Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-29
INV one Of ordinary education and In

81
telligence.
For that very reason, doubtless, the
title in question was voted ont OF date
and old fashioned and the word "bacil-
Ii" was substituted. This means, liter
ally. sIittle sticks, - certainly q most
novel definition, but one that scarcely
strikes the average lay mind as being
either lucid or suitable. Nevertheless
1t was accepted, and at last became
familiar to the man In the street
That Of course could not be tolefat-
ed. Imagine bacteriologist using q
word which conveyed any meaning TO
anybody outside his own charmed cir
Gle! The idea is both degrading and
preposterous; so he set to work forth
with and invented q whole host OF ter
rife verbal aliases.
He called them for example, sclliz-
omycetes, neuromuskelzellen, megacoc-
ci and polymorphonuclear leucocytes.
as well as half a hundred other things;
while for the chemical substances In
cidental to the science he invented such
delightful terms as '.tetrahydropara-
methyloxyquinoline" and "tetramethyl'
diarido-tripheny carbinol oxalate.
The craze, too, is getting commoner
among other than scientists. Take the
word .sreeking." for instance, and ask
your friends what they understand BY
it. .sReeking?" one will say. why,
reeking means dripping with moisture,
soaked with wet" You will derive
some amusement from his surprise
when you tell him that reeking means
smoking. steaming." A chimney can
reek. When horse reeks with mois-
ture, IL Is because its flanks smoke ana
steam.
The change from the real meaning to
that given it in popular, present day
phraseology can easily be traced. Any
thing very wet will reek in frosty
weather; SO the wetness has been as
sumed to be the real characteristic OF
reek.
Then there is t:lurid," which nine
people out Of ten use in an entirely
wrong sense. Ask man what color
lurid is, and he may answer correctly.
but the chances are that he will say.
"Red fame, orange or bright yellow"
Of course, lurid means smoky or dull
color. London fog is lurid. Thick. suf-
locating smoke is lurid.
Lurid and livid are almost syn0ny-
nous. Lurid flames are flames choked
and hidden by smoke. A lurid sunset
is not a brilliant one, but one dull and
gray and cheerless.
OF course, the use Of verbal aliases
is not an absolutely new departure. It
is only that we Of this generation IN
our wild strivings after novsity have
so enormously increased and multiplied
them. The taste OF our grandfathers
and great-grandfathers lay rather IN
the direction Of using over and over
again two or three long and uncommon
words.
Thus Observation-Disclosures, as q
synonym of fame. eminence. occurs
and recurs with almost depressing reg
ularity in the plays Of old pre- Eliza-
bethan dramatists and is even used by
Shakespeare on occasion.
1t was partly in ridicule Of the silly
custom of using this and other similar
idiotic verbal doubles. which had sur
vived in part even until his time, that
Rabelais makes Pantagruel speak of
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES engirizequoquemor-
gasachaqueyezinemaffretiding my poor
eye" and ask angrily Of Mr.. Mauhound
whether it was not enough to
have "morcrocastebezast stegrige-
ligoscopapondril,ated us all in our up
per members. but you must also apply
such morderegrippiata birofreluc
Observation-Disclosures to our
shinbones ~ London Tit-BitA