Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-02-18
WORDS MsSUSED.
Some That should Never be Used and
Others That Are Commonly Mis-
placed.

From the London Examiner.
In the category of words that should never be
used come first misformed words as ''lit' for
lighted; plead" as the past participle of the
verb ito plead, instead Of pleaded; ''proven"
for proved, form now ObsoleSe except in the
Scotch verdict of mot proven" These are
what might be termed grammatical errors, but
they are very common among those who pass
for fair writers and educated men. Less venial
faults are the use of such vuigarisms as ION to"
for on or upon which is becoming increasingly
frequent among careless writer's; and whose
blood has not run cold at reading advertise
ments IN our religious papers of baptismal
''pants?'-to be worn, we suppose, by those
reverend agents" who minister weekly sin our
midst, preach lengthy" sermons that ''enthuse"
their hearers and are generally reputed to be
reliable" men whose acts will never leopard
ize" the good name Of their focks, albeit
they sometimes have hepmeet' OF .helpmate'
or companion" or ''lady"-that is to say, a
wife-whOse words and acts need to be judged
with great ''leniency" There! ''at one fell
swoop' we have reprobated ali but three of the
words and phrases, condemned by Mr.. Ayres,
that we are now considering No well
man will ever speak of such a garment as his
pants" nor will he call his wife anything but
his wife, "Helpmeet" is a stupid word, as has
often been pointed out, and owes its existence
to careless perverson of Genesis it,, Is, II will
make him an helpmeet Qe. suitable, f) for
him" and "helpmate' is still stupder perver
sion of ''helpmeet." five are to say lengthy"
why not ''strengthy?" and besides. our good
old friend "long" will answer every purpose.
We say ''leniency," when lenity expresses the
same shade of meaning. Why add so clumsy a
word as 'jeoparlize' to the language when
leopard is already there for the same pur-
pose? Why use the Informed word reliable"
(Which should be rely-upon-able, to mean what
Is Intended). when We have trustworthy and
credible? "Enthuse" is one Of those horribly
ill formed words whose mere pronunciation is
their condemnation, in the mind of one who has
enough acquaintance with the history and
genius of the languageto bequatied to express
any opinion on the subject, while sin our
midst is careless way Of saying ''in the midst
OF us, which is Ineligible English.
The three other words that Mr.. Ayres would
prescribe are representative" clumsy and USE
less substitute for preventive; graduate" as
an active intransitve verb Ga student does not
graduate" from college: the college graduates
HIM. e., admits him to it's gradus; and the
student therefore is graduated); and "mis-
taken" in such sentences as you are mistaken"
(when what the speaker means is. you do not
understand me') for You mistake" To Mr..
Ayres' list should be added, we think, such nom
English words as anent. auditorium bogus, nOnce,
taboo, tapis; such slangy words as ''disgrun-
tied which is a favorite word rthe politicians
vocabulary, and ''reSGrrect," which Is used as a
verb in many a sermon; such misfOrmatOns as
''gubernatoriar' and post graduate"-hOw can
one graduated from college and thus made "a
graduate" ever become a post GRADUATED" One
should write, "A graduates course OF study"
or "a post-graduation course of study" the for
mer having the preference. We assume that no
reader of the Examiner needs be warned
against any such pedantic words as ''authOress'
and 'poetess;" such vulgarisms as 'crank,"
which the Guiteau trial has made so common; or
such a wrOng-headed idOm as different to- of
which some English writer's are so fond. II they
do need any warning, beg of them to eschew
each and all of those words. And we are in
clined to add to the list "donate" and ''dona-
ton, which are at least unnecessary while we
have so many words as ''give," grant" ''be-
stow" present" and their substantiYes, to
express the same idea.
Words used in wrong senses fall naturally into
several classes, first among which are the
words sometimes called reporters English"
words misused because they are thought to
sound fine. Examples of this misuse OF words
are: "Apprehend' when the writer means
merely think" ''condign in such phrase as
"condign punishment, when the writer means
predicate" for declare, and the like. Some
writer's never can begin anything; they always
''inaugurate or initiate" or at the very best
commence it; if speaker or singer is we'll
received 10y his audience, he receives an iowa
tion;" if man is kind-hearted he is called a
human nature Of Christi, which is to attribute
grave heresy to a man under prctext of COM
plimenting him. and if one of this lk goes to
church, he always speaks of it as the sane
tuary." We eXhOrt all who read this article to
eschew these and all similar errors. Whatever
you may say in the freedom of conversation.
when you take your pens use plain words to ex-
press plain meanings. If you mean granted,
don't say ''accOrded;' if speaker has talked
for fifteen minutes on a subject, don't say that
oh 10, noI,
and pass by topic: if you mean think don't
say consider" which denotes the careful
weighing OF thing; don't say ''residence'' for
house, ''indvdual' for person. portion" for
part. purchase" for buy, and be chary of
vicinity" for neighborhood. In short don't be
stilted.
Allied to this class Of errors is that careless
and slangy use of words which results from an
effort to be collOquial and easy in writing. It
is not easy to be familiar without becoming
vulgar. but the art can be learned in writing as
well as in social intercourse Careful writer's
will avoid all such phrases as the following:
'Bal ance" for remainder, bound" for deter
mined, claim for assert, Endorse" for ap-
prove, ''loan" for lend. Gown for confess. A
very common kind Of mistake is tine misuse of
small words through mere carelessness; as, to
say LESS" where fewer is meant, or to use
'such" for so. This list might be indefinitely
increased
There is also class of misused words, all
tOo titdt pOoitNtly NuiSdI OuOcF
this head, Of course, comes all slang, of which
no well-bred man ought to be guilty under any
To slang may be added such
words as these: land" in phrases like TRY and
do" "apt'' used for likely SCOT in cOmbina-
lions like she has got fortune;" healthy for
wholesome Qobsters are usually healthy, but
they are considered unwholesome); companion
for wife; female" for woman; lady" for woman
or wife 0hese last three are the superlatves OF
vulgarity); party" for person; posted for in
formed; retire" for go to bed; superior" as
thus applied, ''she is q very superior person.
Probably these examples will suffice.
Still another class of misued words are mis-
employed in such ways as to leave room for the
charitable inference that the writer is ignorant
Of their real meaning. When one uses ''alter-
native" the proposition between" and the
cOnjunctions 'bOth-and," or 'neither-nOr," to
refer to more than two objects. it is evident
that he is guilty of nothing worse than gross
ignorance. The same conclusion follows when
one calls two objects couple when the two
objects are not united by any sort of bond; it is
doubtful whether pair should not also be re-
stricted to two objects 80 united ''Dstn-
gushed" is often wrongly used by those who
are not accustomed to discriminate between
two words Of similar meaning.
Soul Burying.