Chapter 9

In a late number of the "London Queen" was the following: "The terms _ladies_ and _gentlemen_ become in themselves vulgarisms when misapplied, and the improper application of the wrong term at the wrong time makes all the difference in the world to ears polite. Thus, calling a man a _gentleman_ when he should be called a _man_, or speaking of a man as a _man_ when he should be spoken of as a _gentleman_; or alluding to a lady as a _woman_ when she should be alluded to as a _lady_, or speaking of a woman as a _lady_ when she should properly be termed a _woman_. Tact and a sense of the fitness of things decide these points, there being no fixed rule to go upon to determine when a man is a _man_ or when he is a _gentleman_; and, although he is far oftener termed the one than the other, he does not thereby lose his attributes of a gentleman. In common parlance, a man is always a _man_ to a man, and never a _gentleman_; to a woman, he is occasionally a _man_ and occasionally a _gentleman_; but a man would far oftener term a woman a _woman_ than he would term her a _lady_. When a man makes use of an adjective in speaking of a lady, he almost invariably calls her a _woman_. Thus, he would say, 'I met a rather agreeable _woman_ at dinner last night'; but he would _not_ say, 'I met an agreeable _lady_'; but he might say, 'A _lady_, a friend of mine, told me,' etc., when he would _not_ say, 'A _woman_, a friend of mine, told me,' etc. Again, a man would say, 'Which of the _ladies_ did you take in to dinner?' He would certainly not say, 'Which of the _women_,' etc.

"Speaking of people _en masse_, it would be to belong to a very advanced school to refer to them in conversation as 'men and women,' while it would be all but vulgar to style them 'ladies and gentlemen,' the compromise between the two being to speak of them as 'ladies and men.' Thus a lady would say, 'I have asked two or three ladies and several men'; she would not say, 'I have asked several men and women'; neither would she say, 'I have asked several ladies and gentlemen.' And, speaking of numbers, it would be very usual to say, 'There were a great many ladies, and but very few men present,' or, 'The ladies were in the majority, so few men being present.' Again, a lady would not say, 'I expect two or three men,' but she would say, 'I expect two or three gentlemen.' When people are on ceremony with each other [_one another_], they might, perhaps, in speaking of a man, call him a _gentleman_; but, otherwise, it would be more usual to speak of him as a _man_. Ladies, when speaking of each other [_one another_], usually employ the term _woman_ in preference to that of _lady_. Thus they would say, 'She is a very good-natured _woman_,' 'What sort of a _woman_ is she?' the term _lady_ being entirely out of place under such circumstances. Again, the term young _lady_ gives place as far as possible to the term _girl_, although it greatly depends upon the amount of intimacy existing as to which term is employed."

LANGUAGE. A note in Worcester's Dictionary says: "_Language_ is a very general term, and is not strictly confined to utterance by words, as it is also expressed by the countenance, by the eyes, and by signs. _Tongue_ refers especially to an original language; as, 'the Hebrew _tongue_.' The modern languages are derived from the original _tongues_." If this be correct, then he who speaks French, German, English, Spanish, and Italian, may properly say that he speaks five _languages_, but only one _tongue_.

LAY--LIE. Errors are frequent in the use of these two irregular verbs. _Lay_ is often used for _lie_, and _lie_ is sometimes used for _lay_. This confusion in their use is due in some measure, doubtless, to the circumstance that _lay_ appears in both verbs, it being the imperfect tense of _to lie_. We say, "A mason _lays_ bricks," "A ship _lies_ at anchor," etc. "I must _lie_ down"; "I must _lay_ myself down"; "I must _lay_ this book on the table"; "He _lies_ on the grass"; "He _lays_ his plans well"; "He _lay_ on the grass"; "He _laid_ it away"; "He has _lain_ in bed long enough"; "He has _laid up_ some money," "_in_ a stock," "_down_ the law"; "He is _laying_ out the grounds"; "Ships _lie_ at the wharf"; "Hens _lay_ eggs"; "The ship _lay_ at anchor"; "The hen _laid_ an egg." It will be seen that _lay_ always expresses transitive action, and that _lie_ expresses rest.

