1 Hollywood Reporter, quoted in Language Trouble, by Stephen Watts, London Sunday Express, Nov. 20, 1938: “It’s next to impossible for Americans to understand an English accent on the screen.” A very typical American’s difficulties with the speech of actors on the London stage will be recalled by readers of Sinclair Lewis’s Dodsworth. See Dodsworth’s Dilemma, Nation (New York), May 29, 1929, p. 638.
2 See AL4, p. 38, n. 1.
3 “If half the members of a talkie audience,” said a contributor to the Liverpool Daily Courier, signing himself H. W. S., on Sept. 4, 1929, “shudder every time a character on the screen says ‘Get a load of this’ or ‘It’s in the bag,’ the other half make a mental note of the expression for future use. I can offer no hope to the professors who think that talkies in pure English prose and verse would stem the American tide; for every such professor there are a thousand talkie-goers to whom American has become almost as intelligible as English, and more attractive because of its novelty. There has never been a talkie in pure English prose and verse, and there never will be. American has made such headway, even among its opponents, that there is hardly a modern English play that does not contain half a dozen phrases of American origin, and it is almost impossible to write a defense of English without using a locution or two that ten years ago would have been recognizable as American but now has become common English usage.”
1 For example, I find all set in the caption of a drawing in John Bull, and to knock his block off in a cartoon in the Glasgow Record.
2 The Democratic “Vaudeville,” July 3, 1932.
3 The Wrath of the Church, July 14, 1936.
4 Precautions Against Gate-Crashers at Ascot, June 12, 1938.
1 Brevity and Punch, Oct. 10, 1942.
2 R.A.F. Check on Hooch Drinking, London Daily Mail, Jan. 21, 1942.
3 London Daily Mail, July 21, 1938. The Mail’s headline on his article was Gilbert Frankau Puts One Over.
4 Alibi, London Sunday Times, Oct. 23, 1938. On March 9, 1940 the Manchester Guardian condemned the use of the term in “a well known paper,” but had to admit that it was “being more and more used to cover any sort of explanation.” “The meanings of words,” it observed sadly, “sometimes become distorted because newspapers look for lively terms that will mean much and be short enough for headlines.”
5 Later American Word-Imports, by A. H. C., IV, Forres Gazette, Nov. 6, 1935.
6 Traced by the DAE to 1761 and marked an Americanism.
7 Partridge says that this phrase was naturalized in England by 1930.
8 The DAE does not list this verb-phrase, but it traces to hang around (or round) to 1847.
9 Handy is to be found in Thomas Fuller’s once-famous book, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, 1650, but it fell out of use in England and was reintroduced from America.
10 First used by J. Fenimore Cooper in Homeward Bound, 1838. To happen along is also an Americanism.
11 Apparently introduced by J. Fenimore Cooper in The Pathfinder, 1840.
12 Traced by the DAE to 1809. Thornton says that the phrase “may have been learned by the English in the War of 1812.”
13 Partridge credits this verb-phrase to New Zealand, but offers no evidence.
14 In the sense of a yokel. The DAE’s first example is dated 1892, but the term must be much older. To get the hayseed out of one’s hair is traced to 1840.
1 The DAE traces to head for to 1835 and marks it an Americanism.
2 The DAE’s first example is dated 1864.
3 The DAE traces to head off to 1841 and marks it an Americanism.
4 This excellent term is not listed by the DAE. Partridge says that it came into general use in England c. 1930.
5 Recorded by Bartlett in 1848. “This word,” he said, “is in common use in the West, and bids fair to spread over the country. There can be little doubt of its derivation from high-flinging.” Webster 1934 suggests that highflown may have had some influence on it.
6 The DAE does not list this phrase, but Partridge says that it originated in the United States before 1869, and began to be used in England in 1883.
7 Traced by the DAE to 1817 and marked an Americanism.
8 Hitched is traced by the DAE to 1847. It has never been used save humorously in the United States.
9 Not of American origin, but in much more frequent use in the United States than in England.
10 Traced to 1835 in the United States and to 1867 in England.
11 In the sense of a check or obstruction the DAE traces hold-up to 1837, and in the sense of a robbery at the point of a gun to 1878. In both senses the term is an Americanism, as are the corresponding adjective and verb.
