[Editor: This letter to the editor (apparently from an Englishman), about Australian English, was published in The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 18 April 1874.]
Colonial English.
To the Editor of The Herald.
Sir, — When the Scotchman went to London he said “It’s an awfu’ place for spending money; I hadna’ been there twa hours before bang went saxpence.” In like manner, the new chum says of Sydney, “It’s an awful place for grammar; one’s eyes and ears are no sooner in it than bang goes his native tongue!”
Bang go the adverbs. A score of advertisements announce that loyal lodges and associations known by the title of 3, 4, or 5 letters, and presided over by men whose names are followed by several more letters, will hold their meetings “at 8 o’clock prompt,” or in some instances “at 7 o’clock sharp.” In the old country, meetings begin “punctually” — or if not, then some other adverb tells us how or when. We have chairmen who are “prompt” and speakers who are “sharp,” but we have no clocks of that description. Our chronometers indicate the time exactly, but there is nothing “prompt” on our dial-plates. So far as I have had opportunities of conversing with your citizens, I have observed an almost universal neglect of the adverb, and as this remark applies to many of your teachers and writers, it must be admitted that in this colony the mother tongue shrinks from a –ly. Only a few days ago I read in the Herald that the Principal of one of your large schools would “see parents relative to the admission of pupils.” In the old country he would not be expected to do more than see them about it; but in any case he would be expected to use plain English.
Bang go the verbs. The colonial dogs, and they are innumerable, are incessantly told to “lay down.” In England a hen can lay, but I never knew a dog to do it. When the new chum expresses surprise at your frequent rains he is told that the weather will soon “take off.” What? or whom? The aged and infirm? No, no; it will simply “take off.” At first I thought this must be slang, but I read it and heard it continually, and I discovered that it is one among many examples of a curious tendency in Australia, to convert transitive verbs into neuter. “The schoolmaster is abroad,” — yes, and it is the Principal before alluded to who announces in your columns, — “Work will resume ….” Moreover, it was recently notified several times, that candidates for the degree of M.A. were “required to elect in what subjects” they wished to be examined. In the old Universities, such a feat could not be accomplished. The examiners would be quite satisfied if graduates would choose, or if they would “select” certain authors, but they would be appalled at a number of young men appearing before them and electing! The thing, however, seems to have been done, for the Master’s degree has just been conferred on a very creditable number, and Mr. Parkes may fairly taunt Mr. Francis, in his next letter, by asking whether the University of Melbourne can turn an active into a neuter verb.
The Queen of the South may yet get through its educational authorities the nickname of “super grammaticam,” as did that king who was notorious for his mistakes in syntax, and used to put down all criticism by exclaiming right royally — “Ego sum Rex Romanus et super grammaticam.”
It is interesting to compare the new growths in the English language in Australia with those which have appeared in America. In the States they can turn almost every noun into a verb, but in their use of verbs already existing their tendency is to make neuter verbs active. Here the reverse process is going on; and, under the sanction of your instructors, a real change in the language is taking place, so that by the time you become the great and populous country you expect to be, your speech will differ sensibly from that of your ancestors. A little while ago I apologised to a friend from Cincinnati for so frequently missing his meaning, by saying “My dear doctor, you must bear in mind that I only understand the English dialect of the great American language.” The future Doctors of Sydney will have to exercise similar forbearance.
Had I space I could add many more examples which are significant. I do not refer to the hopeless difficulty of “shall” and “will,” for in a community so largely composed of Irish and Scotch you will never get over it. But the use you make of certain parts of speech indicates a mental habit. Language is the instrument of thought. And it “half reveals” your ideas. A fine distinction of the relations of things, a nice perception of actions and states, cannot exist apart from a correct use of words. A grammatical jumble expresses mental confusion. A national literature will never spring out of such a soil.
I disclaim a censorious spirit. I do not even wish to criticise. I only note some things in connection with a study which I enjoy. So please excuse
“A CHIELD AMANG YOU TAKING NOTES.”
