95 Eric Partridge, in his introduction to Songs and Slang of the British Soldier, 1914–1918; London, 1930, p. 6, says that it appeared in 1915, and (p. 48) that its tune was borrowed from the French music-halls.
96 I have had access to it through the courtesy of Mr. Wilson. Unfortunately, it remains unpublished.
97 Wowser is of Australian origin, and was in use in Australia at least as early as 1908, but it did not come into use in England until it was introduced by the Australian troops in 1915. Its etymology is uncertain. I am told by Mr. J. A. B. Foster, of Hobart, Tasmania, that it was invented by one John Norton, who defined it as “a fellow who is too niggardly of joy to allow the other fellow any time to do anything but pray.” Mr. Roger C. Hackett, of Cristobal, C. Z., says he has heard that it represents the initials of a slogan employed by a reform organization in Australia (or New Zealand), c. 1900, viz.: “We only want social evils righted.” I tried to introduce it in the United States after the World War, but without success. It was used by Dr. William Morton Wheeler in the Scientific Monthly, Feb., 1920, p. 116.
98 Whether this form is English or American I don’t know, but certainly it is much oftener encountered in the United States than in England. It is sometimes pronounced as spelled, i.e., shoppy. In 1934, in the town of Rabat, Morocco, I heard it so pronounced by a native guiding Americans through the bazaars. Sometimes it is combined with the archaic ye, as in “Ye Olde Tea Shoppe.” In such cases ye is often pronounced as spelled, though it is simply an abbreviation for the.
99 See p. 58 of The United States at War, a pamphlet issued by the Library of Congress, 1917. The compiler of this pamphlet was a savant bearing the fine old British name of Herman H. B. Meyer.
100 He is addressed as Governor, and is commonly referred to as Hon.
101 This was announced in an Associated Press dispatch from Washington, Feb. 7, 1926.
102 Dialect Notes, Vol. I, Pt. IX, p. 432.
103 Freedom of the Press (editorial), Savannah News, Jan. 15, 1928.
104 American Private Schools, by Porter E. Sargent; Boston, 1920. Mr. Sargent says that the young boys at St. Paul’s sleep in “alcoves in the dormitories similar to the cubicles of many of the English public-schools.” It is curious to note that Dr. Coit, for all his Anglomania, was born at Harrisburg, Pa., began life as the manager of a tube works at Cleveland, and retired to Munich on resigning the rectorate of St. Paul’s.
105 Words and Their Uses; New York, p. 198.
106 But the meaning of the word now differs somewhat in the two countries. In America it connotes disgusting as well as mere unpleasant. Dean W. R. Inge called attention to this difference in The English Language, London Evening Standard, Nov. 24, 1921.
107 American English, North American Review, April.
108 Noah Webster denounced this last so long ago as 1789, in his Dissertations on the English Language, II.
109 English Dialect and American Ears, June, 1922, p. 53.
110 On April 1, 1926 the New York Times printed a warning by Assistant District Attorney Michael A. Ford that practitioners of the following non-Euclidian healing schemes were calling themselves doctor in New York: ærotherapy, astral-healing, autothermy, bio-dynamo-chromatic-therapy, chro-mo-therapy, diet-therapy, electro-homeopathy, electro-napro-therapy, geo-therapy, irido-therapy, mech-ano-therapy, neuro-therapy, napra-pathy, photo-therapy, physic-therapy, quartz-therapy, sanitratorism, spondylotherapy, spectro-chrome-therapy, spectra-therapy, tropho-therapy, theomonism, telatherapy, vitopathy, zodiac-therapy, zonet-therapy and Zoroastrianism.
111 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, and Mr. Evans is a general surgeon in large practice. All would be called Doctor in the United States.
112 The Skilful Leech, S.P.E. Tracts, No. IV, 1920, p. 33.
113 Speaking of This and That, Chicago School Journal, Sept., 1925, p. 1.
114 See Professor or Professional, by Mamie Meredith, American Speech, Feb., 1934, p. 71, and Professor Again, by C. D. P., American Speech, June, 1929, p. 422.
115 See The Title Professor, by N. R. L., American Speech, Oct., 1927, p. 27, and Professor Again, by Charles L. Hanson, American Speech, Feb., 1928, p. 256.
116 Canon law among the Baptists, who are numerous in the South, permits any congregation to confer the degree. It is often given to a pastor as a solatium when he is dismissed from his post. In both England and America every Catholic and Church of England bishop is made a D.D. on his elevation.
