The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-04-23
IMBIGUITT OF ENGLISH Words.

because it contains many words which
have more than n meaning. This am.
biguity is well illustrated by the remark
of an editor in his financial article that
" Money Is close. but not close enough
to reach"
A foreigner would need to be well ac.
qualnted with the language, in order tc
appreciate such a sentence rs this cit
makes a great difference in a mans life,
whether glasses are used over or under
the nose"
The word glass is very perplexin2
to foreigners, as an irritated French
man once expounded to his English
friends, who saw more reason for laugh
ing at his confusion than for changing
the language.
Why have you so many meanings
to your word glass;" he asked. "Icall
for a glass and the servant brings me a
mirror. NO, not that, l say.
60 he says, you mean Il tum-
bier
"While he is gone to fetch it, [ turn
to the dictionary and read, 'Tumbler,
n who tumbles !; / no want that
part of a lock, nor that ; "a variety of
a pigeon, NJ that "a sort of dog nor
that. The servant comes back with a
drinking-glass. That is what [ want
but why do not you say goblets, and
stick to it? Next time [ ask for a
glass [ will tell him [ no want a spy
glass, spectacles OF a barometer. I do
not want to glaze or to reflect, as in a
mirror [ want a goblet, what you call a
tumbler."
Foreigners and Englishmen, too, are
frequently bothered by shall and wiU.
Very few, even OF those who speak En-
glsh from childhood, Use these words
correctly. An amusing illustration of
then wrong use was that of the French
man, who, having fell into the river,
cried ont, 81 will drown, 10 one shnU
help me-"
Hanging would seem to be Il very
definite word, especially to those about
to undergo the process, but unless a
common Use OF the word was consid-
cred, you would mar the wit Of the
Western paper which stated that "There
are several hOrse-tlieves hanging around
here"
" or EOTE GREET MEN,.
The four conquerers most conspicuous
IN the worlds history are Alexander,
Hannibal, Caesar, and Bonaparte. What
was their end!
Alexander, after climbing the dizzy
heights ofhis ambition, his temples
bound with chaplet5 dipped in the blood
of millions, looked down upon Il con
quered world and wept that there was no
other world for him to conquer. set Il city
on fire, and died in a scene of drunken
revelry and debauch.
Hannibal, after having, to the astonish-
ment ana CONSERVATION of Rome, passed
the Alps, and having put all her armies
TO fight, stripped "three bushels of gold
rings from the fingers of her slaughtered
knights and made her very foundations
quake, fed from his own country, hated
by those who nee exultingiy united his
name with that of their god, calling him
Hani-Baal, and died at last, by poison
administered by his own hand, unwept
and unhonOred i'll a foreign land.
Caesar, after conquering eight hundred
cities, dyeing his garments in the blood
of millions of his foes, and pursuing to
death the only rival he ever had on earth.
WAS miserably assassinated by those
whom he considered his nearest friends.
and III the very place which it had been
his greatest ambition to reach.
Bonaparto, whose mandates, kings and
popes for Il time obeycd, after spreading
everywhere the terror OF his NAME, after
deluging Europe with blood, and cloth
ing its nations III sackcloth, closed his
days III Punishment on a lonely island,
almost literally exiled from the world.
What comments Oh the evanescence Of
human greatness won by the sword.
These men Ill stood for IL time on tho
very pinnacle Of what the world calls
greatness, and each in turn made the
oarth tremhle by their tread or their
'are word yet they severally died a
miserable dca:h-onc by ~intoxication,