"Here _lies_ our sovereign lord, the king, Whose word no man relies on; He never says a foolish thing, Nor ever does a wise one."

--Written on the bedchamber door of Charles II, by the Earl of Rochester.

LEARN. This verb was long ago used as a synonym of _teach_, but in this sense it is now obsolete. To _teach_ is to give instruction; to _learn_ is to take instruction. "I will _learn_, if you will _teach_ me." See TEACH.

LEAVE. There are grammarians who insist that this verb should not be used without an object, as, for example, it is used in such sentences as, "When do you leave?" "I leave to-morrow." The object of the verb--home, town, or whatever it may be--is, of course, understood; but this, say these gentlemen, is not permissible. On this point opinions will, I think, differ; they will, however, not differ with regard to the vulgarity of using _leave_ in the sense of _let_; thus, "_Leave_ me be"; "_Leave_ it alone"; "_Leave_ her be--don't bother her"; "_Leave_ me see it."

LEND. See LOAN.

LENGTHY. This word is of comparatively recent origin, and, though it is said to be an Americanism, it is a good deal used in England. The most careful writers, however, both here and elsewhere, much prefer the word _long_: "a _long_ discussion," "a _long_ discourse," etc.

LENIENCY. Mr. Gould calls this word and _lenience_ "two philological abortions." _Lenity_ is undoubtedly the proper word to use, though both Webster and Worcester do recognize _leniency_ and _lenience_.

LESS. This word is much used instead of _fewer_. _Less_ relates to quantity; _fewer_ to number. Instead of, "There were not _less_ than twenty persons present," we should say, "There were not _fewer_ than twenty persons present."

LESSER. This form of the comparative of _little_ is accounted a corruption of _less_. It may, however, be used instead of _less_ with propriety in verse, and also, in some cases, in prose. We may say, for example, "Of two evils choose the _less_," or "the _lesser_." The latter form, in sentences like this, is the more euphonious.

LIABLE. Richard Grant White, in inveighing against the misuse of this word, cites the example of a member from a rural district, who called out to a man whom he met in the village, where he was in the habit of making little purchases: "I say, mister, kin yer tell me whar I'd be _li'ble_ to find some beans?" See, also, APT.

LIE. See LAY.

LIKE--AS. Both these words express similarity; _like_ (adjective) comparing things, _as_ (adverb) comparing action, existence, or quality. Like is followed by an object only, and does not admit of a verb in the same construction. _As_ must be followed by a verb expressed or understood. We say, "He looks _like_ his brother," or "He looks _as_ his brother _looks_." "Do _as_ I do," not "_like_ I do." "You must speak _as_ James does," not "_like_ James does." "He died _as_ he had lived, _like_ a dog." "It is _as_ blue _as_ indigo"; i. e., "as indigo is."

LIKE, TO. See LOVE.

LIKELY. See APT.

LIT. This form of the past participle of the verb _to light_ is now obsolete. "Have you _lighted_ the fire?" "The gas is _lighted_." _Het_ for _heated_ is a similar, but much greater, vulgarism.

LOAN--LEND. There are those who contend that there is no such verb as _to loan_, although it has been found in our literature for more than three hundred years. Whether there is properly such a verb or not, it is quite certain that it is only those having a vulgar _penchant_ for big words who will prefer it to its synonym _lend_. Better far to say "_Lend_ me your umbrella" than "_Loan_ me your umbrella."

LOCATE--SETTLE. The use of the verb _to locate_ in the sense of _to settle_ is said to be an Americanism. Although the dictionaries recognize _to locate_ as a neuter verb, as such it is marked "rarely used," and, in the sense of _to settle_, it is among the vulgarisms that careful speakers and writers are studious to avoid. A man _settles_, not _locates_, in Nebraska. "Where do you intend to _settle_?" not _locate_. See, also, SETTLE.

