When, upon their return to the City, the visitors were
asked where they had been, they facetiously replied, "To count rye."
This soon became a favorite expression; the "e" was dropped for euphony,
and the rural districts were called country.
_Spittoon_.--This word comes from the Greek word _spit_, meaning to
slobber, and the Scotch word, _tune_, meaning the noise made by the
bag-pipes. As the saliva struck the receptacle it made a noise
delightful to the ears of the smoker, and resembling the note of the
national instrument of Scotland. Hence the receptacle was called the
spittoon.
_Politics_.--Quack philologists, who evidently were insane, have gone
back to the classics for the root of this word, when it is well known
that immediately after the termination of the Revolution, when the
Government of this country was about to be settled, the word came into
existence. A woman, called POLLY, kept a corner grocery in New York, and
all the fellows who wanted offices were accustomed to go to POLLY'S for
their beer, because she trusted. Here they usually divulged their ideas
of the manner in which the Government machine should be run. When asked
why they went to that store, they always answered, "POLLY ticks."
Outsiders, when asked what was going on in POLLY's store, always
answered with a wise look, "POLLY ticks.
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