12 The writer says: “The earliest recorded use of this adjective is American.” That is not true. It appeared in England in 1756 as a translation of the German heimweh. It is often stated that English is the only language having a word of the meaning of home. This is nonsense. The German heim is its exact equivalent, and both come from the same Old Germanic root. The NED traces home to c. 950.
13 An old English word that went out in England but survived in America.
14 Originally, the sound made by a wild goose, noted by Boucher in 1800, but apparently not in general use until c. 1850. It was first applied to the sound of an automobile horn in 1906.
15 The DAE traces on one’s own hook to 1812 and marks it an Americanism. It was used by Thackeray in Pendennis, 1849, and Partridge says that it is now naturalized in England.
16 Partridge says that this phrase came into English use c. 1905.
17 The DAE traces horse-sense to 1832 and marks it an Americanism.
18 This is not an Americanism, but after long desuetude it seems to have been reintroduced to England from America. Partridge says that the Canadian soldiers made it popular in 1916.
19 These terms are old in English, but they came to their present vogue in the United States, and returned to England as Americanisms. Partridge says that they became naturalized c. 1905 and are now “almost Standard English.”
1 As in inside twenty-four hours. Traced by the DAE to 1877.
2 In the sense of a person of the first importance. Partridge says that the English borrowed the term from the United States c. 1910. The use of it in group games also seems to be American. An authority on games, cited by the DAE, says that in England the player who is it “is sometimes called he.” See Toys and Games, by W. Macqueen-Pope, London Times Literary Supplement, March 25, 1944, p. 151.
3 Traced by the DAE to 1711 and marked an Americanism.
4 In such phrases as to be jam up against. Traced by the DAE to 1842 and marked an Americanism.
5 The DAE traces this back-formation to 1869 and marks it an Americanism.
6 See AL4, pp. 121, 141 and 165.
7 The writer lists jiggered as meaning “put in order.” Where he picked it up I do not know: it is certainly not American. Jigger, in the sense of a measure of strong drink, is an Americanism, traced by the DAE to 1836.
8 The DAE’s earliest example is dated 1885, but the term must be considerably older.
9 The DAE traces to jolly, in the sense of to chaff ingratiatingly, to 1890, and marks it an Americanism.
10 The DAE traces jug for jail to 1815, but does not mark it an Americanism, though it probably is.
11 Traced by the DAE to 1826 and marked an Americanism.
12 In the sense of old rope or cable junk has been in nautical use in England since the Fifteenth Century, but in the American sense the DAE traces it no further back than 1842. There was a time when dealers in marine stores were called junk-dealers in this country.
13 As a general intensive, as in time just flew.
14 Whether or not this is an Americanism remains to be established. Partridge says that it was used in England before 1861, but indicates that it then began to go out. It has always been in much more frequent use in the United States. In England the common phrase is to walk out with.
15 This verb-phrase is old i
n English, but it seems to have been forgotten, and Partridge says that it was reintroduced from the United States c. 1905.
16 Traced by the DAE to 1854 and marked an Americanism.
17 This verb-phrase is probably not an Americanism. Grose listed it as English slang in 1785. But it seems to have come into much wider use in the United States than in England, and to most Englishmen it sounds American.
18 In the sense of to deceive.
1 In the political sense to knife is traced by the DAE to 1888 and marked an Americanism.
2 In the more usual form of to knock around this verb-phrase is traced by the DAE to 1877 and marked an Americanism.
3 The DAE traces to know the ropes to 1840 and to learn the ropes to 1850, and marks them Americanisms. They apparently come from the language of the sea. Partridge says that to know the ropes was accepted as Standard English after 1900.
4 A loan from the Chinese. See AL4, p. 162.
5 The DAE’s first example is dated 1895, but the term must be older.
6 The earliest English example of law-abiding is dated 1867. The DAE traces it in American use to 1834.
7 Lemon, in the sense of something unattractive, e.g., a homely woman, is not listed by the DAE. Partridge says that it was adopted by the English c. 1921.
