Chapter 4.2 Summary

Mencken next discusses differences in usage. The terms, he suggests, reflect divergent ways of life. The words are part of each countryperson's business, office activities, home life, dealings with family, sports, amusements, politics, and religion. Many examples follow, according to Mencken, showing the diversity of peoples and manners of speech. The ground floor is the entrance-floor for the English, while the Americans enter by way of the first floor, for example. A letter is posted in one country, mailed in another. In one place men wear suspenders; in another place they wear braces.

Chapter 4.2 Analysis

As linguistic students and scholars might have anticipated reading the taxonomy of the previous chapter, Mencken next addresses how the different lexicons reflect the different cultures' everyday experiences which, of course, differ, too. To exemplify how differing lifestyles are reflected in the different languages, he offers an anecdote...