American Language (40 page)

28
Moron
is the name of a character in Molière’s La Princesse d’Elide, 1664. But Dr. Goddard got it from the Greek.

29
Some of them deserved a better fate,
e.g., sothers
(brothers and sisters),
megaphonia
(the habit of talking too loud),
hesh
(for he and she), and
radiorator
. In Nov., 1935 the readers of
Word Study
(published at Springfield, Mass., by the publishers of Webster’s New International Dictionary, and edited by Max J. Herzberg of Newark, N. J.) were invited to send in invented words. Some of those received were
cacogen
(an anti-social person)
pajamboree
, and
Gersteinian
(from
Gertrude Stein
).

30
See Some English Stretch-Forms, by Louise Pound,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. IV, Pt. I, 1913. Also, Terms of Approbation and Eulogy in American Dialect Speech, by Elsie L. Warnock,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. IV, Pt. I, 1913, and Notes on the Vernacular, by Louise Pound,
American Mercury
, Oct., 1924, p. 236.

31
Vogue Affixes in Present-Day Word Coinage, by Louise Pound,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. V, Pt. I, 1918; The Irradiation of Certain Suffixes, by E. C. Hills,
American Speech
, Oct., 1925.

32
American Speech
, April, 1935, p. 154.

33
At first glance I suspect that the
kalf-
and
kaf-
came from
kaif
, an interesting and instructive American form of
café
. But diligent inquiry revealed the fact that their origin was in
calf
. Both words indicate a shoe-store.

34
Cafeteria, American Speech
, Oct., 1927. The dictionary is E. Pichardo’s Diccionario Provincial … de Vozes Cubanas, published at Havana.

35
See especially
Basketeria
and the Meaning of the Suffix
-teria
, by J. M. Steadman, Jr.,
American Speech
, June, 1930. Mr. Steadman distinguishes three meanings for
-teria:
1. A place where articles are sold on the self-service plan; 2. A place where certain articles are sold without the self-service feature; and 3. A place where certain services are rendered — by others, not by the customer himself. Other interesting notes on the word are in the Barry paper just quoted, and in The Pronunciation of
Cafeteria
, by E. C. Hills,
American Speech
, Nov., 1926; More
Cafeteria
Progeny, by Mamie Meredith, the same, Dec, 1927;
Barberia
, by Phillip Davis, the same, Aug., 1928; and The English Language in America, by George Philip Krapp, Vol. I; New York, 1925, p. 143.

36
Of these,
-ite
and
-ist
go back to the Sixteenth Century, and
-ette
to the Fifteenth. See English Words With Native Roots and With Greek, Latin, or Romance Suffixes, by George A. Nicholson,
University of Chicago Linguistic Studies in Germanic
, No. III, 1916.

37
In Three Hard-Worked Suffixes,
American Speech
, Feb., 1927, Josephine M. Burnham says that
-dom
has acquired four significances in American. First, it means “realm or jurisdiction,” as in
bookdom, playdom
and
traveldom
. Second, it means “state or condition,” as in
pauperdom, stardom
and
gypsy
dom. Third, it means “those of a certain type or character,” as in
fandom, flapperdom
and
crookdom
. And fourth, it means “those interested in a given thing,” as in
Shrinedom, flowerdom
and
puzzledom
.

38
Receptionist
is used by English theologians to denote one who believes that “the bread and wine remain only bread and wine after consecration, but that, together with them, the faithful communicant really receives the body and blood of Christ.” In the sense of one who receives the customers of a photographer or the patients of a physician or dentist it is American only. See the New York
Times
, Section 9, Oct. 5, 1924.
Manicurist
appeared in American in the 90’s; it is still rare in England, where
manicure
is preferred.
Behaviorist
seems to have been invented by Dr. John B. Watson, 1913.
Electragist
is defined in Webster’s New International (1934) as “one who installs electrical apparatus and sells electrical goods, and who is a member of the Association of Electragists International.” It is thus a brother to
realtor
, noticed in Chapter VI, Section 6. See
American Speech
, April, 1928, p. 351, and March, 1926, p. 350. A recent novelty is
canitist
, apparently from the Latin
canities
, signifying grey hair. It is used by beauticians who specialize in “tinting hair for discriminating women.” I owe its discovery and its etymology to Dr. Isaac Goldberg.