8 To let slide is old English, but it dropped out in the Seventeenth Century. The DAE shows that it was revived or reinvented in the United States c. 1845, and reappeared in England in 1885.
9 Traced by the DAE to 1851 and marked an Americanism. Partridge says that it was accepted in England c. 1870.
10 Traced by the DAE to 1888. The adjective levelheaded is traced to 1879.
11 The DAE traces this verb-phrase to 1815 and marks it an Americanism. Partridge says it was not naturalized in Standard English until the Twentieth Century.
12 Partridge says that this phrase was adopted by the English c. 1895.
13 To make myself scarce was used by Smollett in 1749 and by Scott in 1821, but it seems to have dropped out, and Englishmen apparently think of it as an Americanism.
14 Partridge says that this Americanism, traced by the DAE to 1834, was taken into English c. 1860.
15 The DAE’s first example is from J. P. Kennedy’s Swallow Barn, 1832. Partridge says that the term was naturalized in England c. 1860.
16 The DAE traces mass-meeting to 1842 and marks it an Americanism.
17 The DAE’s first example is dated 1896, but the phrase must be older.
18 In the sense of a large extra dividend.
19 In the sense of garments needing mending.
20 The DAE’s first example is from George Ade’s Artie, 1896.
1 Not listed by the DAE. It has been suggested that it is a clipped form of muttonhead, but for this I know no evidence.
2 Marked “chiefly U. S.” by the NED.
3 The DAE traces N.G. to 1840 and Partridge says that it was naturalized in England by 1890.
4 Traced by the DAE to 1861.
5 Old-timer seems to have come in during or immediately after the Civil War.
6 The DAE traces one-horse, in the figurative sense of petty or unimportant, to 1854, and one-horse town to 1855. Both are marked Americanisms.
7 Traced by the DAE to 1875. Partridge says it was adopted in England by 1905.
8 Traced by the DAE to 1892.
9 Traced by the DAE to 1807 and marked an Americanism. Until they began to use overcoat the English used greatcoat or topcoat. Both, of course, survive.
10 Adjectives — and Other Words; New York, 1930, p. 182.
11 Of these terms the DAE traces dope-fiend to 1896, stunt to 1895, but omits sob-stuff and high-brow. The NED Supplement traces sob-stuff to 1920, sob-story to the same year, and sob-sister to 1927. All are actually older. The NED’s first example of stunt in the wide sense of any spectacular effort or enterprise is from the United States.
12 Is English Becoming Too American?, London Evening News, Nov. 19, 1931.
13 Oxford correspondence of the Hong Kong Telegraph, Oct. 6, 1936.
1 “Is that,” he asked in parenthesis, “an Americanism?”
2 Dr. Onions described all these verb-phrases as “idioms derived from the stage footlights.” This is possible, but it seems much more likely that they really got their vogue in the United States as baseball terms.
3 Traced by the DAE to c. 1845 and marked an Americanism. It did not reach England until the late 80s.
4 An old English phrase, revived by the game of poker in the United States, traced by the DAE to 1882, and adopted in England, according to Partridge, c. 1913.
5 First recorded by Bartlett in his second edition, 1859.
6 “The American applications of the word dope,” said Onions, “have generally commended themselves and have obtained a wide currency.”
7 Partridge says that best girl appeared in English use c. 1890. The DAE does not list it.
8 Traced by the DAE in this sense to 1887 and marked an Americanism. To fire out, in the sense of to throw out, is also an Americanism, traced by the DAE to 1871 and first used in England, according to J. Redding Ware, in 1896, though Partridge says that it did not become naturalized until c. 1905.
9 Traced by the DAE to c. 1848 and marked an Americanism.
10 Americanisms Now Used in English, Aug. 26, 1936.
11 English on Both Sides of the Atlantic, Listener (London), April 3, 1935, p. 572.
12 News and Views of Literary London, Oct. 4, 1936.
1 Mr. Arthur D. Jacobs of Manchester; private communication, July 19, 1939.
2 To resurrect has been found in English use in the Eighteenth Century, but it came to flower in pre-Civil War America, and to the English of today it seems an Americanism.
