This arises from the fact that English is not a dead language, like Latin or Hebrew, but a living one; and it evinces its life, just as is true of all living organisms, by taking in new material and casting off old wastes continually. New words come into use every year; of these, some pass at once into reputable and permanent usage, while others tumble about for a while in conversation and the newspapers and then vanish. In the same way old words go out of use, become obsolete, when the occasion for them has passed. Of course, then, there is a period in the history of every new word when it is too new to have made its place in the language good; and a word may have become so old as to sound not earnest and practical but merely fantastic and odd. To know the real status of a word is the claim that usage has upon us. Good usage is the only real authority in the choice of reputable words; and what good usage is, in particular cases, it is not always easy to ascertain. The surest way to find it is by becoming familiar with the thought and expression of the best writers; it is to them that we must go for authority, rather than to the newspapers, or even to the latest popular novel. Authors, like words, must be tested by time before their expression may become a law for others. Rules definitive of good Usage.- As good usage is mainly a matter of detail, we must study the individual case rather than depend on general rules; all that these rules can do, therefore, is to indicate the lines along which inquiry and caution should proceed. 8. Be watchful of words that have newly come into vogue. Not that we are wholly to abstain from using newly coined words; that would restrict the writer's liberty too much; but we should watch them, and make sure beforehand whether they have attained to good and standard repute. So long as their usage is doubtful it is safer not to employ them in writing at all. Many new words come into fashion through the newspapers, and probably in most cases are employed in the effort to say things smartly or humorously. Others are coined in the heat of political or social discussion, and for a time, as they express what everybody is talking about, serve a useful purpose; but no one can predict whether they are to become permanent literary words or not. NOTE. To those whose culture extends no farther than the newspapers, such words as to suicide, to sculp, to burglarize, to wire, walkist, speculatist, agriculturalist, reportorial, authorial, may seem entirely good and reputable; and yet in literature that is designed for permanence or standard use such words have the unhappy quality of lowering the tone of any passage where they are admitted. Words that have figured in political and social conflict, like bulldoze, buncombe, gerrymander, boycott, mugwump, have in some cases become standard, in others have died with their occasion or survive as words of doubtful repute. 9. Be too well informed to use slang and provincialisms. Slang is to a people's language what an epidemic disease is to their bodily constitution; just as catching and just as inevitable in its run. While it is in vogue the streets and the newspapers are full of it. Like a disease, too, it is severest where the sanitary conditions are most neglected, where there is least culture and thought to counteract it. In such places slang words crowd out seriously chosen words, and become only counters rather than coins of thought. Therefore be so well informed, cultivate fineness and fullness of vocabulary so assiduously, that when a slang expression rises to your mind you can conquer it by something more meaning. Do not let slang master you, but be its master. NOTE. - To give examples of current slang is to run the risk of recording expressions that will soon be out of vogue and forgotten; but the following examples will at least illustrate what is or has lately been current: “He was badly cut up by the news"; "I was awfully sat upon"; "Everybody jumped upon him"; "Not by a long chalk"; "He settles down to make his pile"; "I am two dollars shy." Of the same nature as slang, and subject to the same cautions, are the corruptions and contractions that find their way so easily into conversation; as, confab, photo, postal, gent, pants, compo, cute, party for person, tasty for tasteful. A provincialism is a word used only in a limited part of the country. Outside of its district it sounds like slang. It represents, therefore, not general and literary but limited usage; it needs to be known and recognized for what it is, but not obtruded where it does not belong. ILLUSTRATIONS. In some parts of the country people instead of saying I think, say I reckon; in other parts, I allow; in others, I calculate (probably pronounced calkilate); in still others, I guess. — To say, "He favors his parents" is in some parts the way of saying he resembles his parents; some people call a person mad when they mean he is angry, and clever when they mean he is amiable or goodnatured. To use like with a verb (as in "Do like I do") is a provincialism; so is right for very (as in "I studied right hard.") 10. Be too earnest to use antiquated words and forms. Some words and forms, which in ordinary speech have gone out of use, have when introduced into written dis course a quaint effect, as if the writer were trying to imitate some old model. Herein lies the objection to the employment of such obsolete words. They do not sound as if the user were fully in earnest; they draw attention to the oddity of the form and by so much withdraw it from the importance of the object that the writer has at heart. EXAMPLES. -The most common examples of the use of the old style are found in the pronouns thee, thou, thine, and in the verbal forms in -eth and -est. Following is a list of the most frequently used archaisms: Perchance, peradventure, anon, erst, hight, cleped, yclept, whilom, behest, quoth, iwis, erewhile, verily, yea, eke, wist, wot, trow, twain, wight, irk, list (for will), ye (for the), yt (for that). All these words, or most of them, have their use; but in ordinary prose, the prose of conversation and familiar discourse, they have an estranging effect. For both old words and new, therefore, the often quoted rule laid down by Pope is eminently sensible and safe: "In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, II. Exercises in conforming Words to Usage. It will be observed that the employment of an expression not in good standard usage-a provincialism or an archaism— gives a different sound to the passage; lowers its tone, or makes it sound fantastic. This will help us understand what is meant by differences in style; especially when we compare the effect produced by such means with the effect produced by bookish and pretentious words. 1. Correct the following sentences, applying all the rules hitherto given. Quite unbeknown to his party he had sent in his declinature just after the debate had been closured, The villains had went in for a big steal; it was hard lines, therefore, when their pal gave them away. It was this man's business to overlook the whole establishment. The criminal is to be electrocuted on Friday, the fourth of May. He allowed that I hadn't ought to locate in that section; it was not a healthy neighborhood, he said. The treatment that the doctor had prescribed previous was considered as a sure preventative of this species of disease. The action of this man was quite exceptionable, and so aggravating that no one can blame the employer for being on his ear about it. Immediately he saw me he turned partially around and seemed to be looking everywhere for some means of escape. It is a very sightly place, and the atmosphere is good, but the water is not healthy. He is nowhere near so smart as he pretends to be; that you can see with half an eye. "I become entoiled in their labyrinthine circumplications and multiflexuous anfractuosities." 1 His whole report was saturated with couleur de rose. David went to town to get his old watch fixed, but the jeweller told him the thing was no good. He had travelled quite a piece before his comrades put in an appearance. He umpired the game to the satisfaction of all; and that is saying a good deal when we reflect how ready everybody is to jump on the umpire. 1 Imitation of Dr. Johnson, Watson, "Excursions in Criticism,” p. 156. |