39
It is dealt with at length in Chapter VI, Section 6.

40
Josephine M. Burnham, in Three Hard-Worked Suffixes, above cited, gives some appalling specimens,
e.g., conventionitis, headlineitis, crosswordpuzzleitis, ain’t-supposed-to-itis, let-George-do-it-itis
, and
Phi-Beta-Kappa-itis
.

41
Pastorium
is widely used in the South, especially among the Baptists, in place of
parsonage
. According to Bernard M. Peebles (
Pasto-rium, American Speech
, Dec., 1926, p. 159) the word was invented,
c
. 1898, by the Rev. Morton Bryan Wharton, D.D., pastor of the Freemason Street Baptist Church, Norfolk, Va. “News reports on the invention,” says Mr. Peebles, “brought forth editorial approval in several leading Baptist journals. One hardy brother attacked it in the Baltimore
Baptist
, only to be squelched by a ‘scholarly article’ from Professor Carroll, then of the Johns Hopkins.” I am unable to identify Professor Carroll. In 1898 Dr. Wharton published a book of poems, “Pictures From A
Pastorium
,” the first poem in which was called. “The
Pastorium.
” I quote one stanza:

See also Irradiations of Certain Suffixes, by E. C. Hills,
American Speech
, Oct., 1925.

42
For
boyology
see
American Speech
, Sept., 1927, p. 515. For
clockologist
see the same, June, 1927, p. 408.

43
For
avigator
see
American Speech
, Aug., 1928, p. 450. See also
Avigation
, by J. R. Killian, Jr., the same, Oct., 1928.

44
It is denounced by R. S. G. in
American Speech
, Aug., 1930, p. 495. A letter by Garth Cate, printed in F. P. Adams’s column in the New York
Herald Tribune
, June 29, 1931, ascribes the coining of
motorcade
to Lyle Abbott, automobile editor of the Phoenix (Ariz.)
Republican
, and fixes the date at 1912 or 1913. See The Earliest
Motorcade
, by W. L. Werner,
American Speech
, June, 1932, p. 388. Other notes on
motorcade
are in
American Speech
, Dec., 1930, p. 155; April, 1931, pp. 254 and 313, and Aug., 1931, p. 189; in
Modern Language Notes
, March, 1925, p. 189, and in
Notes and Queries
, April 19, 1924.

45
I am indebted here to Professor Atcheson L. Hench, of the University of Virginia, and to Vogue Affixes in Present-Day Word-Coinage, by Louise Pound,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. V, Pt. I, 1918.

46
The first use of
dance marathon
to designate a long-distance dancing-match was in 1927. After a while the promoters introduced rest-periods, during which the dancers were free to walk about. In 1930 a promotor in Des Moines called such an ameliorated contest a
walkathon
, and the word quickly spread. I am indebted for this to Mr. Hal J. Ross of St. Louis, and to Mr. Don King, endurance-shows editor of the
Billboard
(Cincinnati). I have been informed by other authorities that the use of
walkathon
was encouraged by the passage of laws in some of the States forbidding dancing for more than eight hours on end. The cops, it appears, were easily persuaded that a
walkathon
was really a walking-match, which had no time limit.

47
See
Chorine
, by Louise Pound,
American Speech
, June, 1928, p. 368, and
Dudine
, by M. H. Dresen, the same, Aug., 1928.

48
The Scope of the American Dictionary,
American Speech
, Oct., 1933, p. 14.

49
Here I am again indebted to Professor Hench.

50
Headline Words, by Harold E. Rockwell,
American Speech
, Dec., 1926.

51
It might be interesting to inquire how far the popularity of politicians and other public figures runs in proportion to the shortness of their names. I suspect that Mr.
Eden
, the English Foreign Secretary (1936), owes something to the fact that his name is not
Cholmondelay
or
Donoughmore
. The English newspapers have headlines more elastic than ours, but their contents-bills are just as crowded. In the case of politicians with long names abbreviations usually come into newspaper use,
e.g., T.R
. (the elder
Roosevelt), F.D.R
. (the younger),
C.B
. (Campbell Bannerman), and
L.G
. (Lloyd George). Sometimes nicknames take their place,
e.g., Cal
(Coolidge),
G.O.M
. (Grand Old Man,
i.e.
, Gladstone), and
Al
(Smith). Movie performers are commonly designated by their given names, or by abbreviations thereof,
e.g., Gloria
(Swanson),
Mary
(Pickford) and
Doug
(Fairbanks).

