I'm not a linguist. I thought it explained this Mark Twain quote:
"Some of the commonest English words are not in use with us- such as
'ousmaid. 'ospital, 'otel, 'istorian."
Mark Twain lived nearby here in the Bronx at Wave Hill (former British
Embassy compound until 1960 or so, the Russians are still there and in fact
want a zoning change to add floors to a high rise) and it is said had a tree
house platform in one of the very large trees there. If one wanted to see
Mark Twain one had to come up and have tea with him. Arturo Toscanini also
lived there. I did a infrared transit tree survey there for the botanist
when AutoCad was in version 2 point something before it was Autodesk I
think. An archaeological survey of a nearby City Park was being conducted,
at Riverdale Park along the Hudson River when the Parks Dept. declared it
was going to remove all the "porcelain berry" an understory "choker" escapee
from gardens. It looks like "blue china" glaze.
George Myers
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