Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1871-01-13
3fiscellamp.
Words Spurious and Redundant.

Words Spurious and Redundant.
TIE number ofspurious and redundant
woroJ tsat are used in ordinary conver-
satioref composition is very great.
We have Occasionally taken a newspa-
!. Or extract well en6v written to pass
the common ordeal, nd gone through it
with pencil. striking out all words that
could be dispensed with snd not alter the
sense. The experiment frequently re-
suits in reduction of the bulk of the
article by one tenth, sometimes more
Franklin used to tell story Of halter
who had new sign painted and before
putting it up submitted it to his friends
for criticism. 1t read:
JOHN THOMPSON, HALTER. MAKES AND
SELLS HATS FOR READY MONEY.
The first friend said the word halter
was useless, as that was implied in the
" makes and sells hats" So "hatter"
was struck out. The next said make"
might as well be left out, for nobody
would care who made the hats, provided
they were good ones: SO it was DONE
The next one suggested emitting " for
ready money" as it was not the custom
of the town to sell for anything else
An other pronounced the sells" redun-
dant, as no one would expect the hats to
be given away. So the sign finally read :
JOHN THOMPSON.
This was rather severer criticism than
ought to be applied to conversation or
ordinary print; but the redundance Of
the latter might easily be pruned with
profit Hundreds Of writers find it i'm
possible to speak of the season without
calling it the season Of the year wild
ows are called widow ,oomen and past
experience and past history are contin-
ually recurring, in spite of the obvious
fast that all history and all experience
are necessarily past. Thousands Of
times every day is "there" used need.
lessly as word of euphony. Para
graphs all over the country persist in
writing such sentences as "There have
fallen about six inches of snow since yes
terday," when it is just as easy to write
about six inches of snow have fallen
since yesterday"
The new York Evening Post Ike 2ps a
list of prescribed words which are moi
allowed to appear in any original article
printed in that paper. They are as fol
lows
| /. A spirant. 2 Authoress. g.
'' Being done, &C." A. Bogus. 5. Bag
ging, for capturing. 6. Collided. T.
Couple, for two. 8, Debut 8, Employee
10. Esqr. IL, Gents, for gentlemen. IL
Humbug. 13, Hon. IA, Indorse, for ap'
prove. Is, Inaugurated, for begun. 16
Initiated, for commenced. II, In oul
esidst. Is. Ignore. 10, Juvenile, fol
boy. 20, Jubilant, for rejoicing. 21.-
Lady for wife. %, Lengthy. %, Loan o1
loaned, for lendor lent. "a, Located. %
Measurebiy for in a measure. 26. Ovation
q. Obituary. %. Parties, for persons. 29
Posted for informed 30 Poetess. 81
Portion for part. 80, Predicate. SO, Pro
crossing. "a, Pants, for pantaloons. So
Reliable. 36, Repudiate. for reject, o
disown. 81, Role, for part. 3S, Secesh
80, States for says. 4G, Taboo. Al, Trans
pire, for occur. AZ, To progress. 43, Tia
pis. A, Talented 45, The deceased.
| The propriety of expunging some o
these might be strongly contested, yet il
the main they are spurious and needless
But, curiously enough, the word NOR
frequently printed and spoken in falls
sense than all others is not included il
this list. We refer to balance used il
the sense of remainder. People are con
tinually talking about the balance of ,
congregation, the balance of lot 0
land the balance of everything whicl
has been divided, The word must hav
been introduced by some one with su
perfcial knowledge of bookkeeping
Properly used, it means simply the sun
necessary to make the lesser side of a
account equal the greater. To use it il
the sense of remainder, was an afecta
ton at first, and is always barbarisn
N. II. Statesmen.