An American who is interested in a narrative or statement will say, “Is
that so?” or simply “So!” The expression “Possible!” is sometimes, but
not often, heard. Dickens misunderstood this exclamation as equivalent
to “It is possible, but does not concern me;” whereas, in reality, it is
equivalent to the expression, “Is it possible?” I have occasionally heard
the exclamation “Do tell!” but it is less frequently heard now than of
yore.
The word “right” is more frequently used than in England, and is used
also in senses different from those understood in our English usage of
the word. Thus, the American will say “right here” and “right there,”
where an Englishman would say “just here” or “just there,” or simply,
“here” or “there.” Americans say “right away,” where we say “directly.”
On the other hand, I am inclined to think that the English expression
“right well,” for “very well,” is not commonly used in America.
Americans say “yes, sir,” and “no, sir,” with a sense different from that
with which the words are used in England; but they mark the difference
of sense by a difference of intonation. Thus, if a question is asked to
which the reply in England would be simply “yes” or “no” (or, according
to the rank or station of the querist, “yes, sir,” or “no, sir,”), the
American reply would be “yes, sir,” or “no, sir,” intonated as with us in
England. But if the reply is intended to be emphatic, then the intonation
is such as to throw the emphasis on the word “sir”—the reply is “yes,
_sir_” or “no, _sir_.” In passing, I may note that I have never heard an
American waiter reply “yessir,” as our English waiters often do.
The American use of the word “quit” is peculiar. They do not limit the
word, as we do, to the signification “take leave”—in fact, I have never
heard an American use the word in that sense. They generally use it as
equivalent to “leave off” or “stop.” (In passing, one may notice as
rather strange the circumstance that the word “quit,” which properly
means “to go away from,” and the word “stop,” which means to “stay,”
should both have come to be used as signifying to “leave off.”) Thus,
Americans say “quit fooling” for “leave off playing the fool,” “quit
singing,” “quit laughing,” and so forth.
To English ears an American use of the word “some” sounds strange—viz.,
as an adverb. An American will say, “I think some of buying a new house,”
or the like, for “I have some idea of buying,” etc. I have indeed heard
the usage defended as perfectly correct, though assuredly there is not an
instance in all the wide range of English literature which will justify
it.
So also, many Americans defend as good English the use of the word “good”
in such phrases as the following:—“I have written that note good,” for
“well;” “it will make you feel good,” for “it will do you good;” and in
other ways, all equally incorrect. Of course, there are instances in
which adjectives are allowed by custom to be used as adverbs, as, for
instance, “right” for “rightly,” etc.; but there can be no reason for
substituting the adjective “good” in place of the adverb “well,” which
is as short a word, and at least equally euphonious. The use of “real”
for “really,” as “real angry,” “real nice,” is, of course, grammatically
indefensible.
The word “sure” is often used for “surely” in a somewhat singular way, as
in the following sentence from “Sketches beyond the Sea,” in which Mr.
Wilkie is supposed to be quoting a remark made by an English policeman:
“If policemen went to shooting in this country, there would be some
hanging, sure; and not wholly among the classes that would be shot at,
either.” (In passing, note that the word “either” is never pronounced
_eyether_ in America, but always _eether_, whereas in England we seem to
use either pronunciation indifferently.)
An American seldom uses the word “stout” to signify “fat,” saying
generally “fleshy.” Again, for our English word “hearty,” signifying
“in very good health,” an American will sometimes employ the singularly
inappropriate word “rugged.” (It corresponds pretty nearly with our word
“rude”—equally inappropriate—in the expression “rude health.”)
The use of the word “elegant” for “fine” strikes English ears as strange.
For instance, if you say to an American, “This is a fine morning,” he is
likely to reply, “It _is_; an elegant morning,” or perhaps oftener by
using simply the word “elegant.” It is not a pleasing use of the word.
There are some Americanisms which seem more than defensible—in fact,
grammatically more correct than our English usage. Thus, we seldom hear
in America the redundant word “got” in such expressions as “I have
got,” etc., etc. Where the word would not be redundant, it is generally
replaced by the more euphonious word “gotten,” now scarcely ever heard in
England. Yet again, we often hear in America such expressions as “I shall
get me a new book,” “I have gotten me a dress,” “I must buy me that,” and
the like. This use of “me” for “myself” is good old English, at any rate.
I have been struck by the circumstance that neither the conventional,
but generally very absurd, American of our English novelists, nor the
conventional, but at least equally absurd, Englishman of American
novelists, is made to employ the more delicate Americanisms or
Anglicisms. We generally find the American “guessing” or “calculating,”
if not even more coarsely Yankee, like Reade’s Joshua Fullalove; while
the Englishman of American novels is almost always very coarsely
British, even if he is not represented as using what Americans persist
in regarding as the true “Henglish haccent.” Where an American is less
coarsely drawn, as Trollope’s “American Senator,” he uses expressions
which no American ever uses, and none of those Americanisms which, while
more delicate, are in reality more characteristic, because they are
common, all Americans using them. And in like manner, when an American
writer introduces an Englishman of the more natural sort, he never makes
him speak as an Englishman would speak; before half a dozen sentences
have been uttered, he uses some expression which is purely American.
Thus, no Englishman ever uses, and an American may be recognized at once
by using, such expressions as “I know it,” or “That’s so,” for “It is
true;” by saying “Why, certainly,” for “Certainly;” and so forth. There
are many of these slight but characteristic peculiarities of American and
English English.—_“Knowledge” Library._