The Washington times., 1901-10-20
The Use of English.

Nv ord and Phrase, by Joseph f1tZge
aid, is a book treating of the correct u
of English in speaking and writing. T
same author published some years ago
little work called Pitfalls in English,
which this is an enlargement The orig
nal book is included in the present vc
ume. and forms about one-fifth of 1t.
Mr. Fitzgerald has occupied the pos
tion of assistant editor on the Forum
and the North American Review" al
his work was suggested by the gener
misuse of English words in articles sui
mitted to these magazines. 1t will |
useful to teachers Of English and TO an!
one whose work includes writing for pull
lication. and It will certainly do no on
any harm to read it carefully.
A part, and perhaps the most interest
ing part. of the book is devoted to etymol
ogy, and what may be called the scienc
of language. Common errors and sole
clsms are then discussed, and the laws G
expression are so summarized as to b
Ineligible to a schooiboy. The Who'll
book is extremely interesting, and som
of it is instructive in the sense Of correct
ing mistakes as well as affording infor
nation. One of the interesting passage
is that dealing with the difference be
tween English and other languages as re
CARDS the difficulties which each present
TO the student. The author says:
In German all the words are Of
home origin; they are household
words, indeed, and the precise i'm
port of each is understood. whether
they stand alone, or whether they go
TO make up sesquipeda!ian compounds,
as well by peasant as by philosopher.
fs, Nc rTnr, 70
inject into a word a mea ming which
fits clements do not justify. In Eng
lish the genealogical values of words,
whether Anglo-SaXon or Latin, are
known and determined. but in most
cases for the learned only; hence when
new meanings attach to English
words, noce but the learned is COM
petent to say whether the acquisi-
tion Of these meanings is legitimate
or not. The chain of derivation of
German words is seen in each word;
the defiections or the developments
in meaning can also be seen in the
words themselves. Thus in buch
(book) the German plainly sees
buche, the beech, and is minded Of the
bcechen boards which were the first
books of his forefathers; and when he
comes across the compound word
buchsucht C5ibliomania) he has no
need of a dictionary to tell him its
meaning"
The Importance of a thorough knowl-
edge of English is here pointed out:
1T is mere good sense and not prig-
glshncss TO aim at the highest pre-
cision in the use of the mother tongue.
Our only access to knowledge Is
through language; oVr strongest tie TO
our felloT-men now living. our only tie
70 the generations that are gone before.
Is larSuage, our language. If we have
an erroneous comprehension of our ma
in oh oil Ia -a-g..
oil our reasoning is done. we err in
evit2b:y in our conclusions. which is a
rather serious matter and vet not at
all OF lnfreQGent occurrence. Want of
precision in the terms of a syllogism
Vitiates the conclusion, and misunder-
standing Of the terms has precisely the
same effect. And not only in our rea-
soning processes, strictly so called Is
this result produced; ii is impossible
TO take In the true meaning of a writ
ten passage or OF a spoken discourse
without clear understanding of the
terms employed. Very awkward reVe-
lations of supposedly well educated
mems ignorance of the purport of
plain English words and phrases are
daily made in the law courts when
1uries are selected. There is good
ground for believing that even after
selection has been made and the un-
nttest rejected, the jurors accepted do
In many cases fail to understand the
arguments OF counsel or the charge of
the court, through ignorance of the
meaning of terms neither abstruse nor
technical.
''The very general repugnance for
reading anything more solid than the
daily newspaper is due mostly to un-
acquaintance with the meanings of
words rather than to unwontedness
of the thoughts conveyed. or inherent
difficulty OF the subject-matters Read
Ing gives people headaches. or they
drop to sleep over a book; the reason
In most cases is that the reader has
but Indifferent knowledge of the Ian
guage Of the book. Hand to the same
man-let II be merchant-the days
prices current, or years prices cur
rent, and he will peruse that to the
end with avidity and without weari-
ness; but give him history of prices,
or treatise on the theory of price,
and the book will be dropped before
half an hour is past: the man act
ually cannot follow the thought of the
author; he has not sufficient acQuaint-
ance with his mother tongue for that;
he is mercantile man in soul and
mind, as well as in daily occupation"
The result of this commercIalism in
lought is treated in the chapter on the
egradation of words and phrases, a
Aragraph OF which is as follows:
THE degradation Of the word sacri-
fee (noun and verb is worthy of the
nIEL pace IN llit G4SA VI "blt1 Af-
graded The process Of degradation
IS easily traced I'm the sequence Of the
words meaning in a dictionary: !.
Immolation; Offering TO God for atone
ment. Thanksgiving. or the like;
victim slain at the altar; also the VIC
tim itself. 2. In the figurative sense.
foregoing inferior good for the sake
of higher. as when one renounces the
world and its gauds to save his soul.
g. Renouncing one good for another,
vi fnfarTnv
vanity for the sake Of politeness.'
4. Amy self-denial or hardship volun-
tarily undertaken: parents sacrifice
their own interest 20 that Of their
children. 5. Finally the foregoing Of
a positive profit, as when a dry goods
man sacrifices scent pocket hand
kerchiefs by cutting the price to
cents. this Is always called a great
sacrifice, the sacrifice by eminence,
as il were. Now, when we consider
that among the pagan Romans, from
whom We get the word sacrifice
neither that nor any allied word
was ever profaned in popular
usage. so far as the eXtant Latin lii
erature enables US TO judge, 1t is a
singular thing that in the English
language the most familiar and most
frequent use of the word sacrifice is
In the sense of a selling or disposing
Of goods a a price less than they have
cost And yet the speaking
nations have for many centuries been
taught 10 regard all their highest in
terests in time and eternity as hang
Ing on one act of sacrifice. Is this
mere accident2 But
there Is no such thing as an accident
In nature; nothing without its cause;
and language, even the English Ian
guage. Is a part of nature.
Some curious reflections on the max
g Of English are as follows:
when the Normans conquered
England, the land and its inhabitants
became the property Of the conquer
ors. The language is full of monu-
ments which tell which race did the
work, titled the fields produced the
food, and the wealth, and which race
enjoyed the fruits Of all the labor
THE Saxon churl tended the herds
and fiocks OF his master, and was priv
ileged to call them in his own barbar-
a l..