Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-19

sion be used some such vurds as these j
wish you would speak TO my son and see u
you can influence him IN any way. Hes
turning out a regular scraperost" The
clergyman. Who vas a keen erymol1Eist vas
far more pleased with the expression than
with the idea OF retaining he prodtral The
word intended was scaperoat The meaning
q which the speaker co1fussd with scape-
grace-ths word be should have used He
WIS acquair.ed with bcch words. For proof
notice how tAe r OF scaperrace enters t-co
The meaningless expression Of scrapegoat
while no such De ter occurs in soapegoat-a
very curious instance q mental MYERS on.
LingunI Twists.
Quite es strange an Instance o. word con
fusion owing 10 derivation was given by an
Italian gentleman who was rot very con
versant with the English language. A friend
called upon his host, and when Re had LEFT
the foreigner sat for some time IN silence.
evidently deep in thought AT length be re-
marked that the gentleman who had jus,
departed was q doggy man. He was
asked for an explanation. as no association
q genus ho-no with genus CAMS is accepted
is this country as a compliment. There
uIoa IL r~ransqired that the meaning in
tended by the italian was cynical" lie
had heard the word used in its proper sense.
but when he tried TO recall il nothing but
the derivation occurred - his memory.
Two men. after a serious quarrel. were
not on speaking terms. The kindly third
party. who is seldom wanting on such occa-
sions. eventually brought them together,
and led of with the words O. Cancellation,
I'm here to mediate between you" His
mistake was q fortunate one, as the enc
mics were SO tckled by this unconscious use
Of the wrong word that they shook hand and
became friends again. Less happy in ex-
preston was a Canadian oDan who, on
being questioned concerning her views upor
the subject OF fire versus earth for the
human body after death, gave utterance 10 Z
remarkable sCntimEnt-he was rather alb
sent-minded be it said. Wen, you see, one
gets buried once in a lifetime! CrenRtsd'
Yes. I think ! should prefer it, II there wa!
only a creamery handy" Creamery, We ma!
observe. is. the equivalent in the Dominion
for the English dairy. AprUpos Of this las
word. how frequently it is spelled ss diary b!
some people. and even pronounced az such
In this respect it closely resembles the Lati-
word omlna. Get several people to rea.
quickly any hexameter line where this wort
occurs. The chances are that the majority
will pronounce 1t onnia.
A schooIboy wrote confidently in a gram
mar paper. There are five bowels in tn
English language, with " and y" Aoothe
boy. who together with a friend was haulet
before the headmaster, accused OF break
ing boundaries, made a similar transposi'
tion. His chum offered the usual sociology
plea of igncrance-it IS marvellous, by IN
way. how ignorant the sharpest boy can b
Of reEulations-and further protected him
self by the assertion that they had onl
traversed g few yards Of the forbidden ter
rito-y. The master turned TO the other wit
the question. And what have you 10 say?
The lad. who had q psnChant for the danger
GUS habit Of using long words, repIlec
Please, sir, Smith has made a pefiecIl'
vo-ac!ous statement A certain novel ap
peared. containing the following remarkaol
sentence: He struck his knee heavily VII
2 great fish The mistake passed the no
tire Of the prootreader and author, Will
probably very few readers noticed it.