The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1951-12-21
just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment Considered or lnconsideraie

There are things you know which you think YOU
do not know; there are more things you think you
know which, as fact, you do not This is a truth
tried and even trite, but not sefevident 1t is this
truth that makes gambling profitable business,
so profitable indeed that it arouses the envy of
tax-hungry government and stirs addlepate states
men to frantic effort Of legislation to part
Of the spoils
Mark Twain says there are four things which
no one ordinary citizen knows: he knows one Of
them, maybe or two, even three, but never all
four Only few men know these four things
and they have carefully learned them, and now
make bTlng aeccntr. bets on them. The four
things are; ]. Where Herzegovina is; 2 How to pro-
nounce the word 'pariah;" 3 What unique" means
strictly defined; and a. How far it is from Australia
10 New Zealand.
There is joker in the list of course; it is the
word 'pariah" Perhaps, in Mark Twains day there
was agreement among photographers the pro-
nouncement OF this word it is not to-day. Indeed,
the swift advance of iiteracy among us has so slack
ened the rules of accurate speech that almost any
pronunciation Of almost any word can be backed
by the authority Of a reputable dictionary. The
latest Webster for instance justifies the use of
Address Up to about five years ago the profess
sor of English could say with the most rigid eerti-
tude, There is such word in the English Ian
meaning, the word is ADDRESS, The dictionary
even authorizes inquiry" in the face of all the
laws Of logic and etymology which call for in
QUlry"
Mark Twans Joker in the list of four questions
was that which asks the distance from Australia
to New Zealand He says that most people think New
Zealand lies Immediately east of Australia and that
you cross to II on bridge There is no bridge how
ever, and the distance to be bridgcd is something
more than 1900 miles
In addition TO the four things which so few
know there are numberless other things peculiar
to the ignorance of individuals. We are all aware
of gaps in knowledge; gaps that We intend to fill
and usually could fill by so simple process TAX
ing down the BIG dictionary consulting an ency-
clopeda. But somehow seldom get around to
the necessary measures. Even when we do we often
lose the knowledge afterwards. man we know con
fesseS that he has looked up the word "arete (es-
Sental 10 crossword puzzlersl six eight times yet
he is not sure this minute whether il is pronounced
in two syllables or three. He knows il means a
mountain ridge.
70 be sure, there arc things hard to come at in
the books of authority Sam johnson, who fancied
himself Judge and critic of cooks spoke of the in
eptitude of certain people (the French, think
in preparing made dishes" Now what is a made
dish?" Is it merely matter of soups and pastry,
or soups lneuded2 II could hardly mean the
earsomc concoctions one sees to-day on the back
covers of mapaZlneS.-thmgS that seem rather to be.
long to the art department than to the culinary de.
partment of human affairs. Such things we're hardly
known in Johnsons day, yet there may have been
things quite as picturesque and silly.
The same Sam johnson once said he had never
had enough of @wall fruit" The dictionary would
probably tell us with obs, after The terml
what wall fruit is, If only we could get around TO
looking IL up Commentators on johnson, including
the valuable krutch and the inconsequental Nor.
man repeat the remark about wall fruit but fail ia
say just what wall fruit u.s. Peaches one suspects
from the context One also suspects that the com
mentators, despite their glib use Of the term, in
the fog about the precise meaning OF Johnson's wall
fruit
Dickens puzzles us with "pettitoes which the
friends Of Mrs. Bardell were preparing to enjoy
when Sam Weller. in the part of private eye for
Mr. Pickwick, called upon them 1t seems that away
back yondcf in the energetic days of youth we look
ed mp that term pettiloes' and found that It had ne
affinity with potatoes but rather with pigs feet
However can't be sure, and life runs on.
Mark Twains word unique" has passed int,
newspaper English a synonym for rare OF unus
ual Strictly, the word means the and only
Nothing has claim to the name unique unless 1t i
the only thing of its kind in the whole universe Blu
we often hear and read Of oddity a
unique, and even rather unique which is a
absurd an expression somewhat dead Fo
unique" is an absolute word, admitting no degree
comparisons
Speaking Of terms often used and not always IN
dcrstood, il would be interesting TO ask group 0
modern youngsters 10 write down the meaning 0
Christmas Maybe should not confne the eS
pertinent to youngsters.