Source:
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 18 April 1874, p. 11
Also published in:
The Gympie Times, and Mary River Mining Gazette (Gympie, Qld.), 9 May 1874, p. 3 [with the introduction: “The following interesting letter lately appeared in the ‘S. M. Herald’”]
The Clarence & Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton, NSW), 12 May 1874, p. 7 [under the title of “Australian language”, with the introduction: “The following criticism, addressed to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, will amuse if it has no other effect”]
Editor’s notes:
amang = (Scottish) among (variations: amo’, amon’, imang, ’mang)
awfu’ = (Scottish) awful (variations: awfy, yawfu)
chield = (Scottish) a young man, a young fellow, a fellow; a child (boy or girl); a young woman
See: “Chield, Chiel, Cheil, Cheel, Sheeld”, Dictionaries of the Scots Language
a chield amang you taking notes = (Scottish) “a fellow among you taking notes”; this phrase refers to a situation where an outsider is in the company of others, remembering what they say and do, taking notes, and perhaps reporting on those observations and occurrences to others; the phrase comes from the poem “On the Late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations thro’ Scotland Collecting the Antiquities of that Kingdom”, by Robert Burns, which includes the lines “A chield’s amang you takin notes, And, faith, he’ll prent it” (A fellow is among you taking notes, And, faith, he’ll print it)
See: 1) “On The Late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations Thro’ Scotland”, The World Burns Club
2) “On the Late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations thro’ Scotland Collecting the Antiquities of that Kingdom”, Burns Country
3) “278. On the late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations”, Bartleby.com
4) Carol Weisbrod, “Painter v. Bannister: Still”, OpenCommons@UConn (University of Connecticut) (Utah Law Review, vol. 35, no. 1, 2006, pp. 135-156, see p. 154, footnote 147)
Ego sum Rex Romanus et super grammaticam = (Latin) “I am king of the Romans and above grammar”; the quotation is attributed to Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368-1437), who was king of Hungary and Croatia (from 1387), king of Germany (from 1411), king of Bohemia (from 1419), and Holy Roman Emperor (1433-1437); at the Council of Constance in 1414, when a cardinal corrected Sigismund’s usage of Latin, he retorted “Ego sum Rex Romanus et super grammaticam” (“I am king of the Romans and above grammar”); Sigismund was given the nickname of “Super Grammaticam” by the Scottish author Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
See: 1) Thomas Carlyle, “History of Friedrich II. of Prussia: Frederick the Great”, vol. II, Project Gutenberg [includes the anecdote of Sigismund at the Council of Constance in 1414; refers to Sigismund as “Super Grammaticam” and “Super-Grammaticam”]
2) Thomas Carlyle, “History of Friedrich II. of Prussia: Frederick the Great”, vol. III, Project Gutenberg [refers to Sigismund as “Super-Grammaticam”]
3) Thomas Carlyle, “History of Friedrich II of Prussia: Frederick the Great”, vol. IX, Project Gutenberg [refers to Sigismund as “Super-Grammaticam”]
4) Thomas Carlyle, “History of Friedrich II of Prussia: Frederick the Great”, vol. 21, Project Gutenberg [refers to Sigismund as “Super Grammaticam” and “Super-Grammaticam”]
5) C. Edmund Maurice, “
Bohemia: From the Earliest Times to the Fall of National Independence in 1620; With a Short Summary of Later Events”, Project Gutenberg [“The nickname of Sigismund, “Super Grammaticam,” has been fixed on this Emperor by Carlyle”]
6) “Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor”, Wikipedia (accessed 4 March 2022)
Francis = James Goodall Francis (1819-1884), born 9 January 1819 in London (England), Victorian merchant and politician, Treasurer (1870-1871), Premier and Chief Secretary (1872-1874), died 25 January 1884 in Queenscliff (Victoria)
hadna’ = (Scottish) had not
M.A. = Master of Arts (a master’s degree awarded by universities, usually given for studies in the area of the humanities and social sciences)
new chum = a newly-arrived immigrant, especially a British immigrant (also spelt with a hyphen: new-chum)
the old country = a reference to the country from where one came or from where one’s family originated; in an Australian context, “the old country” also has a meaning regarding the nation which settled Australia, and thus the phrase commonly refers to the United Kingdom (or to England specifically)
Parkes = Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896), who was the owner and editor of The Empire newspaper (Sydney), and Premier of New South Wales for five separate terms (1872-1875, 1877, 1878-1883, 1887-1889, 1889-1891)
saxpence = (Scottish) sixpence
sensibly = (archaic) in a way that is easily or readily noticed, perceived, or sensed (can also refer to: in a way that is sensible, or showing good sense, prudence, sound judgment, or wisdom; in a way that is functional or practical)
the States = in the context of America, “the States” refers to the United States of America
twa = (Scottish) two
[Editor: Changed “Its an awfu’” to “It’s an awfu’”.]
Leave a Reply