Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-02-24
Use Of Foreign Phrases.

what atyoumean.'' tits upon this
principle, we suspect, that many
persons interlard their writings
with foreign words and phrases
which perhaps not one reader il
athousand willunderstand. The
use of foreign words always
seemsto imply one of two things:
that the writer wishes to display
his knowledge of the language
from which he borrows, or that
he is ignorant Of the correspond
ing words in the English Ian
guage; in the former case it is
pedantry; in the latter, igno-
rance, and in both cases is a de-
parture from true simplicity and
elegance. A few examples gath
cred by a periodical devoted to
educational interests, will illus
trate our meaning, and show
the folly as we'll as the danger
of the practice:
can excellent periodical, in
critical notice Of Whittier's
Poems, says, 'Physique of the
book is charming To the mere
American this conveys the idea,
i
that as a medicine the book is
agreeable. The reviewer prob
ably means that the mechanical
epecuti0a Of the book is charm
ing, but it may be doubted
whether this is u correct use Of
the French word.
examples of this useless in
trusion Of foreign words abound
most in novels, and the light
literature Of the day. A novel
before us has such expressions
as these: 'Fhey have just es-
capped from Paris, where they
had been for some years among
the deteaaus', (detained.)
'"If it is religion that does
all that for her, it is a religion
Of aChich I can form no idea ;
cela me passe." Here the French
is a mere paraphrase Of the
English words that are itali-
cised, and how will the foreign
words help the reader to any
thing new-but the vanity of
the writer?
'"She had surrounded herself
with vases of flowers, to give
her apartment aao ar de .tete, ,
ia festive appearance.)
AIN such books, a medley or
miatWe is a melaage-a .troy is
nothing short of a melee, aud
the select are not the chosen but
the elite. Disputants do not
differ entirely but toto co8Io,
and they do not begin again
but de moro, or as some goslings
prefer to say, ab oU0.
'But our newspapers have
caught the disease, and some
editors who know too little Of
English and nothing of any
other language, allow themselves
to use foreign expressions, and
oftentimes commit egregrious
blunders without the salutary
plan Of knowing it. Perhaps
no foreign word is so frequent
ly spelled wrong as nojrete, a
word Of three syllabIes, mear-
ing a1tJesSness, jngenu0asness.
The common error is to spell it
saitette. Then the pretty word
posy has been superseded al
most entirely by the French
word bouquet, or as nine-tenths
of our editors spell it boquet.
"The most common items of
news are interlarded with such
barbalisms. Thus the Presi-
dent is never going to W Washing-
ton, but he is en- route for that
city. No remark can be made
by the avay or In passing, but it
must be en- posSant. a rising
of the people is no longer q mob
or a rebellion, but an emeute.-
Our ancestors did without
e1anui for many centuries, but
their sons pretend that no Eng
lish word expresses the full idea,
and even Worcester has been
compelled to give the word a
place in his great dictionary
The difficulty Of pronouncing
the word more than balances
any shade of meaning that it
possesses over hstIeSsnesS, tedi-
BUSINESS, irksomeneSs, etc, which
the best dictionaries have al
ways given as completely sy-
nonymouS with fnnui. "
a woman st New Haven re-