117 But in Scotland any clergyman over fifty, never caught red-handed in simony or adultery, is likely to be a D.D.
118 In late years the creation of colonels and generals by State Governors has diminished, but it continues in Kentucky, where Governor Ruby Laffoon (gloriously he, despite his given-name) made thousands between 1931 and 1935. Col. Patrick H. Callahan of Louisville who owes his title to a former Governor, argues that military rank is conducive, at least in Kentucky, to easy social intercourse. “Colonel,” he says, “is not much more than a nickname, like Tom, Dick or Harry, and is used and appreciated mostly on that account.”
119 “In Nebraska,” according to Dr. Louise Pound, American Speech, April, 1935, p. 158, “auctioneers customarily take to themselves the title of Colonel.” They do so also in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and parts of the South. See “Auctioneer Colonels Again,” by Dr. Pound, American Speech, Oct., 1935.
120 The use of former in place of ex-is an Americanism, and Horwill says that it is unknown in England.
121 For these references I am indebted to Words Indicating Social Status in America in the Eighteenth Century, by Allen Walker Read, American Speech, Oct., 1934.
122 Some Impressions of the United States; New York, 1888. The pertinent passages are reprinted in American Social History as Recorded by British Travelers, by Allan Nevins; New York, 1923, p. 481.
123 “Members of the United States Senate,” says an editorial in the Dayton (O.) News, Jan. 5, 1934, “largely address each other, in private at least, by their first names. The President of the United States, to hundreds of his friends, is simply Frank.”
124 Congressional Record, May 16, 1918, p. 7147.
125 For the sake of the record I append a few examples. Clark Howell, editor of the Atlanta Constitution appears as Hon. in the Record for June 15 (all dates are 1935), p. 9811, and the chief editorial writer of another Southern paper on Sept. 10, p. 15335. Jeremiah T. Mahoney, president of the Athletic Union of the United States appears on Aug. 23, p. 14790; Norman Hapgood on May 23, p. 8405; Harry L. Hopkins on July 17, p. 11733; Rexford G. Tugwell on Sept. 10, p. 15253; Frederic A. Delano, President Roosevelt’s uncle, Aug. 21, p. 14439; Leo T. Crowley, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, on June 5, p. 9051; Chester C. Davis, administrator of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, on Aug. 14, p. 13618; Robert Fechner, director of Emergency Conservation Work, on Aug. 15, 13812; former Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams on June 11, p. 9418; an ex-Assistant Postmaster-General on May 29, p. 8728; an Assistant Secretary of State on July 23, p. 12211; a former Attorney-General of Massachusetts on Aug. 6, p. 13061; the Attorney-General of Indiana on Aug. 16, p. 13980; Knud Wefald, a member of the Minnesota Railroad and Warehouse Commission, on Aug. 23, p. 14778; a special assistant to the Postmaster-General on June 21, p. 10298; a resident commissioner from the Philippines on July 17, p. 11805; a Works Progress director for Idaho on July 17, p. 11733; the solicitor of the Postoffice on July 11, p. 11493; and Frank De-laney, general counsel of Investors and Policyholders, Inc., on Aug. 19, p. 14213. I sometimes receive letters from members of Congress. Almost invariably they make me Hon. on the envelope. Some time ago I received an invitation from a Senator who was giving a luncheon to another Senator. It was in the third person, and
both the host and the guest of honor appeared as the Hon.
126 Printed in State Government, the organ of the American Legislators’ Association, April, 1935, p. 89.
127 The proper use of titles in England is so complicated a matter that it has produced a large literature. Perhaps the best textbook is Titles and Forms of Address (anonymous); 2nd ed.; London, 1929.
128 In the Crown Colony of Hong Kong all members of the Legislative Council are Hons. and it is customary to add Mr. after the title, even when Christian names or initials follow. It is said to have been first inserted by order of Sir Matthew Nathan, a former Governor. See Marriage at 6 A.M., by Tom Clarke; London, 1934. I am indebted here to Mr. F. H. Tyson of Hong Kong.
129 1 An English friend tells me that he might, “without grievous solecism,” address his tailor as Esq. — on the ground that a tailor, like a lawyer, doctor or horse-dealer, renders his bill, not in pounds, but in guineas! In Etiquette, by Emily Post; New York, 1922, p. 459, we are told that “formal invitations are always addressed to Mr. Stanley Smith,” but that “all other personal letters may be addressed to Stanley Smith, Esq.”
