THE AMERICAN TWANG.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 122, 15 February 1908, Page 10

THE AMERICAN TWANG.

/.The rVAiiiericans aro commonly reputed to speak thrbugh/their, nose. A. more intimate acquaintance. With their, manner belies this . reputations-It lis rather a drawl that afflicts the ear than .-.aj, nasal twang. You notice in pvery sentoiicQ a curious shifting of omphasisl America',' with the true instinct of democracy, is - determined to givo all parts of speech an equal chance. Tho modest pronoun is not to ho outdone by the blustering substantive or. the.- self-assorting verb; And j so it is -that the,native American hangs upon ;.the,small words;-he does not clip and slur 'the, unimportant vocables, . and -what his toiigud : loses :-in ; colour it gains in distinctness. j v' 1. . ' -America has not .lost touch with her beginnings. .The; spirit of adventure is still-'strongwithin-her. .-""''cro is no country /whose/borders so many Jives are led. iThe . pioneer, i'stiil Jostles tho millionaire. Tho • backwoods-;'are i not : ;far distant, from' Wall ' Street; . .The .farmers of Ohio, the cowboys .of Texas,- the'; miners of Nevada, owe allegiance* to tho'same Government, and shape .the 'samo ; speech :to their, own purpose. . i '. Every State is a separate country and cultivates ; .a : separate 'dialect. , Then come baser ball, pbtor, and the racecourse, each with its own metaphors jto J swell the herd. And tho result is-a. language of, the street-and camp, brilliant in colour, multiform in charj actor, which has not a rival in the history of speech.—Charles Whibley, in "Blackwood's Magazine." ~ , . .-