Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language Part 8

321. Be careful to distinguish between _pencil_, an instrument for writing, and _pensile_, meaning _hanging down_.

322. _To yank_ is a vulgarism, meaning _to twitch powerfully_.

323. Avoid the slang phrase, "_I used to could_." Say, "_I could formerly_."

324. "She _takes on_ about it greatly:" say, _grieves_.

325. "He _staved off_ the case two days longer:" say, he _put off_, or _delayed_.

326. "He made a great _splurge_:" say, he made a _bl.u.s.tering effort_.

327. "I _reckon_ it is going to rain:" say, I _think_, or _expect_.

_Reckon_ applies to _calculation_.

328. "The basket is _pretty large_:" avoid, if possible, the use of the word _pretty_ out of its legitimate signification; the language abounds with subst.i.tutes more elegant.

329. "She weighs a _plaguy sight_:" say, _a great deal_.

330. "He _made tracks_ at sundown:" say, _he left_, or _escaped_.

331. "He was compelled to _fork over the cash_:" say, _to pay over_.

332. "_To flunk out_" is a vulgar expression for _to retire through fear_; the most that can be tolerated is, _to sneak out_.

333. "When last observed, he was _going at full chisel_:" say, _at the top of his speed_.

334. "That bill is a _counterfeit_:" the last syllable is p.r.o.nounced as if written _fit_, and not _feet_.

335. "I am very much _obliged_ to you:" do not say _obleeged_.

336. The following sentence affords an example of three words of similar p.r.o.nunciation, but different signification: "It is not easy to _pare_ a _pear_ with a _pair_ of scissors."

337. "The _robber_ entered the dwelling, and secretly carried off the silver:" say, _thief_; a _robber_ attacks violently, and commits his depredations by main force; a _thief_ is one who uses secrecy and deception.

338. "Go and _fetch_ me my riding-whip:" say, _bring_. _Fetch_ means to _go and bring_; _go and fetch_ is repet.i.tion.

339. _To leave_ and _to quit_ are often used as synonymous terms, though improperly; _to leave_ implies a design of returning soon--_to quit_, an absence of a long time, or forever; as, in Shakespeare:--

"----the very rats Instinctively had _quit_ it."--_Tempest_, i. 2.

"I shall _leave_ my house for a month before next Autumn; but I shall not be obliged to _quit_ it until after Christmas."

340. _Mute_ and _dumb_. A _dumb_ man has not the power to speak; a _mute_ man either does not choose, or is not allowed to speak. It is, therefore, more proper to say of a person who can neither hear nor speak, that he is "deaf and _dumb_," than that he is a "deaf _mute_."

341. _Strong_ and _robust_. These words are frequently misused: a _strong_ man is able to bear a heavy burden, but not necessarily for a long time; a _robust_ man bears _continual_ fatigue with ease; a _strong_ man may be active and nimble; while an excess of muscular development, together with a clumsiness of action, exclude these qualities from the _robust_ man:--

"_Strong_ as a tower in hope, I cry Amen!"

SHAKESPEARE, _Richard II._ i. 3.

"For one who, though of drooping mien, had yet From nature's kindliness received a frame _Robust_ as ever rural labor bred."

WORDSWORTH, _Excursion_, VI.

342. "Isaac Newton _invented_ the law of gravitation:" say, _discovered_.

"Galileo _discovered_ the telescope:" say, _invented_.

343. To _hear_ and to _listen_ have each distinct degrees of meaning. To _hear_ implies no effort or particular attention. To _listen_ implies some eagerness to hear. An old proverb says, "They that _listen_ seldom _hear_ any good of themselves."

344. _Ought_ and _should_ both express obligation, but the latter is not so binding as the former. "Children _ought to_ love their parents, and _should_ be neat in their appearance."

345. _Alone_ and _only_ are often misapplied. "He _only_ could do it,"

means that no other but himself could do it; "he _alone_ could do it,"

should mean that he, without the a.s.sistance of others, could do it.

346. "Please the pigs."--(_Old Proverb._) This is a corruption from "Please the _pyx_." The _pyx_ is the receptacle which contains the consecrated wafer on Romish altars; and the exclamation is equal to "Please G.o.d." This corruption is as curious a one as that of "tawdry" from "'t Audrey," or "at St. Audrey's Fair," famous for the sale of frippery--showy, cheap, and worthless.

347. "The _partridge_ is a delightful bird:" do not say _patridge_. Also, do not say _pasley_ for _parsley_.

348. "After this, let him hide his _diminished head_:" this common phrase is a poetical quotation from Milton, and is therefore proper to be used even when it does not _literally_ express the idea:--

"At whose sight all the stars Hide their _diminished heads_."

349. "That bourne from whence no traveler returns." How often are precisely these words spoken? They are improperly quoted from Shakespeare, in Hamlet, and correctly read as follows:--

"That undiscovered country, from whose bourne No traveler returns."

350. "Bring me my _waistcoat_:" p.r.o.nounce as if written _waste-coat_, and not _weskut_. It should rhyme, as it did in an old ballad, with "_laced coat_."

351. "Your _bonnet_ to its right use."--(_Shakespeare:_) never say _bunnet_.

352. "It is not cold enough to wear my _gloves_:" p.r.o.nounce as if written _gluvs_, and to rhyme with _loves_. In "Fair Rosamond" the following ill.u.s.trative stanza occurs:--

"He said he had his _gloves_ from France: The Queen said, 'That can't be: If you go there for _glove-making_, It is without the _g_.'"

353. "_Egad!_ what great good luck!" This word is now inelegantly used, except in certain species of poetry, where it is introduced with much effect, as in the following distich:--

"All tragedies, _egad!_ to me sound oddly; I can no more be serious, than you G.o.dly."

354. "The frigate is now in the Yellow Sea, or _thereabouts_:" say, _thereabout_. This term is a transposed combination of _about there_; there is no such word as _thereabouts_. The same may be said of _hereabouts_, and _whereabouts_.

355. "Whether he will or _no_:" say, _not_. The reason of this correction is clearly seen by supplying what is needed to complete the sense: Whether he will or _will not_.

356. "He looked at it first _lengthways_, then _sideways_:" say, _lengthwise_ and _sidewise_. Also, say _otherwise_ instead of _otherways_.

A n.o.bleman said to his fool, "I am _wise_, and you are _otherwise_."

"Yes," replied his jester, "you are _wise_, and I am _another wise_."

357. If you are a landlord, beware of incorrectly using such an expression as in the following: A landed proprietor went to a tenant with a view of increasing his rent, and said to him, "Neighbor, I am going to _raise your rent_." "Thank you, sir," was the reply, "for I am utterly unable to _raise it myself_."