time
when rye was ripe, and they were generally amused by the farmer's
pereginations around his rye. Farmers always count rye-stacks in the
morning, in order to discover whether any of them have been lifted
during the night. 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." The words soon spread, and
talking about the Government was facetiously called POLLY ticks. The
expression was finally used in earnest, and, by euphoric changes,
reached its present shape.

_Cheese-it_.--This compound word has by some silly person been traced to
the Saxon _cyse_, meaning condensed cow, and the Celtic _it_, meaning
it. Now every way-faring man, even though _non compos mentis_, knows
that when he is invited to come in and cut a cheese, come in and take a
drop of whiskey is meant. This word, then, is derived from the Sanscrit
_cheese_, meaning drop, and the English _it_, meaning whatever you may
happen to be saying, and the whole expression may be properly translated
"drop that yarn."

I might go on straight through the Dictionary, but I refrain, desiring
only to show you what a light and entertaining subject philology is, and
what quantities of fun you can get out of it on w