Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-02
NOT NOW IN THE DICTIONARY.

Words That Have Gone Out of Use
and Are Merely Curi0Sities.
Words, like dogs and bonDets, have
their day, and wheI that day is past
they seem to be laid on the shelf like
old-fashioned pieces of china, to be re-
garded only rs curiosities. The dicti0n-
airy that still keeps them i'll remem-
b"<.ncc. but marks them With the fatal
obs" (obs0tcte), represents the clos
ct shelf where the old china is still
tolerated, Lot for its use or beauty, but
because of its antiquity. Even the
p1eSeTce Of these words in the diCtiOn-
AIRY does not argue that they are --llOWn
outside OF it, For only few weeks ago
in an article in the Philadelphia Times,
describing the old piece Of embroidery
known as a sampler, the word ''ac-
cend, i'll the motto worked upon the
sampler, was corrected by the printer
to accent" May heaven acceI,d thy
words with power" Less than 4 nun.
bred years ago accend meant to Eindle
to set on fire. Now it is marked '1h<O-
lete i'll the dictionary and no new word
no moro reason for it to be laid on toe
shelf than for that little Old-fasiirnCd
cream pitcher with its quaint form a. d
indeScribable decoration Of green inns
and purple dots that represent no vie
and flower known to botany, to be set
upon my chimney piece. 1t has nnt
0utlived its usefulness just because it
is old. There are other words The
dictionary marks obsolete that are
current in tid-faShiOncd country places,
such IS Outlander, Il foreigner, which,
like its nci8LGor, Outlandish, has taken
meaning slightly uncomplimentary.
ArOynt or ;,rOint, meaning stand back
or gct behind is still used by the milk
i!.ai,i in speaking to tie COW that win
not stand in her place to be MIXED
&, ontrist that fellow one boy says If
another who leases him and the die,
tonary says it means to make SD, but
that it is obsolete.
We should not ascribe any departure
from what we are used 10 either III
grammar or pronunciation, or meaning
Of words to the ignorance or stupidity
of thc speaker 1t may not be bad, bat
only amtiquatated English. Such as
ourn for ours, umbril for umbrella
afrerd for afraid, riz for risen, to az
for ask, oCten for put out or eNhnguish
even put them things away for those
! things. However, these expressions
have had their day and are no longer
good English, us they do not conform Il
| the present use and custom that mus
be the standard in writing and speak
ing. The same may be said Of certain
ways of pronouncing words now uset
only by uneducated or Old-fashioncC
people, rs contrary, mischievOus, bias
phemous, irstead of contrary, mischiey
Gus, blasphemous. 1t is easy to prov
that these are lot mispronunciatons
but only an old pronunciation retained
by the people after educated clasSe
had given it up.
In southern Pennsylvania, Wher
MANY examples of meton0my have beer
observed, cucumber IS often replacet
by the general name of pickle, as tn
thrifty gardener, anticipating the brin.
fate that awaits it, designates the vim
and its fruit. Lantern, DR.. johnson
SAYS, is o. mistake often written liant
horn. because transparent cases 70
candles were generally made of horn
and those who did not know the deriya
ton Of the word from the Latl
lante1na were satisfied that this Wa
the true etymology. The wicket-baS
ket-covered glass jars, used by EuroI
can peasants and sailors, were by theI
: called Dame Jeannes'' AngliciZed int
demijOhn and known to the colored Sc
wants on an old southern home as tn
Jimmy john ArchaiS, IS anothe
word that in common use has lost II
: classic pedigree. and has degenerate
, into 'sarkey," denoting some thing yer
} old-fashiored, with an imaginary refe
} e.nce to Noah'S ark. Words spelled Oh
way and pronounced another by SON
: people who are what some other peopl
+ would call heavy" are wreck, PR
' nounced wr;ick which gives us ''Wrac
e and RUM weapon, which they tut
into weepon, and wound, which the
! rhyme with sound, following the ol
: lexicogTapher who tells us "woun'
+ woond, is a capricious novelty"
: When one receives a letter stampt
e due ~ it is due to the other fellow
:. oarolocc1aSc II DWELL Courier