Authors: H.L. Mencken
109
Mr. L. G. Lederer of Baltimore calls my attention to a rather curious transitive use of
to go
, noted in the Baltimore
Post
for Sept. 1, 1925: “Next Summer we’ll probably see traffic cops stopping and
going
the entrants.”
110
To dope out:
Mr. Hamlin of Missouri in the House, Jan. 19, 1918, p. 1154.
To fall down:
Mr. Kirby of Arkansas in the Senate, Jan. 24, 1918, p. 1291, and Mr. Lewis of Illinois, in the Senate, June 6, 1918, p. 8024.
To jack up:
Mr. Weeks of Massachusetts in the Senate, Jan. 17, 1918, p. 988.
To come across:
Mr. Borland of Missouri in the House, May 4, 1917, p. 1853.
To butt in:
Mr. Snyder of New York in the House, Dec. 11, 1917.
111
See Simile and Metaphor in American Speech, by B. Q. Morgan,
American Speech
, Feb., 1926.
112
See Scribes Seek Snappy Synonyms, by Maurice Hicklin,
American Speech
, Dec., 1930. Mr. Hicklin lists 70 headline verbs.
113
Words and Their Uses, new ed.; New York, 1876, p. 264. This book was made up of articles contributed to the New York
Galaxy
during 1867, ’68 and ’69.
114
In 1929 N. R. French, C. W. Carter, Jr., and Walter Koenig, Jr., of the staff of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, undertook a statistical study of the words used in telephone conversations. Their material embraced 79,390 words used in 1900 conversations. They reported that
will
was used as an auxiliary 1,305 times in 402 conversations, but that
shall
was used but 6 times in 6 conversations. See a discussion of the matter in Grammar and Usage in Textbooks on English, by Robert C. Pooley; Madison, Wis., 1933, p. 60. The French-Carter-Koenig report has been published as The Words and Sounds of Telephone Conversations,
Bell System Technical Journal
, April, 1930.
115
Oxford, 1926, p. 526.
116
2nd ed., Oxford, 1908, pp. 133–154.
117
Current Definition of Levels in English Usage, by S. A. Leonard and H. Y. Moffett,
English Journal
, May, 1927.
118
P. W. Joyce says flatly in English As We Speak It in Ireland, 2nd ed.; London, 1910, p. 77, that, “like many another Irish idiom this is also found in American society chiefly through the influence of the Irish.” At all events, the Irish example must have reinforced it. In Ireland “
Will
I light the fire, ma’am?” is colloquially sound.
119
Shall
and
Will, American Speech
, Aug., 1929, p. 498. He quotes The Rules of Common School Grammars, by C. C. Fries,
Publications of the Modern Language Association
, March, 1927, to the effect that “the first statement that
will
is differently used in the first person and in the second and third is in a grammar of English written in Latin by Johannis Wallis and first published in 1653. From this book it was copied frequently by the imitative grammarians of the Eighteenth Century, and has been swallowed with eyes shut by most of the writers of common-school grammars, handbooks of correct English, and the like ever since.”
120
In her Tendencies in Modern American Poetry; New York, 1917, Amy Lowell takes Carl Sandburg and Edgar Lee Masters to task for constantly using
will
for
shall
, and says that they share the habit “with many other modern American writers.” See also Text, Type and Style, by George B. Ives; Boston, 1921, p. 289
ff
.
121
Lectures on the English Language, 4th ed.; New York, 1870, p. 659.
122
Compare Matthew XVI, 13: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
Whom
do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” See also Modern English Usage, by H. W. Fowler, above cited, p. 723, and Chapters on English, by Otto Jespersen; London, 1918, p. 52.
123
For an interesting discussion of
aren’t
see a letter by H. E. Boot in
English
, June, 1920, p. 376, and one by Daniel Jones in the same periodical, Aug.–Sept., 1920, p. 399.
124
A common direction to drivers and locomotive engineers. The English form is
slow down
. I note, however, that “drive slow
ly
” is in the taxi-cab shed at the Pennsylvania Station, in New York. See also Chapter IX, Section 6.
