Page:The American Language.djvu/99

Rh excursion–train, railroad–man, ticket–office, truck and right–of–way, not to mention the verbs, to flag, to derail, to express, to dead–head, to side–swipe, to stop–over, to fire (i. e., a locomotive), to switch, to side–track, to railroad, to commute, to telescope and to clear the track. These terms are in constant use in America ; their meaning is familiar to all Americans; many of them have given the language everyday figures of speech. But the majority of them would puzzle an Englishman, just as the English luggage–van, permanent–way, goods–waggon, guard, carrier, booking–office, return–ticket, railway–rug, R. S. O. (railway sub–office), tripper, line, points, shunt, metals and bogie would puzzle the average untravelled American.

In two other familiar fields very considerable differences between English and American are visible; in both fields they go back to the era before the Civil War. They are politics and that department of social intercourse which has to do with drinking. Many characteristic American political terms originated in revolutionary days, and have passed over into English. Of such sort are caucus and mileage. But the majority of those in common use today were coined during the extraordinarily exciting campaigns following the defeat of Adams by Jefferson. Charles Ledyard Norton has devoted a whole book to their etymology and meaning; the number is far too large for a list of them to be attempted here. But a few characteristic specimens may be recalled, for example, the simple agglutinates: omnibus–bill, banner–state, favorite–son, anxious–bench, gag–rule, office–seeker and straight–ticket; the humorous metaphors: pork–barrel, pie–counter, wire–puller, land–slide, carpet–bagger, lame–duck and on the fence; the old words put to new uses: plank, platform, machine, precinct, slate, primary, floater, repeater, bolter, stalwart, filibuster, regular and fences; the new coinages: gerrymander, heeler, buncombe, roorback, mugwump and to bulldoze; the new derivatives: abolitionist, candidacy, boss-