9 fascinating Colonial-era words to brush up on for America’s 250th birthday |
On July 4, the United States of America will celebrate its 250th birthday. Called the “semiquincentennial,” the day will commemorate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Of course, English was spoken by colonial Americans, and they had a distinctive accent that was unique to the newly formed country.
Surprisingly, they did not sound British. That’s because by the time of the Revolutionary War, two new generations had been born on American soil, according to JSTOR.
British English and American English began to develop separately. An English tourist commented on the colonial American dialect in 1770:
“The colonists are composed of adventurers, not only from every district of Great Britain and Ireland, but from almost every other European government…Is it not therefore reasonable to suppose that the English language must be greatly corrupted by such a strange admixture of various nations? The reverse is however true. The language of the immediate descendants of such promiscuous ancestry is perfectly uniform, and unadulterated; nor has it borrowed any provincial, or national accent from its British or foreign parentage.”
9 interesting Colonial American words
Many words from colonial America have faded from the modern-day lexicon. But a book from 1785 titled The Vulgar Tongue by author Francis Grose documented slang used during colonial times. The book was reprinted over the years, including an updated version titled 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
The word “vulgar” had a different meaning than it does today. “Vulgar” meant “common” or “ordinary,” according to Merriam-Webster.
Here are nine fascinating colonial-era words to add to your lexicon:
This is another word for water. According to Merriam-Webster, its origins are “after the biblical Adam; from its being provided by nature and thus presumably being the only drink in the Garden of Eden.” The term’s first known use was in 1643.
This is another word for drunk. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “the man is in his altitudes, i.e. he is drunk.”
According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “to fall arsy varsey, i.e. head over heels.”
Merriam-Webster defines it as “backside forward; head over heels; topsy-turvy.” It goes on to add that the word is “a non-reduplicative (yet still very cheeky) equivalent of arsy-varsy would be the expression ass over teakettle. However, arsy-varsy may be used as both adverb (modifying an action, as in the first example below) or an adjective (modifying a noun, as in the second) meaning ‘topsy-turvy’ or ‘disordered.’”
Surprisingly, this is the name of a colonial drink. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “rum and spruce beer, American beverage.” It may also have been sweetened with molasses, according to Merriam-Webster.
This is another word for a redhead. According to the Collins Dictionary, “carroty” means “a reddish or yellowish-orange colour; having red hair.” The word “pated” means “having a (specified kind of) pate, or head.”
This is another word for left-handed, according to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “a lie, or sham story: also a single stroke on a drum. To flam; to hum, to amuse, to deceive. Flim flams; idle stories.”
While it was used in colonial times, its history dates further back. Merriam-Webster explains:
“‘Flimflam’ first entered English as a noun meaning ‘deceptive nonsense’ in the second half of the 16th century. A sense meaning ‘deception’ or ‘fraud’ soon developed. The verb use didn’t show up until well into the next century. In addition to general deceiving or tricking, the verb ‘flimflam’ is often used specifically to refer to swindling someone out of money. The ultimate origin of ‘flimflam’ is uncertain, but the word is probably of Scandinavian origin and may be related to the Old Norse flim, meaning ‘mockery’.”
This celebratory word was chanted during colonial times. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of the English, both civil and military, in the sea phrase termed a cheer; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.”
American colonists also adopted the word. According to Dr. Tyler Putman at the Museum of the American Revolution, it also had a surprising pronunciation: hu-ZAY (like “hooray”), not hu-ZAH (like “hoorah”).
This word had a second meaning besides the shellfish. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “a gob of thick phlegm, spit by a consumptive man; in law Latin, UNUM [one] VIRIDUM [green] GOBBUM [lump or mass].”
While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care.
As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age.
Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference.
Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem
Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers.
Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive.
A Playful (and Powerful) Solution
Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish.
Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety.
In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients.
Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.
Bubbles at Home and Beyond
Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.
CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today.
Writing a commencement speech in 2026 must be tough. Thousands of graduation speakers have come and gone, offering pithy bits of wisdom and advice, much of which feels recycled and overused by this point. How do you come up with a message that feels new and fresh?
If you’re Eric Church, you pull out your guitar and offer a metaphor for life that hits all the right notes. The country music superstar spoke to the 2026 graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but most of his speech felt universal. Some are calling it the best commencement speech they’ve ever heard.
Church said he struggled to write his speech and tore up many drafts before picking up his guitar and realizing what he wanted to say. He started by describing and demonstrating an out-of-tune chord.
“Some ancient, honest part of your brain knows it immediately,” he said. “You don’t need training to hear it. You just know. That sound is the sound of something beautiful that has not been tended to.”
He talked about the power of a six-string chord that’s in tune and how just one string being off causes the whole chord to unravel.
“Not gradually, not politely,” he said. “The moment you strike it, you know. I believe your life runs on this principle, and I’m going to break it down for you right now and tell you about your strings.”
Church said the lowest, thickest, and heaviest string on the guitar—the low E—is the foundation: “Every chord a guitar can make rests on this string being in tune.”
“Your faith is the low E of your life,” he said. “The thing that sits at the very bottom of you. Your belief about what this life is for, what you owe, what holds the universe together when science reaches the edge of its own explanation and shrugs.”
He explained that faith gives people a foundation to return to throughout........