125
This splitting is defended eloquently by one of the most distinguished of American grammarians, George O. Curme, in The Split Infinitive,
American Speech
, May, 1927. He argues that it often helps to clarify the meaning. Thus “He failed completely to understand it” differs in meaning from “He failed to completely understand it.” “Grammatical instruction in our schools,” says Dr. Curme sagely, “might become a power and mighty interesting to students if it ceased to be a study of rules and became a study of the English language as something fashioned by the English people and still being shaped by the present generation. It will give a thrill to English-speaking students to discover that the English language does not belong to the school teacher but belongs to them and that its future destiny will soon rest entirely in their hands.” See also Syntax, by Dr. Curme; Boston, 1931, p. 455
ff
, and The Split Infinitive, by H. W. Fowler,
S.P.E. Tracts
, No. XV, 1923.
126
Good English, p. 59.
127
For example, see the
Congressional Record
, May 14, 1918, p. 6996.
128
Principality of Monaco
vs
. State of Mississippi, May 21, 1934. (54
S. Ct. R.
, 748 note).
129
Current Definition of Levels in English Usage, cited in Section 3, above.
130
The American Spirit in Literature, by Bliss Perry; New Haven, 1918, p. 117.
131
The English Language; New York, 1912, p. 79.
132
Common, that is, in England. An American would use “to take a matter up.”
133
The Question of Our Speech; Boston, 1905, p. 30. See also
Dialect Notes
, Vol. IV, Pt. I, 1913, p. 48.
134
Americanisms Old and New; London, 1889, p. 1.
135
Mr. Carr published an account of his discovery in the Cleveland
Plain Dealer
, Nov. 20, 1934.
136
See
O.K
. at Ninety-Five, Boston
Transcript
(editorial), April 15, 1935. It occurred in a report of a Democratic meeting in New York, in the interest of Martin Van Buren’s renomination for a second term. The
Transcript’s
correspondent said that “the tail of the Democratic party, the roarers, butt-enders, ringtails,
O.K.
’s … and indomitables talked strong about Nullification and all that.” “The allusion,” says the
Transcript
editorial of 1935, “was probably to those who put their
O.K
. on the nomination of Van Buren.”
137
In a report of a Whig convention held at Worcester on June 19. “The band of the delegation from Barre,” said the
Atlas
, “rode in a stage which had a barrel of hard-cider on the baggage-rack, marked with large letters
O.K
. — oil korrect.”
138
I take this from the Louisville
Herald-Post
, Feb. 26, 1932.
139
This comes from a letter signed L. M., dated Calgary, March 4, 1935, and published in the Vancouver
Sun
. For it I am indebted to Mr. J. A. Macdonald, of the
Sun
staff.
140
For this I am indebted to Mr. John D. Forbes, of San Francisco.
141
See Topical Tittle-tattle, by Tatler, Sidmouth (England)
Observer
, March 27, 1935, and
O.K. —
Time Saver, by John Gait, New York
American
, March 22, 1935. Unfortunately for this theory, there were no telegraph operators until 1844, and
O.K.
, as we have seen, had been used in 1840.
142
O.K
. No Mystery, by Frank A. Kellman, New York
American
, March 20, 1935.
143
Derivation of
O.K.
, by Wilfrid White, London
Daily Telegraph
, March 7, 1935. Mr. White quotes an anonymous poem, Poor Robin, of 1676: “
Hoacky
is brought home with Hollwin” [Hollowe’en]. “There is also,” he says, “a long poem by Herrick, entitled The
Hock
Cart, or Harvest Home. It seems but a short step from
hoacky
, signifying the satisfactory completion of harvesting, to the snappy
O.K.
of today.”
144
Presidential candidate
is probably an error for
President
. Jackson was elected for his first term in 1828. Smith did not begin to write his Letters of Major Downing until the early 30’s.
145
“What has been my horror,” wrote Mrs. Nicholas Murray Butler to the London
Daily Telegraph
, March 6, 1935, “to hear
O.K
. used in an English drawing-room, and, worse still, to find it in the Oxford Dictionary!”
146
Butte (Mont.)
Standard
, Oct. 11, 1929.
