But the most curious disparity between the profane vocabulary of the two tongues is presented by /bloody/. This word is entirely without improper significance in America, but in England it is regarded as the vilest of indecencies. The sensation produced in London when George Bernard Shaw put it into the mouth of a woman character in his play, "Pygmalion," will be remembered. "The interest in the first English performance," said the /New York Times/,[43] "centered in the heroine's utterance of this banned word. It was waited for with trembling, heard shudderingly, and presumably, when the shock subsided, interest dwindled." But in New York, of course, it failed to cause any stir. Just why it is regarded as profane and indecent by the English is one of the mysteries of the language. The theory that it has some blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ is disputed by many etymologists. It came in during the latter half of the seventeenth century, and at the start it apparently meant no more than "in the manner of a blood," /i. e./, a rich young roisterer of the time. Thus, /bloody drunk/ was synonymous with as /drunk as a lord/. The adjective remained innocuous for 200 years. Then it suddenly acquired its present abhorrent significance. It is regarded with such aversion by the English that even the lower orders often substitute /bleeding/ as a euphemism. So far no work devoted wholly to the improper terms of English and American has been published, but this lack may be soon remedied by a compilation made by a Chicago journalist. It is entitled "The Slang of Venery and Its Analogues," and runs to two large volumes. A small edition, mimeographed for private circulation, was issued in 1916. I have examined this work and found it of great value. If the influence of comstockery is sufficient to prevent its publication in the United States, as seems likely, it will be printed in Switzerland. FOOTNOTES: [1] It should be noted that /mews/ is used only in the larger cities. In the small towns /livery-stable/ is commoner. /Mews/ is quite unknown in America save as an occasional archaism. [2] Sometimes /whiffle-tree/. [3] The latter has crept into American of late. I find it on p. 58 of The United States at War, a pamphlet issued by the Library of Congress, 1917. The compiler of this pamphlet is a savant bearing the fine old British name of Herman H. B. Meyer. [4] /Living-room/, however, is gradually making its way in England. It was apparently suggested, in America, by the German /wohnzimmer/. [5] This form survives in the American term /city-stock/, meaning the bonds of a municipality. But government securities are always called /bonds/. [6] /Cf./ A Glossary of Colloquial Slang and Technical Terms in Use in the Stock Exchange and in the Money Market, by A. J. Wilson, London, 1895. [7] Or /bailiffs/. [8] But he is /run/ by his party organization. /Cf./ The Government of England, by A. Lawrence Lowell; New York, 1910, vol. ii, p. 29.