Litchfield enquirer., 1863-08-20
POPULAR ERRORs IN PHILOLOGY.
 lOontinusd from First Pags.]

1:.::s. 1:.:::s!, ss.s'' n.si..l ,.,...
 Lsnitips, adjective,
 But when we come to Webster, ve fine essnisny, though, indeed, with very brief men ton, He giyes 10 authority. He says merely
 LesisDcy, lenity.
 Worcester. anfortunately, goes further and fares worse. He says.
 Lsnicnce, the quality of being lenient,
 Lenisncy. etc.Ed RsU.
 That is, no etymology given, but the Edia burgh Review cited. The Edinburgh Review isonvof the highest authorities, and as Wor. cester citss is, hs nus have found the word ir its pages. But one swallow does not make 2 summer; nor can the ipss d;rit -or, perhaps moro properly. tue lepsss pesac one man make lsnisney good English word.
 Rut of all the instances in which solemn pathological blundering has recently developed iiself, standpoint stands forth as the bright particular star. It is the very counterpart oi Dogberrys non com" It faintly suggests by Its sound what the French call { suspicion Of meaning but the moment you consider the thing, or pursue it, you and # mere uin q Me sOisp. It is used tor point ol view: but phy, is not sbviousfor if one pssans point of view why does not one soy point efvisw Standpoint doesn not mean point oi view for two good reasons,one of which sufices namely, it does net mean anything. It is not an EngIish word. Stand" by itself is En- giish, and 90 is "point 7 but, like certain chemical ingredients, they will not uaite until an amalgamatiDg element is introdaced be- tween them. Thus, also, stass by itself is English, and 50 is point" but is starspoin anythingi Independently of the question of meaning, such combinations rgrammatically defective. The verbs stand and start, in those cases, must be changed to the adjectivss or participles before they can. affiliate with the soun apoint." Sanding- g-point, and startiag- point are something. They have a. meaning. They are kindred in construction to. landing- I place and many similar phrases, which are fa- miliar to every one, and they mean, simply, the place CT point whers one stands, or starts. Standpoint" l" therefore, to be English, must be changed to standsngpoins And when the reader reaches .tsis poiat, he begins to see ths point: to wit that stand-point" certainly does not mean point of picw," although that is the sense, and the only sense, in which it is very audaciously sanctioned by contemporane- ous photographers. If, however, those who have become accustomed to stand point. are stiH too much enamoured with it's condolences to abandon it, an alternative is.at hand. Their chief and sole object being to condense point Of view" into -one word of two sylaBles. ire. spectively of grammatical construction and since. with them, gramanar is :nothing and meaniugland brevity are. everything let them gay and write and print vieso.poins. That covers the ground and meets the case. !" yiew-point" is precisely the same sort of English as a stand, | point :"and it possesses the substantial advan- tage Of meaning admitting, for the sake of ar gument that it means anything the l peaker. writer or printer intends to convey by l Standpoint"
 Again, andin conclusion of the subject of 1 spurious or counterfeited words, of which few are here given as specimens; we will briefly consider some of that class Of words ending in s0avdi as, sos0ard, qtisrpsrd, etc. to which common usage has added final .; it's use, however, as well it's omission, being left to the caprice of the moment.
 1bsasd1 i6 made np of two Saxon words, so and s0ard. Ward, or soeard, is the impera- tive of the verb Uardian, or csardian, to look at. or to direct the view. Rard may with propriet5 bs joined to tho name of any person, place. or thing. to or from which our sight may l be directed, etc. Richardson) Hence we have 6aeksard, fsUdrd. sorard, upsOard, dossnsoard. hitaerrard, asiszesscard, aftersDard, hesuensoard, sasAssard, audso on. And early English writers havs,given the words in asep- rats form : as, for example. the Apostle gays, 0 ss eard, etc. But where is the warrant for the final to any of these words, excepting it's incidsntal-or perhaps. accidental addition by certain old English writer's; as, Milton, ehskespears, Dr. South and others q follow cd, us must admit, by modern writers without number but also. as 1t seems to us. without reelection, The etymology of the verd furn- ishes no pretsxt for the .. its addition is merely arbitrary and II any one deliberately sssks ss defsnd t, why may hesnot be required On the eround of conaistency. to admit simi- lar sidiiisn to anywlsrs, ssuywksrs. noscA~ss esvwgs ssvesyrcay, and 90 onf Ignorant usage has slrssdy mads that addition. h the com non pazlanes Of unsducatsd people, nothing is nors seustonary tkan s.evsrywheres' .some7 ~hsresJ 'snyways,' and so-on: and, as yss, nothing is moro yulgar.
 Tho question, then. Arises--hov far what is updersesod by sgood usagen really sanctions :
 philososical blunderf toncs for all. we use the vosd phllslcsz hsrss iadts restricted sense)- Nobody will claim that any amount of usage sanolions blupders ol sgntax why shonld ii