147
Cincinnati
Enquirer
, Oct. 6, 1929. See also
Okeh:
Legenden um ein Modewort, by A. J. Storfer,
Vos-sische Zeitung
(Berlin), Sept. 3, 1933. For the sake of the record I add the following from the New York
World-Telegram’s
report of the Hauptmann-Lindbergh trial, Jan. 23,1935: “Pincus Fisch, brother of the late mysterious Isidor Fisch, Hauptmann’s tubercular friend, has learned to say
okay
. It is now his answer for everything.”
148
Under date of March 29, 1935 I received the following from Mr. P. B. Merry of the B.V.D. Company, Inc.: “From the standpoint of business psychology and because of the great public curiosity as to the meaning of our trademark, we would not care to have you publish any information regarding its origin, but for your personal use, if you request it, we will be glad to tell you the history of
B.V.D.
” I did not request it.
149
See Semi-Secret Abbreviations, by Percy W. Long,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. IV, Pt. III, 1915, and Vol. IV, Pt. V, 1916. Dr. Long lists, among others,
c. & s
. (Navy:
clean and sober), G.b.F
. (among teachers:
God bless Friday), c.o.p
. (department-stores:
customer’s own property), r.b
. (tailors:
round back), b.d.t
. (college:
back-door trot), g.p
. (medical men:
grateful patient
),
G.o.k.
(medical men:
God only knows), f.h.b.
(general:
family hold back
), and
b.s
. (college: euphemistically explained by Dr. Long as meaning
bovine excrescence
).
150
Alphabetical soup
is itself an Americanism. It designates a noodle-soup in which the noodles are stamped out in the form of letters of the alphabet.
151
See Notes on the Vernacular, by Louise Pound,
American Mercury
, Oct., 1924, p. 237.
152
See Showing Hollywood, by Cecelia Ager,
Variety
, July 23, 1930, p. 49.
153
In a speech in the Senate by Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska, on Feb. 21, 1921, it was used in five or six distinct senses. The speech may be found in the
Congressional Record
of the same date, p. 374
ff
.
154
Angle
got into English about 15 years later. For examples of its use there see The Supplement to the O.E.D., by George G. Loane,
Literary Supplement
to the London
Times
, March 8, 1934, p. 162.
155
In 1906, according to Enid C. Dauncey,
Living Age
, Dec. 15,
to claim
was “employed in the most inhuman fashion to do the work of a dozen healthy, willing substitutes,”
e.g., to allege, assert, protest, profess, advance, propound, depose, avow
.
156
I find it used no less than five times on a single page of American Writers, by Edwin L. Miller, assistant superintendent of schools of Detroit; Philadelphia, 1934, p. 676. See Educational Lingo, by Olivia Pound,
American Speech
, March, 1926. Miss Pound makes some amusing comments upon the platitudinous and
cliché
-studded English of the gogues. When
outstanding
got to England it hatched an adverb,
outstandingly
. See
English
, Feb., 1920, p. 286, and Speech Degeneracy, by M. V. P. Yeaman,
American Speech
, Nov., 1925.
157
See
Classic
, by R. G. Lewis,
American Speech
, June, 1928, p. 433.
158
The Supplement to the Oxford Dictionary suggests that
dingus
is derived from the Dutch
ding
(a thing). The earliest quotation given is dated 1898. See American Indefinite Names, by Louise Pound,
American Mercury
, Oct., 1924, p. 236.
159
A Comprehensive Guide to Good English; Chicago, 1927, p. 269. See also
Beau Geste?
, by J. M. Stead-man, Jr.,
American Speech
, June, 1928.
160
The Census Bureau explains somewhat lamely (Fifteenth Census: Population, Vol. II; Washington, 1933, p. 27) that “by reason of its growing importance, the Mexican element was given a separate classification in 1930,” though it had been “included for the most part with the white population at prior censuses.” The instruction given to enumerators was that “all persons born in Mexico, or having parents born in Mexico, who are not definitely white, Negro, Indian, Chinese or Japanese, should be returned as Mexicans.” Under this instruction, 1,422,533 Mexicans were returned in 1930, besides 65,968 “persons of Mexican birth or parentage returned as white.”
161
Congressional Record
, Feb. 19, 1935, p. 2290.