Any person who has been
five hundred miles from home cannot fail to have observed words that
were used differently from the way in which he had been accustomed to
use them, and he probably heard terms of expression that seemed
strange to him. In like manner, his own expressions sounded strange to
those who heard him. That which distinguished his speech from theirs
and theirs from his would, in large part, be covered by the word
"provincialism."
Not only do we have local and sectional peculiarities of speech, but
we may be said to have national mannerisms. Mr. Alexander Melville
Bell, the eminent
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elocutionist, relates that some years ago when residing in Edinburgh,
a stranger called to make some inquiries in regard to professional
matters.
"I have called on you, sir, for the purpose of," etc.
"When did you cross the Atlantic?" I asked.
The stranger looked up with surprise amounting almost to
consternation.
"How do you know that I have crossed the Atlantic?"
"Your manner of using the little word 'sir' is not heard in England or
Scotland."
This gentleman, Mr. Bell says, was one of the most eminent teachers of
elocution in America, and his speech was perfectly free from ordinary
local coloring, in all but the one little element which had escaped
observation.
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