130 I am indebted here to Dr. S. E. Morison.
131 I encountered this gem in Public Health Reports, a government publication, for April 26, 1918, p. 619.
132 For the Record see any issue. For the New International Encyclopaedia see the article on Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip. The grammar-book is Longman’s Briefer Grammar; New York, 1908, p. 160.
133 Good English; New York, 1867, P. 57.
134 Alabama Christian Advocate (Birmingham), Nov. 7, 1929. The poem was clipped from the Richmond Christian Advocate, which had clipped it in turn from “an Atlanta church paper.” Its author was said to be “an Episcopal rector.”
135 Do You Speak English?, by Bishop John M. Moore, Christian Index (Jackson, Tenn.), Aug. 9, 1928. Dr. Moore is a Ph.D. of Yale, and also pursued ghostly studies at Leipzig and Heidelberg.
136 Dr. S. E. Morison tells me that the Mathers were probably the first American divines to call themselves Rev. Increase Mather seems to have picked up the title during his visit to England, 1688–92. Before that time American clergymen were simply Mr., an abbreviation of Master. This was an indication that they were masters of arts. During the Middle Ages bachelors of arts were addressed as Dominus, which was Englished as Sir. That is why clergymen, in Shakespeare’s time, were often called Sir — always with their surnames, not with their given names, which last form distinguished knights. The usage crossed the Atlantic, and persisted at Harvard and Yale down to 1800 or thereabout. It explains the belief of many Americans of today that their colonial ancestors were knights. There were relatively few D.D.’s in America before 1800, for the degree was seldom given by the American universities. But any clergyman who had published an edifying work could obtain it from one of the Scottish universities on payment of a fee, and in the middle of the Eighteenth Century it was not unusual for an admiring congregation to pass the hat to help its shepherd obtain the degree.
137 See The Use of the Abbreviation Rev. in Modern English, by Edward C. Ehrensperger, American Speech, Oct., 1931.
138 This last seems to have been introduced by Variety, which has a magnificent disdain for all the ordinary usages of the language. In 1926 Thyra Samter Winslow printed a volume of short stories called Show Business, without the article.
139 The text is in the Acta Apostolicæ Sedis, Jan. 15, 1931.
140 Abbots are also Right Rev. but in the United States they are not monsignors.
141 See Right Reverend, by Prelatus Domesticus, Commonweal, Oct. 18, 1935.
142 I am indebted here to Major Vincent Cunningham, editor of the War Cry (Southern edition).
143 La Ross’s husband, the Hon. William B. Ross, died in office as Governor of Wyoming on Oct. 2, 1924, and she was elected his successor and went into office on Jan. 5, 1925. A few days before this another Ma, Ferguson by name, became Governor of Texas. Her husband, James E. Ferguson, had been impeached and removed from the governorship in 1917.
144 Private communication, Sept. 28, 1935.
145 Realtor: Its Meaning and Use; Chicago (National Association of Real Estate Boards), 1925.
146 Letter to W. A. Frisbie, editor of the Minneapolis Daily News. This was in 1922. The letter was subscribed “Yours realtorially.” A copy was sent to Mr. Lewis, who preserves it in his archives.
147 Private communication, Sept. 4, 1935.
148 Electragist, by Corneil Ridderhof, American Speech, Aug., 1927, p. 477. It means, according to Mr. Ridderhof, “a combined electrical dealer and contractor.”
149 I am indebted here to Mr. W. M. Krieger, executive secretary of the organization, the headquarters of which are in Chicago.
150 Casket seems to have come in during the Civil War period. In 1863 Nathaniel Hawthorne denounced it in Our Old Home as “a vile modern phrase, which compels a person … to shrink … from the idea of being buried at all.” At the start it had a rival in case. The latter was used in the Richmond Examiner’s report of the funeral of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, May 13, 1864. But the Examiner, in the same report, used corpse and hearse.
151 Mortuary Nomenclature, Hygeia, Nov., 1925, p. 651.
152 The Mortician, by Elmer Davis, American Mercury, May, 1927.
153 Editor and Publisher, Jan. 30, 1932.
154 I proposed the use of bootician to designate a high-toned big-city bootlegger in the American Mercury, April, 1925, p. 450. The term met a crying need, and had considerable success. In March, 1927, the San José Mercury-Herald said: “Our bootleggers are now calling themselves booticians. It seems that bootlegger has some trace of odium about it, while bootician has none.” (Reprinted in the Baltimore Evening Sun, April 4, 1927.) On July 23, 1931, according to the Associated Press, a man arrested in Chicago, on being asked his profession, answered proudly that he was a bootician.
