The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-06-22
, VERBAL ANTIQUITIES.

lDe ambiguity OI NOfQS dHO pHsti sCS
! is the occasion of numerous misap-
prehensions, and absurdities in cur
rent literature, a few examples of
which may be entertaining
Referring first to puzzles, we may
mention the case of the man who had
six children and had never seen one
of them. The mind is misled here,
| by supposing that, 6 one of them"
means any of them, and if it had been
said, never saw a single one of them,
ii woald have been more likely to be
! misunderstood. 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 a puzzle well known TO the
rising generation, which runs nearly
/ in this fashion: pnere was a poor,
blind beggar who had brother; the
/ brother died, but the man who died
! had no brother. What relation was
| beggar to the man who died 2" Here
| we are misled by taking it for granted
that the beggar must have been a man
| but the clew being given that the beg
gar was girl, it becomes quite plain
that the ,beggar was 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 greeted each other affection
ately. The inn keeper asked one o.!
themsif the other was kin of his, and
received the following enigmatical re-
ply; a..s,si.....L.s.i i.s,s 1aDsof ..,r I'D
= Yet this mans father was my fathers son.''
Now this is perfectly plain propo-
sition, and yet have known COM
ly give it up, only to marvel at their
own stupidity in not seeing that this
form of words was only an ,ambigu-
.ous way of saying that this man was
the speakers son. Again, two BROTH
ers were walking down the street, and
one stopped at the door, remarking ::
ssI have niece here who is i'll. ''Thank
Heaven" said the other, $ ]. have no
niece. How could this be-? The only
difficulty in guessing tLis is the ten
dency of the mind to move to a rut.-
Having got the idea of niece fixed, the
mind refuses to think of anything else
but different kinds OF nieces, and new
er once look to one side sufficiently to
/ see that the sick girl was the daughter
of the man who had said he had no
niece. 1t is very true that the express
sion, thank heaven" seems some
what uncalled for when the true fact
appears, but then riddle must not be
too easy. a
There is something quite fascinating
to the juvenile mind in that peculiar
effect in words which is called catch.
Thus a syoungster with q very serious
face enters the room with piece OF
news. &c Beecher," he says, t'got shot
to day." g Is that so ?" says one; and
where?" asks another. . He got
shot in hardware store down town."
says the .youngster. " He was going
a hunting" In the same way, with a
little Justification of accent and the
omission of the hyphen, he says that
he has seen a horse fly, garden walk,
kettle drum, a hat box, &c. He is
delighted to annoy the company with
the question, 8. How many hairs are
there in a dogs tail?" and to assure
them with much nonchalance at last
that there are none, the hairs all being
on the outside. ae lr
In the same spirit a man endorsed
his companion who wanted to get
trusted for a bottle of wine, with the
remark, &c If he refuses to pay for it, l
will" The man refused to pay for it,
and so did his friend, as he said he
would. For such a person | have no
sympathy, but L must admit lurking
admiration Of that dilapidated student
of the subtle distinction of words,
who. when trying to effect free en-.
trance to a theatre, was roughly told
by the docrkeeper, T.Here. 1 can't pass
you," and who replied with dignity
as he walked in, 9. Y ou 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
rendered possible by the uncertainty
in language of which am speaking.
Thus, when the sheriff asked the wife
of Quaker. against whom he had a
writ, if her husband was at home, she
replied; g Yes, he will see thee in a
moment" The sheriff waited some
time, and then suggested to the lady
that she had promised that he might
see her husband. "Nay, friend" re-
piled the Quakeress, 81 only promised
that he would see thee. He has seen
thee. He did not like thy looks !;
therefore he avoided thee, and hath
left the house by another path"
/