3 A Scot Can Always Find the Words, by Lady Sinclair, Dundee Evening Telegraph and Post, April 12, 1944.
4 A Wow. Liverpool Echo, Dec. 6, 1943.
5 Pinched or Stolen. London Evening Standard, Nov. 1, 1943.
6 Sticking Out, April 6, 1943.
7 Fair Exchange, May 20, 1943.
1 American Variations, S.P.E. Tract No. XLV, 1936, pp. 196–97. See also his Modern American Usage; Oxford, 1935, p. ix.
2 The DAE traces to belittle to 1781–2, boarding-house to 1787, business man to 1832, governmental to 1744, graveyard to 1773, hurricane-deck to 1833, law-abiding to 1834, lengthy to 1689, overcoat to 1807, telegram to 1852 and whole-souled to 1834.
3 In The American Impact on Great Britain, 1898–1914; Philadelphia, 1940, p. 310, Richard Heathcote Heindel says that Punch noted the influence of American on the English press so early as the 90s. He also says that many terms “in the category of business … came into English usage before 1914.” “Such invasion of the language as has taken place,” he concludes, “proves the power of the cinema, press and business, not the connivance of British literary masters.”
1 Private communications at different times in 1944.
2 The NED Supplement traces multiple-shop, in English use, to 1903. It marks chain-store an Americanism, but when it came in I do not know. The DAE does not list it.
3 Department-store is traced to 1893 by the DAE and marked an Americanism. The NED Supplement’s first English example of its use is dated 1928.
4 The DAE traces snag, in its literal sense, to 1804 and marks it an Americanism. In the figurative sense of any impediment or difficulty it is traced to 1829. Apparently it first appeared in this sense in England a year later. To snag goes back to 1807.
5 To designate a locomotive. See AL4, p. 240.
6 In Do You Speak American?, London Daily Mail, Aug. 17, 1932, John Blunt included tuxedo in a list of Americanisms “positively incomprehensible without the context” to an Englishman. Others on his list were commuter, rare (of meat), interne, truck-farming, realtor, mean (nasty), dumb (stupid), enlisted man, sea-food, living-room, dirt-road, roomer, scrubwoman, mortician and hired-girl. Four years later, on April 19, 1936, “Are You ‘Dumb’?” appeared as the heading of an advertise
ment of Sandeman sherry in the London Sunday Dispatch.
1 The DAE’s first example of bathing-suit is dated 1886.
2 Through was still so far from acceptance in 1939 that a correspondent of the London Times was arguing for it formally. He said: “If, say, a film is billed for Monday to Thursday I would probably not go to see it on the Thursday without ’phoning to make sure that to meant on as well. ‘Our lease goes on till September’: what does that mean? Till the end of September, the middle or the beginning? In America they say the film is on from Monday through Thursday. The lease is from January through September (if it meant the end of September; if September 1 it would be through August). And so on. We could use that through in English.” I take this from On American Speech, Baltimore Evening Sun (editorial), Jan. 27, 1940.
3 There are earlier examples in Seaman’s article, Ninety-nine Percent British, American Mercury, Sept., 1937, pp. 46–53. See also Some Recent Americanisms in Standard English, by Helen McM. Buckhurst, American Speech, Dec., 1925, pp. 150–60; The Talkies and English Speech, by Beatrice White, American Speech, April, 1932, pp. 314–15, and Say It in American, London Morning Post, Sept. 11, 1936.
1 See AL4, pp. 322 ff.
2 Such dictionaries, of course, were nothing new. Many are to be found in works of travel by both Englishmen and Americans, and not infrequently glossaries have been added to English editions of American books or offered as programme notes to English productions of American plays. Most of these English-American word lists have been designed to interpret Americanisms to Englishmen, but there have also been a few efforts in the other direction. Allen Walker Read, for some years past, has been engaged upon what will be a comprehensive and scientific Dictionary of Briticisms. He has accumulated nearly 35,000 illustrative quotations, and his skill and experience are such that the work is awaited eagerly. Unhappily, his service with the army interrupted his labors upon it. See Plans For a Historical Dictionary of Briticisms, American Oxonian, July, 1938, pp. 186–90.
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