The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1878-02-08

may revolt, but II word has come [,
be generally used with certain mean
ing, that is its meaning; and though
the usage may be abnormal, absurd, anC
even disgusting, there Is no help for it
The only time for protest with any hopt
of success Is when the tendcny to q vi
cious change first manilcsts itself. Now
ii is to be remarked that great num-
bcr Of the changes in language which
has just been illustrated in the word
"person," and all of those which arc
really Objectionable on the ground ot
reason or of good taste, are the consc
quences of the use of the words in ques.
ton by persons who do not understand
their meaning. And how many persons
there are who daily use words in 8
sirikingly elegant and somewhat over.
powing manner, without understanding
them | shall not here undertake to say
Some words, indeed, are of such char.
acter that most persons, even the intel.
ligcnt and the educated, do not appre.
hend their real meaning. A word
which have used above, and ncccssar-
lily used, in the discussion oi' the word
"person''--i. e. "individual,' is such q
word. "Individual" is used generally
and constantly to mean simply "pei'-
son." There are few words in the Ian
guage so nearly synonymous as "indi.
vidual" and "person"; and yet there
arc no two whose origin and real signi-
flcance are more unlike. An individu-
al is merely thing, an entity, which
cannot be divided, unit; and man is
called an individual, merely because
he is single, indivisiblc, self-existent
creature. The truth is that we are hard
pressed in language for general syn
onym Of "man," meaning ono man; and
there seems to be with many people q
reluctance to use the simple word
"man," just as with many moro there is
a reluctance TO use as simple and as
good a word, "woman." Hence we
have the general adjective "femalc," ;"
which belongs 10 all she creatures, made
into noun as an elegant synonym of
"woman." [ have even heard of man
who wished TO be gallant, and to give q
reason for the gallantry that was in him,
assign AS that reason that "his mother
was female" So doubtless she was /;
and so was the dam of his mastifr dog.
Or we have that common and really un-
meaning use of the word Gladly" which
is well fitted to excite IN some feeling
of nausea. To avoid the use of "man,"
meaning human person of either sex,
we have "individual," which, however,
is most largely used by persons whose
speech is more elaboratelv elegant than
sensible. The word, however, is per.
fectly legitimate word, and if sparinglv
used is open to no objection. But how
many of those who do thus use it know
or think of its real meaning? They &C.
cept it without question in the sense in
which they hear 1t used; and thus, III
deed, most words are accepted. Thus
1t is that speech is the surost test of ed.
ucation, of breeding, ofassociation. Pc
ter's speech did not more surely betray
that he was a Galllean than tho speech
of every other man shows what was the
speech of those among whom he recciv.
ed his breeding; and, as Alexander
Ellis says, this speech once thoroughly
acquired is, to all intents and purposes,
iDeradicable. After maturity, the pros.
pect of any material change in this re-
spect is very slight indeed.
But as TO our words and their changes.
Individual" is from its character not
only recondite in its real meaning, but
happily, that meaning is almost incapa.
bic OF misapprehcnsion or perversion
Pretentious writers and speakers may
choke us-and themselves-with it, but
it would seem that they cannot use il
in any other than its proper sense.
But there are countless numbers of
words which arc constantly used with
more or less perversion, and this per
version leads to deplorable confusion,
and sometimes to Misunderstanding
which has serious consequences.
In the everyday speech of America,
two words constantly illustrate what has
been said before as to the ignorant use
of language. These are "predicate''
and "transpire.' Ihavc remarked upon
their misuse before, and so have others
but the misuse is so flagrant and so COM
mon; it is 80 ridiculous and really SO
monstrous, that | cannot do better than
to mark it again by using il as an illus
tration of abnormal change in the use OF
words-a change of kind quite unlike
that which has taken place in "person,"
a change which, although ii is increas.
ing, should be resisted, and may vet be
resisted with some hope of preventing
its final accomplishment. II was only
the other day that / heard a Judge Of
one of our highest courts-and that he
was AN upright judge, an able Judge,
and one learned in the law, know
say on the bench that certain action
"was predicated upon" certain statute
He might as well have said that at his
breakfast he had predicatcd his butter
upon his bread. So we constantly hear
one man, generally man of some in
telligence and education, asking anoth-
er If he means to predicate any action
upon such or such state Of things
What he means to ask is whether his
friend means to found any action upon
such circumstances, or to take any ac-
ton in consequence of them. What he
really says is nonsense, utter, absolute.
To amy one who knows what "prcdi-
cate" means, it is difficult to apprehcnd
the condition of mind of man who
talks about predicating an action upon
anything. To "predicato" means, in
simple words, merely TO say; or, to use
larger words, to utter, to declare. A
verb and the words which accompan,
and modify ii are the predicate of sen,
tence, because they say something. de,
clare something, of the subject and
about the object. II will thus be seer
that there is not tho remotost connec
tlon, netaphorical or otherwise, ,betweer
the real meaning of "predicate" ant
that which is so commonly given to il il
this country, even by judges upon tn,
bench.
And SO II is as to common use o.
"transpire." Every day we hear 4
said, and see it printed, that such ant
such an occurrence transpired yoster
day. The speakers or the writer
meaning in simple English being that 4
happened, that 1t took place, that III,
thing was done. Now, "transpire'
means TO breath through, TO pas,
through, aud, in Its metsphorical use
which is the only one In which 4
is received, 1t means 10 pass from SO
crecy to knowledge, from privacy Il
publicity. For example: "The decis
ion in the cabinet upon the New YorI
appointments has not yet transpired, ;
~. lltha Io.tat1.. ItI