LOGGERHEADS. "In the mean time France is at _loggerheads internally_."--"New York Herald," April 29, 1881. Loggerheads _internally_?!

LOOKS BEAUTIFULLY. It is sometimes interesting to note the difference between _vulgar_ bad grammar and _genteel_ bad grammar, or, more properly, between non-painstaking and painstaking bad grammar. The former uses, for example, adjectives instead of adverbs; the latter uses adverbs instead of adjectives. The former says, "This bonnet is trimmed _shocking_"; the latter says, "This bonnet looks _shockingly_." In the first sentence the epithet qualifies the verb _is trimmed_, and consequently should have its adverbial form--_shockingly_; in the second sentence the epithet qualifies the _appearance_--a noun--of the bonnet, and consequently should have its adjectival form--_shocking_. The second sentence means to say, "This bonnet presents a shocking appearance." The bonnet certainly does not really _look_; it is _looked at_, and to the _looker_ its appearance is _shocking_. So we say, in like manner, of a person, that he or she looks _sweet_, or _charming_, or _beautiful_, or _handsome_, or _horrid_, or _graceful_, or _timid_, and so on, always using an adjective. "Miss Coghlan, as Lady Teazle, looked _charmingly_." The grammar of the "New York Herald" would not have been any more incorrect if it had said that Miss Coghlan looked _gladly_, or _sadly_, or _madly_, or _delightedly_, or _pleasedly_. A person may look _sick_ or _sickly_, but in both cases the qualifying word is an adjective. The verbs to _smell_, to _feel_, to _sound_, and to _appear_ are also found in sentences in which the qualifying word must be an adjective and not an adverb. We say, for example, "The rose smells _sweet_"; "The butter smells _good_, or _bad_, or _fresh_"; "I feel _glad_, or _sad_, or _bad_, or _despondent_, or _annoyed_, or _nervous_"; "This construction sounds _harsh_"; "How _delightful_ the country appears!"

On the other hand, to _look_, to _feel_, to _smell_, to _sound_, and to _appear_ are found in sentences where the qualifying word must be an adverb; thus, "He feels his loss _keenly_"; "The king looked _graciously_ on her"; "I smell it _faintly_." We might also say, "He feels _sad_ [adjective], because he feels his loss _keenly_" (adverb); "He appears _well_" (adverb).

The expression, "_She seemed confusedly_, or _timidly_," is not a whit more incorrect than "_She looked beautifully_, or _charmingly_." See ADJECTIVES.

LOVE--LIKE. Men who are at all careful in the selection of language to express their thoughts, and have not an undue leaning toward the superlative, _love_ few things: their wives, their sweethearts, their kinsmen, truth, justice, and their country. Women, on the contrary, as a rule, _love_ a multitude of things, and, among their loves, the thing they perhaps love most is--taffy.

LUGGAGE--BAGGAGE. The former of these words is generally used in England, the latter in America.

LUNCH. This word, when used as a substantive, may at the best be accounted an inelegant abbreviation of _luncheon_. The dictionaries barely recognize it. The proper phraseology to use is, "Have you _lunched_?" or, "Have you had your _luncheon_?" or, better, "Have you had _luncheon_?" as we may in most cases presuppose that the person addressed would hardly take anybody's else luncheon.

LUXURIOUS--LUXURIANT. The line is drawn much more sharply between these two words now than it was formerly. Luxurious was once used, to some extent at least, in the sense of _rank growth_, but now all careful writers and speakers use it in the sense of _indulging_ or _delighting in luxury_. We talk of a _luxurious_ table, a _luxurious_ liver, _luxurious_ ease, _luxurious_ freedom. Luxuriant, on the other hand, is restricted to the sense of _rank_, or _excessive_, growth or production; thus, _luxuriant_ weeds, _luxuriant_ foliage or branches, _luxuriant_ growth.

"Prune the _luxuriant_, the uncouth refine, But show no mercy to an empty line."--Pope.

