Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-08-08
THE "LATFEls END"

THE LATTEls ENID"
Being . Dssquisision .. . Familiar COlio-
Quisl1sm
For the INIELLIaBucxR.
Is it proper, or allowable, in writing, or
in speaking, to use the words latter end
under circumstances, and especially when
applied to a day, a week, a month or .
year? Can any of these divisions Of time
have more than one end A rope, q chain.
wire, or piece Of timber may have two
ends, but it might be difficult to determine
definitely which was the former and which
the latter end of any Of these objects the
case would be entirely under the control of
circumstances. We arc led to these retlec-
tions from the fact that we have seen
linguistic criticism Ou the phrase
"latter end" and wo have also seen it
used by many respectable authorities.
A day, q week, month and a year have
each q beginning and an end but as it
would be absurd to say and write about
tho former beginning of any of these
periods of time, it would seem equally ab-
surd to speak or write about tho former or
latter ends of any of them; for, if they
really have latter end, they must neces-
sarily have an cEd that is not the latter
one. We remember Of being exceedingly
amused in our boyhOOd at an oil "for-
cigner who was in the habit Of saying
" leather end'' when he used this phrase.
Perhaps he could not understand how
these divisions of time could have latter
end, IS cOntradistiDsuishcd from somo
other end but supposed they might have
i leather end.
Would it not be sufficient to writo OF to
say simply the end Of tine day, week,
month or year Ii We did not mean absO-
lutely tho last day of any OF these periods,
we might qualify it by saying or writing
about or "near" tho end, Us We do
when we refer to tho beginning Or the
middle of any period of time. But thcro
arc many able and sensible objectOrs to
the indefinite term about" under any
circumstances. About four or five hun
dred are very indefinite terms when used
as descriptive Of time, object or place.
They leave = margin Of ono hundred iu
tho category Of inaccuracy, aud arc quite
as indefinite rs latter end, although less
arbitrary, perhaps.
Latter days, latter weeks, latter month,
Or latter years may all DO proper. when re-
fering to any particular period Of time ;
because, then phrases allIde to tho days,
weeks, months or years next proceeding
the ends of those periods but when the
end has fully como, the termination of
the period seems absolute, and does not
admit such a qualification as latter, :"
as though there was some other end that
was not the latter one. We know these
congitatiOns may all be mere bagatelles,
but then such "kinks' will sometimes
get into tho MUD and torment it with
their incessant repetitiOns, and W. can NO
more extract ourselves from them than
could Mark Twain from the pertinacious
thumpings of his "HOrse- car poetry"
We have been admOnished that "peas
planted in tho latter end of this month
will mature before frost, 'and We are both
cred to know exactly when to find that
end, and whether the month has some
other end that is not slle latter one. Such
instruction may be perfectly satisfactory
to that ''helter-skelter" kind Of people
who are Indifferent :,s to when and where,
and how they do Il thing, but We would
like to he a little more precise, because, q
single day too late may throw US just that
far beyond the ''frost.line." The calender
Or absolute end Of the month is on the 31st
inst, ut 12 o'clock ut night-that is tho
very latest cnd-but surely tho above in
structions do not refer to that end, and, ii
not, when and where, and how arc We to
determine the latter end. Ofcours.,, nObOtly
would look for it, or expect to find it in
tho first, second Or third quarters of tho
month; neither would any man Of ordinary
method. Oh lowed with precision, locate
it III tho fourth Or last quarter; and yet,
perhaps, that is the very ''hoad and front
Of the above instruction. But suppose the
peas wero planted On tho 10Th Or 3Oth Of
August, although that might be legitimate
ly considered tho latter part of tho month,
tho end itself could not occur until the 3lst,
nor is any other end admissible under any
circumstances. II former and latter arc
to be understood as all other dual ex-
tremes Of cOmparisOn-hard and soft, high
and low, big and little, hot aud cold
they do not become more definite by au
ambiguous qualification. Now, this is
not an analytical dissertation on tho struc-
ture of our local phrascOlOgy, nor an Or
biographical, prOstrdial, or syntaxical dis
QUESTION, nor yet q linguistic hypercriti
cism-nOr remotely intended us sllch--it
is simply cropping and floundCring
amongst the rights and wrongs" the
sublime and tho ridiculous lin tho cate
CORY Of literary composition and OF
speech. 1t is matter Of paramount i'm.
portance that the rising generation should
know precisely whether an hour, a day, a
week, u month, = year, decade, IN
epoch, Or any other imaginable period Of
time, has more than ono end-an end that
is latter, and an end that is not latter.
Because, there is sn Oscar Wilde "amOng
ms takin' notes, aud faith he'll prent 'em. ~
1t would bc an "awful contingency il
this phrase were to fall under the criti-
cisln of Oscar Wilde as ono of our absurd
"Amcricanisms.'
CAN-ROBERT