The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1902-10-03

himself to computing how much
time, tongue and combustion of
nerve.cell are wasted out of a
mans lifetime by needlessly
speaking the word every" the
aforesaid individual would be a
genuine b enefactor of his race.
This very small word is very
often used in the English language
when a sentence would be very
much stronger and the meaning
very much more forcible without
it. If a merchant is successful in
his business through judicious
advertising in the Statesman, it is
not enough for people to say that
he is prosperous, but he is very
prosperous. A man is not stingy,
but very stingy, when the one
good strong word "stingy" would
convey the meaning forcibly. The
minister is not simply a learned
man, but a very learned man. A
girl is not merely handsome and
attractive she is very handsome
and very attractive. The Qualifer
has become so common that it is
weakening to the word it is joined
to. In nine cases out of ten where
EVERY is used to intensity human
speech, a single bold word with
out the adverb would hit the
meaning like a hammer. Brutus
did not say, "As Caesar was very
valiant l honor him but as he
was very ambitious l slew him"
every" seems to be a word
designed by Providence for young
ladies to express their feelings
with. Our Columbia girls prob
ably could not get along without
it, but the English of the rest of
us would be strengthened if the
little qualifier was relegated almost
wholly to the fair class to whom
it belongs. 1t creeps into our
literature as insidlously as the
measles into a family of fifteen,
and breaks out in the most un-
expected places, even in high
toned and "cultivated" writing.
Thus a newspaper, which poses as
an authority on the art Of literary
composition, prints a description
of a brilliant society wedding.
Everybody and everything was
very much this or that. The bride
was a very charming and highly
accomplished young lady, the
groom was a very prominent
business man, the bridal dress was
very stylish and very deliberately
trimmed, the floral decorations
were very beautiful, the presents
were numerous and very costly,
the minister performed the cere-
mony in a very impressive manner,
etc. Everybody was either "very'
or Exceedingly" or Extremely"
or "most highly" something. The
account bristled with su~perlatives.
Did you ever notice the "veries''
in a column of advertisements in
any of the city papersf The
writer has often combined in
s~truction with amusement in this
way. One general housework''
applicant was not content with
being a respectable woman and a
good cook" She was "a very re.
spectacle woman and a very good
cook" 1t should be enough, in
all conscience, for a girl to say
that she is a superior waitress.
Superior means better than good,
but n applicant tacks on the
word every" too, and thus be
comes very better than good.
Next, a chambermaid who is
Every honest and extraordinarily
clear and very careful about her
work." wants a place. Another
describes herself as a every
capable young lady, who has the
very best city references" OF
course she is far superior to the
girl who is only a capable young
woman, with the best city refer
ences.
Tho olimox of uarinaoc hnuayar