Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-03-25

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| Verbal Antiquities.
The ambiguity of words and phrases is
the occasion of numerous misapprehen.
sions, puzzles and absurdities in current
literature, few examples of which may
be entertaining
Referring first to puzzles, we may men
ton the case of the man who had six chill
dren, and had never seen one of them
The mind is misled here by supposing that
zone of them" means any of them, and if
it had been said. never saw q single one of
them, it would have been still more likely
to be understood. The answer to this
puzzle is, that one of them had been born
while the man was on journey, and he
had not seen it.
There is puzzle we'll known to the ris-
| ing generation, which runs nearly in this
| fashion: ''There was poor blind beggar
who had brother; the brother died, but
the man who died had no brother. What
what relation was the beggar to the man
who died?" Here we are misled by taking
it for granted that the beggar must have
been man, but the clue being given that
the beggar was q girl, it becomes quite
plain that the beggar was a sister of the
man who died.
There are a number of these riddles on
| the subject of relationships. We are told
of two men who met at an inn, and greet
ed each other affectionately. The inn
keeper asked one of them if the other was
kin of his, and received the following
enigmatical reply:
GProfbar NOR sistor bouo Mono
Yet this mans father was my fathers son."
Now this is q perfectly plain proposition,
and yet have known company delve at
it for an hour, and finally give it up, only
to marvel at their own stupidity in not
seeing that this form of words was but an
ambiguous way OF saying that 'this man"
was the speakers son. Again, two broth
ers were walking down the street. and one
stopped at q door, remarking: 81 have
niece here who is ill.," THANK Heaven"
said the other, Il have no niece" How
could that oe ? The only difficulty in guess
ing this is the tendency Of the mind to
move in a rut. Having got the idea Of
niece fixed, the mind refuses to think of
anything else but different kinds of nieces,
and never once looks to one side suffici-
emily to see that the sick girl was the
daughter OF the man who said he had no
niece. 1t is very true that the expression
called for when the true fact appears, but
then a riddle must not be made too easy.
There is something quite fascinating to
the juvenile mind in that peculiar effect in
words which is called a catch. Thus a
yOungster with a very serious face enters
the room with piece of news. "Beecher"
says he ''got shot to-day" els that SO %
says one and ''Where o. asks another
''He got shot in a hardware store down
going hunting" In the same way, with a
little Justification of accent and the omis-
sion Of the hyphen, he says that he has
seen horse fly, a garden walk, kettle
drum, a hat box, etc. He is delig ted to
annoy the company with the question,
Glow many hairs are there in q dogs
tail % and to assure them with much non
chalance at last that there are none, the
hairs being all on the outside.
In the same spirit man endorsed his
companion who wanted to get trusted for
bottle of wine, with the remark, eff he
refuses to pay for it, will" The man re
fused to pay for it, and so did his friend,
as he said he would. For such a person
have no sympathy, but [ must admit q
lurking admiration of that dilapidated stu
dent of the subtle distinction of words,
who. when trying to effect free entrance
to theatre, wac roughly told by the door
keeper, 'Here, L cant pass you" and who
replied with dignity as he walked in,
you need not pass me, my dear sir. Just
you stand where you are, and will pass
you.
What is known as the white lie is rem
dered possible by the uncertainty in lam
gusge OF which am speaking Thus when
the sheriff asked the wife of q Quaker,
against whom he had writ, if her hus-
band was at home, she replied, Eyes, he
will see thee in moment" The sheriff
waited some, and then suggested to the
lacy that she had promised that he might
see her husband. Nay, FRIEND" replied
the Quakeress, 81 only promised that he
would see thee. He has seen thee. He
did not like thy looks; therefore he avoid
ed thee, and hath left the house by
another path