Jacksonian Miscellanies, #30:

September 23, 1997

Topic: "Interesting" Uses of the Word Interesting

Copyright by the editor, Hal Morris, Secaucus, NJ 1997. Permission is granted to copy, but not for sale, nor in multiple copies, except by permission.

Jacksonian Miscellanies is a weekly* email newsletter presenting short** documents from the United States' Jacksonian Era, which you can receive it for free by sending to hal@panix.com a message with

as either the subject line, or as the *only* line in the message body. If you want to make a comment or query, please send a separate message to hal@panix.com.

Jacksonian Miscellanies can also be read at http://www.panix.com/~hal/jmisc. The WWW version is augmented with much biographical, bibliographical, and other information.

Please direct responses and comments to hal@panix.com,.


Why Did They Like the Word "Interesting" So Much?

Will you indulge me in a query and/or mini-thesis? Very frequently in my reading, I come across jarring, or just excessive, use of the word "interesting". Two world-class actors are performing in New York at the same time, and it is "interesting to the public"; Washington's "Farewell Address to the People of the United States" is a "most interesting paper"; a college undergoing a revival is said to be in "an interesting state of religious feeling"; Catherine Beecher, after saying "To us is committed the grand, the responsible privilege, of exhibiting to the world, the beneficent influences of Christianity, when carried into every social, civil, and political institution; and, though we have, as yet, made such imperfect advances, already the light is streaming into the dark prison­house of despotic lands, while startled kings and sages, philosophers and statesmen, are watching us with that interest, which a career so illustrious, and so involving their own destiny, is calculated to excite.", calls this an "interesting truth".

A girl in my high school days once got exasperated at me and said, in effect when I was overusing the word "interesting", "Why don't you use words with some emotional content?" (definitely not her exact words, I'm sure). If the speakers or writers were modern, I, at least, would suspect some sarcasm in the use of the word, but upon close scrutiny, that reading usually doesn't work.

An interesting problem. No? Any thoughts? I'd really like to hear them, and will pass along a summary of responses in some future issue.

I am still trying to get on an even keel after a very eventful summer, and should soon catch up and (unless most of you beg me not to) return to the usual mode of publishing mostly chapter-size extracts from original sources.


from

Reminiscences of Old New York

The following comes entirely from chapters 12 and 13 of

Reminiscences of New York by an Octogenarian (1816 - 1860)

by

Charles Haskell

September 1, Charles Kean made his first appearance at the Park Theatre in "Richard III," before a great audience. Booth was playing tragedy at the "Bowery" Theatre at this time, and the rival performances were very interesting to the public. Kean may be said to have laid here the foundation of his great reputation. He returned to England in 1833, when his countrymen acceded to the American opinion of him.


from

A N E C D O TE S

of

THE

AMERICAN REVOLUTION;

SELECTED FROM

GARDEN'S ANECDOTES. GORDON'S LETTERS,

NEW HAMPSHIRE H1STORICAL COLLECTIONS. MASSACHUSETTS

HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS , NEW YORK HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS,

AMERICAN ANECDOTES, HISTORICAL ANECDOTES,

AND

OTHER WORKS ON HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY ALEXANDER V. BLAKE

NO. 77 FULTON­STREET.

1844,

From Life and Times of Elder Reuben Ross, by his son, James Ross

- with an introduction and notes by J.M. Pendleton - Philadelphia: Printed by Grant, Faires, and Rodgers. The introduction is dated February 1, 1882. (James Ross seems to have written this late in life for his daughter, and there are frequent references to "your grandfather". I am not sure how Pendleton came to publish the book, except it seems he was a strong admirer of the elder Ross, and a friend of the family.)

Topic: #15 - First Book of History for Children and Youth, by the Author of Peter Parley's Tales (Boston: Jenks, Palmer, & Co. 1849)

Jacksonian Miscellanies, #17: May 6, 1997

Topic: Cyrus Hamlin, Bowdoin Class of '34

Jacksonian Miscellanies, #19: May 6, 1997

Topic: Building Revivals and Steam Engines at Bowdoin

Jacksonian Miscellanies, #21: June 17, 1997

Topic: Home Economics and the Millennium

Jacksonian Miscellanies, #27: September 2, 1997

Topic: John Randolph - Home Reminiscences

From Webster's Second Reply to Hayne

from The Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, ed. Edwin P. Whipple (Boston 1910)

You can support this site at no cost if you make an Amazon purchase using this link to get to Amazon: Thanks