52
More than 100 headline nouns are discussed in detail in Scribes Seek Snappy Synonyms, by Maurice Hicklin,
American Speech
, Dec., 1930. See also Newspaper English, by Francis F. Beirne,
American Speech
, Oct., 1926; The Art of the Copy-Reader, by Kittredge Wheeler,
American Mercury
, July, 1932; The Attributive Noun Becomes Cancerous, by Steven T. By-ington,
American Speech
, Oct., 1926; and Newspaper Headlines, by George O. Curme,
American
Speech
, April, 1929. In Newspaper Headlines: A Study in Linguistic Methods, by Heinrich Straumann; London, 1935, the grammar of headline English is discussed with abysmal learning. Unfortunately, the author deals only with English headlines.

53
The Queen’s English, 3rd ed., 1870.

54
See Exclamations in American Speech, by E. C. Hills,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. V, Pt. VII, 1924. This is an almost exhaustive and very valuable paper. See also The English of the Comic Cartoon, by Helen Trace Tysell,
American Speech
, Feb., 1935, especially p. 50.

55
Ex Libris, by The Bookman, Baltimore
Evening Sun
, June 16, 1923. The Bookman is Hamilton Owens, editor of the paper.

56
He meant, of course, American.

57
Quoted by Brander Matthews in Newspaper English, 1920, reprinted in Essays on English; New York, 1921.

58
G.K.’s Weekly
(London), May 2, 1931.

59
“Sky-scraper,
” says Charles White in a letter to the London
Morning Post
, Jan. 26, 1935, “was applied to Queen Anne’s Mansions [an apartment-house in Queen Anne’s Gate, London, near St. James’s Park] in the early 80’s, before American cities had any structures of their present variety.” But this seems to have been a nonce-use, not generally imitated. The Oxford Dictionary’s first quotation is from the Boston (Mass.)
Journal
, Nov., 1891.
Sky-scraper
had been used to designate a sky-sail (1794), a tall horse (1826), an exaggerated story (1841), and a tall man (1857).

60
Rubber-neck
is described by Prof. J. Y. T. Greig, the Scottish philologian, in Breaking Priscian’s Head; London, 1929, p. 83, as “one of the best words ever coined.”

61
The date here is a guess. The first example in the Supplement to the Oxford Dictionary is dated 1908.
Low-brow
followed soon afterward.
Mezzo-brow
and
mizzen-brow
came later.

62
This is another guess. The inventor of the hot-dog was the late Harry Mozely Stevens, caterer at the New York Polo Grounds. The sale of sausages in rolls was introduced in this country many years ago, but Stevens was the first to heat the roll and add various condiments. According to his obituary in the New York
Herald Tribune
, May 4, 1934, this was in 1900. But sausages in rolls were then called simply
wienies
or
frankfurters
. Stevens himself used to say that the late T. A. Dorgan (Tad), the sports cartoonist, coined
hot-dog
, but he was apparently uncertain about the date. The name was suggested, of course, by the folk-belief that
wienies
were made of dog-meat. In 1913 the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution forbidding the use of
hot-dog
on signs at Coney Island. See The
Hot-Dog
Mystery (editorial) in the New York
Herald Tribune
, June 2, 1931.

63
According to Henry F. Pringle (
New Yorker
, June 30, 1934)
brain-
trust “was invented by James M. Kiernan of the New York
Times
in the Summer of 1932 to describe the economists and other experts who were active in the [presidential] campaign” of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

64
See Terms of Disparagement, by Marie Gladys Hayden,
Dialect Notes
, Vol. IV, Pt. III, 1906.