Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1882-03-22
WORDS MISUSED.
Some That Should Never Be
Used and Others Commonly
Misused.
From the Examiner

|
In the category of words tha
should never be used come first mis-
formed words, as ''iit" for lighted
plead" as the past participle of the
verd ''to plead" instead of pleaded
proven" for proved, a form obso
| lete except in the Scotch verdict o.
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 yenial faults
are the use OF such vulgarisms as
"on to" for on or upon, which is be.
coming increasingly frequent
among careless writer's, and whose
blood has not run cold at reading
advertisemcnts.in our religious pa
pers of pants" to be worn, we sup
pose 10y t! es' reverend gents" who
minister weekly in our midst,
preach 'lcngthy" sermons that "en-
thuse" their hearers, and are gener-
| ally rtputed to be 'reliablen men
whose acts will never '.jeopardize"
the good name of their fiocks, albeit
they sometimes have a helpmcetn
| or "helpmate" or companion" or
"lady"-that is to say, wife
whose words and acts need to be
judged with great "leniency.' There!
"A. one fell swoop" we have repro
bated all but three of the words and
phrases condemned by Mr.. Ayers
that we are now considering. No
we'll bred man will ever speak of
such garment as his pants" nor
will he call his wife anything but
his wife. "Helpmcct" is stupid
word, as has often been pointed out,
and owes Its existence to a careless
perversion Of Genesis H., Is: Il will
make him an hclpmect q. e., suita-
bic, ft) for him" and "helpmatc"
is still stupi1er pcrversion Of
''helpmeet.' If we are to say
lengthy why not say 'strengthy?"
and besides, our good old friend
long will answer every purpose,
We say "lcilirncy," when lcnity ex-
presses the same shade Of meaning
Why add SO clumsy word as ''ieop-
ardize" to the language when "jepp-
ard" is already there for the same
purpose? Why Use the Informed
word reliable" (Which should be
ccly-upnn-able, TO mean what is in
lcndcd), when we have Trustworthy
and credtable2 "Enthusc' is one
of those horribly i'll formed words
whose mere pronunciation is their
condemnation III the mind ofone who
has enough acquaintance with the
history ana genius of the language
to be qualified to express any opin-
ion on the subject, while ain our
midst is a careless way of saying
in the midst of us" which is intel
ligible English.
The three other words that Mr..
Ayres would prescribe are "preven-
tative," clumsy and useless substi-
tute for preventive; graduate as
an active intransitive verb Ca stu
dent-does not graduate" from col
ege; the college graduates him
i. e., admits him to its gradus, and
the student, therefore, is graduated): \:
and "nlistakcn" in such sentences as
You are mistaken (when what the
speaker means is, "You do not un-
derstand me') for "You mistake. -"
| TO Mr.. Ayrcs' list should be added,
we think, such non-English words
as anent, auditorium, bogus, nonce,
taboo, tapis; such slangy words as
"disgruntled," which is favorite
| in The politicians vocabulary, and
"resurrect," which il; used as a verb
in many sermon; such misforma-
tions as "gubernatorial' and post
| graduate how can one graduated
from college and thus "a graduate
ever become "post-graauate?H
One should write, "A graduates
course of study" or "a post-gradua-
tion course of study" the former
having the preference. We assume
that no reader of the Examiner
needs to be warned against any
such pedantic words as "authoress'
or "poetess;" such vulgarisms az
Crank" which the Guiteau trial has
made SO common; or such q wrong
headed idiom as different to- OF
which some English writer's are SC
fond. If they do need any warning
we beg of them to eschew each and
all of these words. And we are in
clined to add to the list "donate and
| Donation which are at least unnec-
cssary while we haye SO many such
words as give" grant. "bestow,' y
present and their substantives, to
express the same idea.
Words used in wrong senses fall
naturally into the several classes
first among which are the words
sometimes called reporters Eng