“I presume,” replied his opponent, “that the honourable gentleman means tantamount.”
“No, sir, I do not mean tantamount; I am not so ignorant of our language, not to be aware that catamount and tantamount are anonymous.”
The Americans dwell upon their words when they speak—a custom arising, I presume, from their cautious, calculating habits; and they have always more or less of a nasal twang. I once said to a lady, “Why do you drawl out your words in that way?”
“Well,” replied she, “I’d drawl all the way from Maine to Georgia, rather than clip my words as you English people do.”
Many English words are used in a very different sense from that which we attach to them; for instance: a clever person in America means an amiable, good-tempered person, and the Americans make the distinction by saying, I mean English clever.
Our clever is represented by the word smart.
The verb to admire is also used in the East, instead of the verb to like.
“Have you ever been at Paris?”
“No; but I should admire to go.”
A Yankee description of a clever woman:—