Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1871-03-03
NUMBER 40.
Wrong and Right Use OF Words.

/
Aggravate. This word should new
er be employed In reference to per-
sons, as 1t means merely To add
weight TOTO make an evil more op-
pressiye; injury Is aggravated by in-
suit: lt Ia sometimes Improperly
used In the sense OF irrita:e. as "T
was much aggravated by his con-
| duet.n
Balance, In the sense Of rest, re-
mainder, residue, remnant, In an
abomination. Balance is, metaphor
ically, the difference between the
two sides Of an account the amount
which IL necessary to make one equal
to the other.
Yet we continually hear of the
balance of this or that thing, even
the balance of q congregation or OF
an armyl
Bountiful Is applicable sniy to per-
sons. A giver may be bountiful, but
his gift cannot; 1t should be called
plentiful or large. "A bouuIitul
slice" is absurd.
Fetch expresses double notion
first from aud then tow ard the speak
err; II Is exactly equivalent to Ego
aud bring" and ought not to be used
IN Tue HcfiSb Oi ublHk AluHa.
Calculating, besides It's sectional
misuse for think or suppose is some
times, In the particlple from calcu,
lated, put for likely or apt: That
nominated to injure the party IE
is calculated (designed) to do no such
thing, though IL may be likely to.
Citizen should not be used except
when the possession of political
rights Is meant to be implied. News-
paper reporters have had habit OF
bringing 10 out on all occasions, when
person" man" or "hystander"
would express their meaning much
better.
Couple applies to two things which
are bound together or united in some
way.
IA couple of apples" Is incorrect
two apples Is what Is meant.
Dirt means filth aud is not synony-
nous with dirt or soil. Yet people
sometimes speak of dirt road, or Of
packing dirt around the roots Of trees
they are setting. They mean earth.
Execute. When IA murderer H.
hanged his sentence il executed, the
man is not. A man ranGot be exc
cuted--that IL, followed out or per
formed.
Expect looks always to the future.
You cannot expect that anything las
happened or IL happening but only
that 1t will happen.
Get means to obtain, not TO possess.
"Iie has got all the numbers Of the
newspaper; Have you got good
molasses ?" "They have got bad
manners" Why will people persist
In introducing the word in such sen-
tences as these, where it Is evidently
supeIfluous?
Help Meet. An absurd use Of
these two words, IA IL they together
were the name of one thing--a wife
Is too common. The sentence Ia
Genesis is: II will make him au
help meet for himn--i. e., n help lis
for him. There IL 10 such word as
helpmeet.
Lie--Lsy. Persons not grossly ig-
norant sometimes say they will lay
[meaning liel down, that they have
layed [lainl an hour, or that the
hammer is laying [!yingl by the
tacks. Lie means To recline; its past
tense ia LAZY lay there oil night"
Its participates, lying and lain. Lay
(used for present time) means to put
something down-one lays "A carpet;
its past is laid-"I laid Ii myself"
its pRrticiples laying aud lain--"I
VAS interrupted while laying IL, and
ID was not lain till night.n
Love rules the heart, not the
stomach. You love your wife, or
ought to; but fayorite articles OF
food you like.
Observe should not be used for say,
as is the oft heard sentence, what
did you Observer .
Sit, often mispronounced set, Is oc-
casiOnally written 80, but, IL is To be-
hoped rarely Words and their Usos.