The Washington times., 1920-02-29

ospt in the nursery '',sanghty,
sssmmy, dad, dolly pssk-a-ooo'
Synonyms; different words
mesning the same thing, and rich
ness to language. but no writer
should hunt for synonyms 10 avoid
using the same word twice. Inc
badly trained reporter will write
rat" the first time, rodent" the
second; cat and canine, horse and
equine. There Is no worse news.
paper English. Synonyms that
may be used properly because OF
different shades of meaning Illus
trste admirably the richness Of
our English language, which alb
sorbed Sanscrit through the Greek,
Greek through the Latin, Latin
through the French, and Norman,
Saxon and German, Basque and
Celtic words from many pirate in
vaders.
A sample of richness in syn
onyms will be found in different
words that mean Ito ask" For
instance, request, beseech, pray,
beg, petition, supplicate, entreat,
implore, solicit, urge, crave impor-
tune" You may think OF others,
all carrying the same idea
The more common the thought
or feeling expressed, the greater
the number Of synonyms. We are
all imperfect, therefore sometimes
angry. How many synonyms for
that one word angry" "incensed,
vexed, resentful, irritated, en-
ragged, furious, indignant, exasper-
ated, irate, infiamed, hot, infuri-
ated." Even that doesn't satisfy
us and we have wild with anger"
boiling with rage" burning with
indignation" etc.
/, We have many words to express
one thing, and occasionally one
word may express several things.
Property" may represent what
we own, or the stage settings Of
the theater, or an individuals
qualities.
Too many words carrying Diff
ferent meanings for the same
word or sound mean poverty in
language. The miserable Chinese
language gives an sorts of mean
ingy to the same monosyllable, ac-
cording to the pitch Of the voice.
It is worth while to study ety.
mology, the origin Of words. You
use language better II you under
stand it.
Robert Louis Stevenson, who
wrote admirable second-class Eng
lsh, that is to say, English smooth
and beautiful, but not powerful,
often read page or two Of the
dictionary. Every word represents
ages of. development and intense
meaning. ,..
Language means more to You
when you know something about
origins Of words.
Sincere, il mads Of two Latin
words ffss corr, meaning 'without
wax. III other words, sincere
means pure honey, no wax mixed
with it, the genuine article.
Depend" means, "to hang
FROM the Latin is, "dependo"
s"I hang" ITO thrill, means lit
orally. to bore, or to pierce. 1t is
about the same as ITO drill" Your
nostril, formerly spelt "nose
thrill" means the hole drilled in
your nose. When you are
thrilled" hole is bored into
your emotions.
You must hunt a long way for
the origin Of certain words. In
prison they use "bilboes" for
"shackles." The word comes from
Bilboa, a place in Spain famous
! for its steel.
4 The word "chouse," meaning to
adefraud, comes from the Turkish
3"chaush," meaning interpreter.
Three hundred years ago, some
Turkish "chaush" swindled every
body, and a new name entered the
I language.
The man of fair education grad
4ually acquires two different kinds
sof speech, one learned, the other
popular. The less you use learned
peech in writing, the better.
Samuel Johnson is famous for his
conversation. Few read his books.
He used learned language in for
NAL writing and popular language
in conversation and letters.