155 In 1924 representatives of 3000 of them met in Chicago, and voted for chirotonsor. See the Commonweal, Nov. 26, 1924, p. 58.
156 There is a Shoe Rebuilders’ Association in Baltimore. See the Baltimore Evening Sun, Oct. 17, 1935.
157 Hail, Columbia!; New York, 1921, pp. 92–3.
158 Many other varieties of engineers have been unearthed by other fanciers. On Oct. 19, 1935 the New Yorker announced the discovery of a persuasion-e. — “a man sent somewhere by his company to try and sell somebody an idea that would be of advantage to the company.” A few months before this the Professional Engineer found a pajama-e. in the New Yorker’s advertising columns. For this last I am indebted to Mr. M. E. Mclver, secretary of the American Association of Engineers. In Popular Science, Aug., 1935 a contributor called himself a coffee-e.
159 A curious anticipation of the American misuse of engineer, by an Englishman, is to be found in a memorandum submitted to Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, by Charles Stuart at the end of 1793. Dundas was Home Secretary from 1791 to 1794, and as such was in charge of the government’s relations with the press. “I firmly believe, without any vanity,” wrote Stuart, “that I know as much in the engineering of the press as any press engineer in Britain.” See The History of the Times; London, 1925, p. 66. But Stuart’s attempt to make the manipulation of the press a branch of engineering was not imitated, and there is no mention of pseudo-engineers in any of the English dictionaries.
160 See the issue for Jan. 15, 1925. Also, Some “Engineers” I Have Known, by a Civil Engineer, Engineering News-Record, April 19, 1923, p. 701. The engineers themselves have grossly misused the term designating them. In The Structure of the Engineering Profession, by Theodore J. Hoover, dean of the School of Engineering at Stanford University, Journal of Engineering Education, Jan., 1935, appears an exhaustive report upon what the 10,542 listed in “Who’s Who in Engineering” call themselves. Mr. Hoover finds 2518 different titles, including such absurdities as sales-e., sales-promotion-e., promo-tion-e., application-e., college-e., social-e., technical-publicity-e., bank-management-e., and
export-e. He advocates a complete reform of professional nomenclature, but when I last heard from him he didn’t seem to have much hope. On Feb. 21, 1935 the Associated Press reported that the National Society of Professional Engineers was trying to induce the American railroads to call their locomotive-engineers enginemen. The New York Central and the Pennsylvania, it was said, were already doing so.
161 See the New Yorker, Jan. 9, 1935, p. 74. The New Yorker expressed a waggish preference for furnished-roomateria.
162 United Press report, Nov. 13, 1928.
163 See Studio, by John T. Krumpel-mann, American Speech, Dec., 1926, p. 158.
164 A Limbo for Cruel Words, Survey, June 15, 1922.
165 Laws of 1925, Ch. 515, in force April 9, 1925. I have to thank Mr. Sylvan Baruch of the New York Bar for calling my attention to this statute.
166 March 29, 1935.
167 April 12, 1935, p. 6.
168 I am indebted for the following to Mr. James Bone, London editor of the Manchester Guardian: “When a Minister answers a question in the House he says Yes, sir or No, sir, whether the question is asked by a man or a woman M.P. The reason is that he is supposed to be addressing the Speaker. There was some laughter among young members when a Minister replied Yes, sir to a question by Lady Astor, but elderly members wrote to the papers at once, rebuking them and explaining the procedure.” Some time ago I heard the trial of a case in one of the London Law Courts, with the Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Hewart, on the bench. There were two women on the jury, but when they finished their labors he said “Thank you, gentlemen”
169 Frog was picked up by the American troops during the World War, and is occasionally heard in the United States. Its origin is uncertain. Farmer and Henley say that it comes from the French, and formerly meant a Parisian, “the shield of whose city bore three toads, while the quaggy state of the streets gave point to a jest common at Versailles before 1791: Qu’en disent les grenouilles? i.e., What do the Frogs (the people of Paris) say?” But this seems fanciful. In most Englishmen’s minds, I believe, the term is connected with the fact that the French eat frogs, which are regarded as inedible in England, or, at all events, are not commonly eaten. The Oxford Dictionary shows that it was applied to Jesuits in 1626 and to Dutchmen in 1652, and Farmer and Henley that it was applied to policemen during the 80’s of the last century.
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