+=======+==+=======+==+
YGooses Y10YFishes Y 7Y
+-------+--+-------+--+
YDucks Y 8YTurkeysY12Y
+-------+--+-------+--+
YEagles Y 8YSwans Y15Y
+-------+--+-------+--+
YPigeonsY10YPikes Y20Y
+=======+==+=======+==+
The consequence of these repetitions is, that if you do not put the name
of the state, and often of the county in the state in which the town you
refer to may be, your letter may journey all over the Union, and
perhaps, after all, never arrive at its place of destination.
The states have already accommodated each other with nicknames, as per
example:--
+==========================+==================+
YIllinois people are termedYSuckers Y
+--------------------------+------------------+
YMissouri YPukes Y
+--------------------------+------------------+
YMichigan YWolverines Y
+--------------------------+------------------+
YIndiana YHoosiers Y
+--------------------------+------------------+
YKentucky YCorn Crackers Y
+--------------------------+------------------+
YOhio YBuckeyes, etceteraY
+==========================+==================+
The names of persons are also very strange; and some of them are, at all
events, obsolete in England, even if they ever existed there. Many of
them are said to be French or Dutch names Americanised. But they appear
still more odd to us from the high sounding Christian names prefixed to
them; as, for instance: Philo Doolittle, Populorum Hightower, Preserved
Fish, Asa Peabody, Alonzo Lilly, Alceus Wolf, etcetera. I was told by a
gentleman that Doolittle was originally from the French Do l'hotel;
Peabody from Pibaudiere; Bunker from Bon Coeur; that Mr Ezekial Bumpus
is a descendant of Monsieur Bon Pas, etcetera, all which is very
possible.
Every one who is acquainted with Washington Irving must know that, being
very sensitive himself, he is one of the last men in the world to do
anything to annoy another. In his selection of names for his writings,
he was cautious in avoiding such as might be known; so that, when he
called his old schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, he thought himself safe from
the risk of giving offence. Shortly afterward a friend of his called
upon him, accompanied by a stranger whom he introduced as Major Crane;
Irving started at the name; "Major Ichabod Crane," continued his friend,
much to the horror of Washington Irving.
I was told that a merchant went down to New Orleans with one Christian
name, and came back, after a lapse of years, with another. His name was
John Flint. The French at New Orleans translated his surname, and
called him Pierre Fusee--on his return the Pierre stuck to him, and
rendered into English as Peter, and he was called Peter Flint ever
afterward.
People may change their names in the United States by application to
Congress. They have a story hardly worth relating, although considered
a good one in America, having been told me by a member of congress. A
Mr Whitepimple, having risen in the world, was persuaded by his wife to
change his name, and applied for permission accordingly. The clerk of
the office inquired of him what other name he would have, and he being
very indifferent about it himself, replied carelessly, as he walked
away, "Oh, anything;" whereupon the clerk enrolled him as Mr _Thing_.
Time passed on, and he had a numerous family, who found the new name not
much more agreeable than the old one, for there was Miss Sally Thing,
Miss Dolly Thing, the old Things, and all the little Things; and worst
of all, the eldest son being christened Robert, went by the name of
Thingum Bob.
There were, and I believe still are, two lawyers in partnership in New
York, with the peculiarly happy names of Catchem and Chetum. People
laughed at seeing these two names in juxtaposition over the door; so the
lawyers thought it advisable to separate them by the insertion of their
Christian names. Mr Catchem's Christian name was Isaac, Mr Chetum's
Uriah. A new board was ordered, but when sent to the painter, it was
found to be too short to admit the Christian names at full length. The
painter, therefore, put in only the initials before the surnames, which
made the matter still worse than before, for there now appeared--
"I Catchem and U Chetum."
I cannot conclude this chapter without adverting to one or two points
peculiar to the Americans. They wish, in everything, to improve upon
the Old Country, as they call us, and affect to be excessively refined
in their language and ideas: but they forget that very often in the
covering, and the covering only, consists the indecency; and that, to
use the old aphorism--"Very nice people are people with very nasty
ideas."
They object to everything nude in statuary. When I was at the house of
Governor Everett, at Boston, I observed a fine cast of the Apollo
Belvidere; but in compliance with general opinion, it was hung with
drapery, although Governor Everett himself is a gentleman of refined
mind and high classical attainments, and quite above such ridiculous
sensitiveness. In language it is the same thing. There are certain
words which are never used in America, but an absurd substitute is
employed. I cannot particularise them after this preface, lest I should
be accused of indelicacy myself. I may, however, state one little
circumstance which will fully prove the correctness of what I say.
When at Niagara Falls I was escorting a young lady with whom I was on
friendly terms. She had been standing on a piece of rock, the better to
view the scene, when she slipped down, and was evidently hurt by the
fall: she had, in fact, grazed her shin. As she limped a little in
walking home, I said, "Did you hurt your leg much?" She turned from me,
evidently much shocked, or much offended,--and not being aware that I
had committed any very heinous offence, I begged to know what was the
reason of her displeasure. After some hesitation, she said that as she
knew me well, she would tell me that the word _leg_ was never mentioned
before ladies. I apologised for my want of refinement, which was
attributable to having been accustomed only to _English_ society; and
added, that as such articles must occasionally be referred to, even in
the most polite circles in America, perhaps she would inform me by what
name I might mention them without shocking the company. Her reply was,
that the word _limb_ was used; "nay," continued she, "I am not so
particular as some people are, for I know those who always say limb of a
table, or limb of a piano-forte."
There the conversation dropped; but a few months afterwards I was
obliged to acknowledge that the young lady was correct when she asserted
that some people were more particular than even she was.
I was requested by a lady to escort her to a seminary for young ladies,
and on being ushered into the reception-room, conceive my astonishment
at beholding a square piano-forte with four _limbs_. However, that the
ladies who visited their daughters might feel in its full force the
extreme delicacy [see note at end of chapter] of the mistress of the
establishment, and her care to preserve in their utmost purity the ideas
of the young ladies under her charge, she had dressed all these four
limbs in modest little trousers, with frills at the bottom of them!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"An English lady, who had long kept a fashionable boarding-school in one
of the Atlantic cities, told me that one of her earliest cares with
every new-comer, was to endeavour to substitute real delicacy for that
affected precision of manner. Among many anecdotes, she told me of a
young lady about fourteen, who, on entering the receiving-room, where
she only expected to see a lady who had inquired for her, and finding a
young man with her, put her hands before her eyes and ran out of the
room again, screaming `A man, a man, a man!' On another occasion, one
of the young ladies in going up stairs to the drawing-room,
unfortunately met a boy of fourteen coming down, and her feelings were
so violently agitated, that she stopped, panting and sobbing, nor would
she pass on till the boy had swung himself up on the upper bannisters,
to leave the passage free."--_Mrs Trollope's Domestic Manners of the
Americans_.