The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-31
x..A.l Ane.aalise.

4
|. nd,ord. g. for am very wet; and" nc
sdJed abrinp me mug of ale, for am
~ery dry." "You walk very slow" SAID
man 10 consumptive. eyes" he replied,
!. hut I am going very fast" Breaking
both wings Of an army is almost certain to
make II ily; a general may WIN the day IN
o battle fought at night; lawyer may
convey house and yet be unable to lit
hundred pounds; = room may be null OF
married men and not have single man in
Il a schoolmAster with no scholars may
vet have pupil in his eye the bluntest
man In business Is generally the sharpest
one; soft water Is often caught when 1t
rains hard; high words between men are
generally low words; steamboat officers
are generally very pleasant company, and
yet we are always glad to have them give
us wide berth; nervous man is trem-
bling, faint, weak q man OF nerve and
nervous style is strong, firm, vigorous.
Our phrases are not designed to be con-
strued too literally. Punch tells Of man
who was arrested for attempting to damage
the river Thames. What was the man
doing! He was trying to pull up the
stream. So Joseph's brethren have been
excused for putting him into the pitt be-
cause it is supposed it was good opening
for young man.
Two or three words are strung together,
and instead Of retaining their combined
meaning, acquire new Specification. How
different is the action described in securing
q forest and securing a floor; in Swimming
the sea and Swimming milk in breaking q
dish, breaking colt, and breaking COM
mandment; in catching train, catching
cold; in falling in ditch and falling in
love. This peculiarly Of our words is
what renders you so liable to read, in the
funny column of your newspaper, OF the
person who, in an explosion Of grief, burst
into tears, and whose remains have not
been found; or who carried out project
and was obliged to bring it back again or
who kept his word, andaeo had quarrel
with Noah Webster, who wanted it for his
dictionary; or who courDd an investiga-
ton, and was welded to his own opinions;
or who got off speech, and has since been
trying to get on again, having found that
his train of remarks was not the right; or
who, at mass meeting, being fired with
Indignation, was put out.
What do we mean by the awkward every
day question, GLOW do you do?" What
do we mean when We speak of cold times"
knowing as we do that what we call "old
times" were really the new and young
times, and that the present was the true
old age of the world Has any debating
society ever decided whether house burns
up or down? What do we mean when we
say, as we often do, that we will do thing
~, Wa hny npcoSian tn lnnUn
at mistakes Of foreigners when we are so
continually misunderstanding each other.
Said Richard Brinslcy Sheridan to his wild
son Tom " Take wife, Tom, and REFORM
"With all my heart" said Tom, whose
wife shall | take Z" The joke rc;ippeared
in this city only the other day in new
suit of clothes. An cntcrprising young
man said he was going to start ncwspa-
per. (Which of the papers are you going
to start ?" asked his friend. A wag, with
a fine appreciation of the antiquities of
words, once asked man elbow many
knaves do you suppose live in this street
besides yourself?" " Besides myself? Do
YOU mean to insult me 7" "Well, them"
replied the wag, show many do you reckon,
including yoursclf?" AS an instance Of
the way in which a man may be mSlcd by
the forms of language, how he may desire
to say one thing and really say the OPP
posite:
A furrier, having facilities for renOva-
ting old furs, advertised, in perfectly
etc., made up for ladies out of their own
SKINS" l may also mention the editor
who, desiring to compliment friend,
IT MI cfnndv and
vigorous writer, and tirst-rate fellow 10
boot" The convention OF the Dioomer
damsels who "resolved " emphatically "to
wear short dresses or nothing; the clrcu-
lar of lady teacher which spoke of her
character and the "reputation for teach
ing she bears, or nothing; the advertise
ment of q concert director who announced
that variety of songs might be expected,
too tedious to mention.
1t has been shown that an ineligible
sentence may be construed from the word
50 that 4" seven times repeated.
" I'll prove the word that I've made my theme
Is that that may be doubled without blame,
And that that that thus trebled may use,
And that that that that critics may abuse,
May be correct. Father-the do is to bother
Five that's may closely follow one another,
For be it known we may safely write,
Or say, that that that that that man writ was
Il right;
Nay, cen that that that that that that fol-
six repeats the grammar's rule has
And that tina, that (that that that that began)
seven times is right!-Deny't who
can?
So also with the singular and plural of
word, for a man may have such manner,
and yet have no manners. Changes in
character take place while
the sense remains similar. Nouns often do
duty as verbs. "Whst part Of speech is
man 2" said q teacher to sailor boy. "a
verb, sir" he replied. ga verb, is it p
said the teacher, with significant twinkle
of the, eye; "will you please give an en-
amplc?" "Man the yards" replied the
boy. Mr.. Tapley's proof of the same pro-
position, SO far as related to himself, is less
direct, but not less amusing. If ever
there was a verb" he remarks, "I'm it,
for Pm always q bein', continually a doin',
and most o. the time suffering" Adjec-
tiyes becomes nouns; as when lady calls
q man little dear, great big silly, or an
old disagreoable. Sometimes, indeed, in
the mouths of the fair sex o noun is bot
ter descriptive than an adjective, as duck
Of man, q love of bonnet.
1t may further be noticed that though
" caterers is right, "haterers is wrong;
that though man from Lapland is a Lap
lander, yet q man from Michigan is not
nor lady from that State .
Michigoose; though wavelet is q little
wave. and a fiowret little flower, yet q