The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-09-15

They talk Of . 'aeoaps Of pounds" as
II the pounds wen liRksd tosethsE. A
married e0apls'' i proper sRSash. bat
We should szy tSO pounds OF d0llauA
D0lIaIs are not -eoapled-" In fact tie
list q LORdOnisns would 10 q1iLs .
long one moi Es / knOs" Is the fire.
quent confession Of ignorance, and
Dor commonly ION" Is added, quite
promiscuous, . As would be said; and IL
blame Is 70 b I'D on any one it is .aall
along o. him" We are inclined TO the
Knglish .,ayn't" and connect 1t with
the hrst and third person. IL Is an alb
ominatiOn-almost Is bad As .'says l."
or 81 heard n how you was having
We are also adopting ''the above"
stztement when We mean preceding.
surely without reason. Words Of place
have enough 10 do In their own sphere
and are often misplaced Why should
we say stake hold on" q thing. or point
10 that there or ''this here"l This"
and ''that" can do their duty as demon
~stratiyes unaided. We have not yet got
down TO the London "What are you
going OFF" ~ will not 80 without you
promise" Is. we write with regret, n
north Of Ireland error. TO tine clear neg
lect Of ''unless." and in the same order
As lover q hundred when upwards Of
a hundred Is meant. Persons get into
the way Of saying these things a. they
szy ''bred and born" as II we were first
Md and then born; or make proverbs
like las plenty as blackberries." where
the adjective plentiful Is robbed Of its
place.
We need not wonder what O'Clock
IL is" Especially rs watches are cheap,
when we wish 10 know the time. nor
.'expect a man Is well on when we
consider him rich. We look for some
thing not present when we expect"
II Is almost as offensive rs 'she enjoys
bad health" or singing the 1.-TWO first
verses" OF n hymn. This is not exclu-
siveiy Hibernian.
Ahtio N tonobAht ttuatutgs tttn
with educated people, 10 become con-
fused In the matter OF time. Two
things are before the mind In connec-
ton, and in reference TO the past, but
they do not necessarily stand In the
same relation. Yet they are often put
together in the past. al wished 10 have
oana f.sf x.aak y, l. N oomnon ano..Uh
form Of phrase. But the wish to 60
was the thing past, he did not wish TO
have gone. 81 wished 10 go last week."
Is, therefore, correct. De not, there
fore, say II thought he would have
come" You thought he would come.
Your thinking Is Of the past; but when
you were thinking II was Of something
not past. Such errors, however, are
excusable tgreat authors have commit
ted them) In comparison with another
apparent confusion Of lenses. THE
land lays TO the west" says n gentle
man who mean that I: lies TO the west.
So he will describe his sick wife. ''She
lays on the sofa all day." when lie
means she lies. Men lay wagers and
lay money on the table; they act, and
an active verb Is used; but the money
does nothing. II Is neutral; and the
neuter verb ale" is the proper express
ion. Lay" being the imperfect Of lie,
the error easily grew; but when one
says, ~ laid on the bed" there is no ex-
cuse for him. II ''he laid himself on
the bed" he did something actively,
and the verb has Its proper objective.
As ''lay"-being common In two verbs
became a snare TO the unwary, 10 1t
occurred with "I'd rather" a contract
ion OF 81 would rather" but which had
been read rs II 1t were 81 had" and so
we get the phrase which de6es all at
tempts ut parsing-"I had rather"
But the exact counterpart Of the ''lay"
for "lie" %curiously enough In tho word
"sit." "He sets In the north aisle;''
1.-THE house sets back In the street," in
such phrases sit is the obviously proper
word. The builder may set the house,
or the sexton may set, or, more proper
ly, seat" the person; but In both cases
the objects r regarded rs passive, just
as trees are set. But, considering the
million cases in which inanimate OBJ
jects have been treated rs intelligent
agents-''This house to let"--we can
hardly wonder at the confusion.
There Is a class Of adopted words
among which mistakes are common
and natural to those who forget, or
never knew, their origin. ~ have these
memorandas" Is improper. Memoranda
is the Latin plural of memorandum,
and this noun is so angliced that 1t
takes n plural form in the ordinary En-
glish way. Nc one need be ashamed to
say memorandum and encomiums.
But we have not SO treated efiuvium,
and any one errs who speaks OF the un.
pleasant efluvia, or Of this data-both
plural forms Of Latin nouns. The safe
way in these cases Is to keep the Saxon
which we know, and avoid the tempta.
tion Of sounding phrases, from which
even official persons are not exempt
Even n decade of 1--WE years makes u
great difference" said one yesterday
who ought to know better, for he is a
member Of n '.learned profession" But