Word: dialectical
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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...most striking feature of college-life is its dialect. One unskilled in the student's phraseology hears a conversation carried on in which occur words apparently so distorted that he is unable to intelligently understand its purport, and at first is inclined to call it mere jargon. There is in most cases, however, a remarkable aptness of these words to their end, though many are not long-lived, and usually not more than two or three colleges at once use the same word to express the same thing...
...class of these words sprang into an immense use as a consequence of the Chicago fire, and have retained their place in the journalist's dialect ever since. Doubtless the man who invented the expression "Fire-Fiend" thought he had done a good thing in the way of personification, and the first six or seven editorials on the great fire were perhaps strengthened by the use of that bold figure. At any rate, its popularity was insured by the indorsement thus received. The "Phoenix" had also manifested himself to a few hopeful minds at this time, and these two some...