encyclopaedia see the article on Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip. For theWorldAlmanac see the article on Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, ed. of 1914. The grammar-book is Longman's Briefer Grammar; New York, 1908, p. 160. The editor is George J. Smith, a member of the board of examiners of the New York City Department of Education.

[26]Edwin S. Gould: Good English; New York, 1867, pp. 56-57.

[27]Despite the example of Congress, however, the Department of State inserts thethe.VidetheCongressional Record, May 4, 1918, p. 6552. But the War Department, the Treasury and the Post Office omit it.VidetheCongressional Record, May 11, 1918, p. 6895 and p. 6914 and May 14, p. 7004, respectively. So, it appears, does the White House.VidetheCongressional Record, May 10, 1918, p. 6838, and June 12, 1918, p. 8293.

[28]In the 60's an undertaker was often called anembalming surgeonin America.

[29]In a list of American "universites" I find the Christian of Canton, Mo., with 125 students; the Lincoln, of Pennsylvania, with 184; the Southwestern Presbyterian, of Clarksville, Tenn., with 86; and the Newton Theological, with 77. Most of these, of course, are merely country high-schools.

[30]The Rev. John C. Stephenson in theNew York Sun, July 10, 1914: ... "that empty courtesy of addressing every clergyman asDoctor.... And let us abolish the abuse of ...baccalaureatesermons for sermons before graduating classes of high schools and the like."

[31]Cf.Dardanelles Commission Report; London, 1916, p. 58, § 47.

[32]Edgar Allan Poe's "The GoldBug" is called "The GoldenBeetle" in England. Twenty-five years ago an Englishman namedBuggey, laboring under the odium attached to the name, had it changed toNorfolk-Howard, a compound made up of the title and family name of the Duke of Norfolk. The wits of London at once doubled his misery by adoptingNorfolk-Howardas a euphemism forbed-bug.

[33]A recent example of the use ofmale-cowwas quoted in theJournalof the American Medical Association, Nov. 17, 1917, advertising page 24.

[34]New York Organ(a "family journaldevoted to temperance, morality, education and general literature"), May 29, 1847. One of the editors of this delicate journal was T. S. Arthur, author of Ten Nights in a Bar-room.

[35]John Graham Brooks: As Others See Us; New York, 1908, p. 11.

[36]Domestic Manners of the Americans, 2 vols.; London, 1832; vol. i, p. 132.

[37]Female, of course, was epidemic in England too, but White says that it was "not a Briticism," and so early as 1839 the Legislature of Maryland expunged it from the title of a bill "to protect the reputation of unmarriedfemales," substitutingwomen, on the ground thatfemale"was an Americanism in that application."

[38]The Frenchpissoir, for instance, is still regarded as indecent in America, and is seldom used in England, but it has gone into most of the Continental languages. It is curious to note, however, that these languages also have their pruderies. Most of them, for example, useW. C., an abbreviation of the Englishwater-closet, as a euphemism. The whole subject of national pruderies, in both act and speech, remains to be investigated.

[39]Even theSpringfield Republican, the last stronghold of PuritanKultur, printed the word on Oct. 11, 1917, in a review of New Adventures, by Michael Monahan.

[40]Pep, July, 1918, p. 8.

[41]Perhaps the Quaker influence is to blame. At all events, Philadelphia is the most pecksniffian of American cities, and thus probably leads the world. Early in 1918, when a patriotic moving-picture entitled "To Hell with the Kaiser" was sent on tour under government patronage, the wordhellwas carefully toned down, on the Philadelphia billboards, toh——.

[42]Cf.R. M. Bache: Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech; Phila., 1869, p. 34et seq..

[43]April 14, 1914.

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