The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1880-12-25
IMPRoPRIETIEs OF SPEECH.

1t is the remark of Archbishop Whate-
ly that "thc words which produce the
greatest confusion of thought are the
commoncst words-the very ones whose
meaning is supposed to be best UNDER
stood"
.Sif, Sat, are much abused words. II
is recorded that the brilliant lawyer,
Curran, once carelcSsly observed in
court, "an action lays" and the Judge
corrected him by remarking "lies, Mr..
Curran-hens lay" but subsequently
the Judge ordering councillor to "sct
down." Curran retaliated "sit down,
your honor-hens set" The rctort was
characterized by more wit than truth
Hens do not set: they sit. We often
hear people say "thc coat sets well. -
Sits is the proper word.
The book does not lie on the table /;
it lies there. Some years ago an old lady
consulted an eccentric Boston physician,
and, in describing her disease, said -
"rhc trouble, Doctor, is that can
neither lay nor SET" "Then, Madam. I"
was the reply, al would respectfully
suggest the propriety Of roosting."
"Looks beautifully" is phrase heard
almost daily from the lips OF educated
men and women. But she is beautifully,
are no more improper than she looks
beautifully. We qualify what person
does by an adverb what person is by
an adjective: for example, it is right to
say "shc looks coldly on him and she
looks cold"
Hardly any word in the English Ian
guage is so abused as the word "gct.
A man says al have got a cold )" he
means al have cold" Another says
"that lady has got fine head of hair"
which may be true il the hair is false,
otherwise the "got" should be omitted.
\ third says al have got to leave the
city for New York this evening"" mean
ing only that he has to leave the city,
etc. Nine out Of ten who enter dry
goods store, ask "havc you got" such
and such an article? Aman may say cor
rectly al have got more than my neigh
Dor has, because ! have been industri-
Gus" but he cannot with propriety say,
al have got longer nose" however
long his nose may be, unless it be an
artificial one.
One of the most offensive barbarisms
now prevalent, is theusc Of the pet word
"nice" to express almost every kind Of
appreciation, and almost every quality.
II is well enough to say ga nice bit OF
cheese" but the expression "a nice
man," ga nice day." etc., is vulgar
without a shadow Of doubt. The word
Splendid" is as frequently aud indis-
criminately used.
"Like | did" is gross Southern vul-
garism for "as | did" "Receivcd OF
John Smith fifty dollars" should read
"rcceived from John Smith," etc.
Don't, for does not, had ought, had
better, had rather, are vulgarisms, and
so are his'n, t'other, faint, their'n. We
say sales at auction, when we should
say "sales by auction" The manner
Of sale requires the prepositionby. The
word only is often misplaced in SEN
tence. Miss Braddon says in the pros.
pectus Of RclsyasIa, her English maga-
zine, "that it will be written in good
English. In its pages paper Of sterling
merit will only appear. A poor begin
ming this. She means that "only papers
of sterling merit will appear"
Equally as well is used for "equally
WE'LL" Mrs. Smith and myself will be
happy to dine with you, should read,
"Mrs. Smith, will be happy to dine
with you." He left yesterday, should
read "he left New Brunswick yesterday,
1t was the city, not yesterday, that he
left. We might ill pages with these in
accuracies and vulgarisms, but, "en
6oaO 5''-"what good would it do ?"