6 JULY 1918, Page 21

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—I have always believed that the word " stunt " was closely allied to "stint." As a child brought up near Boston, Massachu- setts, I was " set a stint " when sewing a seam; probably this word is derived from "stunt—to limit, restrain, cut short" (see Skeet's Etymological Dictionary under "Stunted "), and meant that we were to work to a certain specified limit; but I know we were asked if we had " clone our stint to-day," and it assumed in our minds the equivalent of "doing a set task." In this sense one might arrive at " stunt—a task or job." Mr. F. G. E. Field will find that Halliwell gives "stunt" as a Lincolnshire provin- cialism for " sulky and obstinate."—I am, Sir, &c.,