Americans say “yes, sir,” and “no, sir,” with a sense different from that with which the words are used in England; but they mark the difference of sense by a difference of intonation. Thus, if a question is asked to which the reply in England would be simply “yes” or “no” (or, according to the rank or station of the querist, “yes, sir,” or “no, sir,”), the American reply would be “yes, sir,” or “no, sir,” intonated as with us in England. But if the reply is intended to be emphatic, then the intonation is such as to throw the emphasis on the word “sir”—the reply is “yes, _sir_” or “no, _sir_.” In passing, I may note that I have never heard an American waiter reply “yessir,” as our English waiters often do. The American use of the word “quit” is peculiar. They do not limit the word, as we do, to the signification “take leave”—in fact, I have never heard an American use the word in that sense. They generally use it as equivalent to “leave off” or “stop.” (In passing, one may notice as rather strange the circumstance that the word “quit,” which properly means “to go away from,” and the word “stop,” which means to “stay,” should both have come to be used as signifying to “leave off.”) Thus, Americans say “quit fooling” for “leave off playing the fool,” “quit singing,” “quit laughing,” and so forth. To English ears an American use of the word “some” sounds strange—viz., as an adverb. An American will say, “I think some of buying a new house,” or the like, for “I have some idea of buying,” etc. I have indeed heard the usage defended as perfectly correct, though assuredly there is not an instance in all the wide range of English literature which will justify it. So also, many Americans defend as good English the use of the word “good” in such phrases as the following:—“I have written that note good,” for “well;” “it will make you feel good,” for “it will do you good;” and in other ways, all equally incorrect. Of course, there are instances in which adjectives are allowed by custom to be used as adverbs, as, for instance, “right” for “rightly,” etc.; but there can be no reason for substituting the adjective “good” in place of the adverb “well,” which is as short a word, and at least equally euphonious. The use of “real” for “really,” as “real angry,” “real nice,” is, of course, grammatically indefensible. The word “sure” is often used for “surely” in a somewhat singular way, as in the following sentence from “Sketches beyond the Sea,” in which Mr. Wilkie is supposed to be quoting a remark made by an English policeman: “If policemen went to shooting in this country, there would be some hanging, sure; and not wholly among the classes that would be shot at, either.” (In passing, note that the word “either” is never pronounced _eyether_ in America, but always _eether_, whereas in England we seem to use either pronunciation indifferently.)