MAD. Professor Richard A. Proctor, in a recent number of "The Gentleman's Magazine," says: "The word _mad_ in America seems nearly always to mean _angry_. For _mad_, as we use the word, Americans say _crazy_. Herein they have manifestly impaired the language." Have they?

"Now, in faith, Gratiano, You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief; An 'twere, to me, I would be _mad at_ it." --"Merchant of Venice."

"And being exceedingly _mad_ against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."--Acts xxvi, II.

MAKE A VISIT. The phrase "_make_ a visit," according to Dr. Hall, whatever it once was, is no longer English.

MALE. See FEMALE.

MARRY. There has been some discussion, at one time and another, with regard to the use of this word. Is John Jones married _to_ Sally Brown or _with_ Sally Brown, or are they married to each other? Inasmuch as the woman loses her name in that of the man to whom she is wedded, and becomes a member of his family, not he of hers--inasmuch as, with few exceptions, it is her life that is merged in his--it would seem that, _properly_, Sally Brown is married _to_ John Jones, and that this would be the proper way to make the announcement of their having been wedded, and not John Jones _to_ Sally Brown.

There is also a difference of opinion as to whether the active or the passive form is preferable in referring to a person's wedded state. In speaking definitely of the _act_ of marriage, the passive form is necessarily used with reference to either spouse. "John Jones was married to Sally Brown on Dec. 1, 1881"; not, "John Jones _married_ Sally Brown" on such a date, for (unless they were Quakers) some third person married him to her and her to him. But, in speaking indefinitely of the _fact_ of marriage, the active form is a matter of course. "Whom did John Jones marry?" "He married Sally Brown." "John Jones, when he had sown his wild oats, married [married himself, as the French say] and settled down." _Got married_ is a vulgarism.

MAY. In the sense of _can_, _may_, in a negative clause, has become obsolete. "Though we _may_ say a horse, we _may_ not say a ox." The first _may_ here is permissible; not so, however, the second, which should be _can_.

MEAT. At table, we ask for and offer beef, mutton, veal, steak, turkey, duck, etc., and do not ask for nor offer _meat_, which, to say the least, is inelegant. "Will you have [not, take] another piece of _beef_ [not, of _the_ beef]?" not, "Will you have another piece of _meat_?"

MEMORANDUM. The plural is _memoranda_, except when the singular means a book; then the plural is _memorandums_.

MERE. This word is not unfrequently misplaced, and sometimes, as in the following sentence, in consequence of being misplaced, it is changed to an adverb: "It is true of men as of God, that words _merely_ meet with no response." What the writer evidently intended to say is, that _mere_ words meet with no response.

METAPHOR. An _implied_ comparison is called a metaphor; it is a more terse form of expression than the simile. Take, for example, this sentence from Spenser's "Philosophy of Style": "As, in passing through the crystal, beams of white light are decomposed into the colors of the rainbow; so, in traversing the soul of the poet, the colorless rays of truth are transformed into brightly-tinted poetry." Expressed in metaphors, this becomes: "The white light of truth, in traversing the many-sided, transparent soul of the poet, is refracted into iris-hued poetry."

Worcester's definition of a _metaphor_ is: "A figure of speech founded on the resemblance which one object is supposed to bear, in some respect, to another, or a figure by which a word is transferred from a subject to which it properly belongs to another, in such a manner that a _comparison is implied, though not formally expressed_; a comparison or simile comprised in a word; as, 'Thy word is a _lamp_ to my feet.'" A _metaphor_ differs from a _simile_ in being expressed without any sign of comparison; thus, "the _silver_ moon" is a _metaphor_; "the moon is bright as silver" is a simile. Examples:

"But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill."

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased-- Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow?"

"At length Erasmus Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age, And drove those holy Vandals off the stage."

"Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent."

METONYMY. The rhetorical figure that puts the effect for the cause, the cause for the effect, the container for the thing contained, the sign, or symbol, for the thing signified, or the instrument for the agent, is called _metonymy_.

"One very common species of _metonymy_ is, when the badge is put for the office. Thus we say the _miter_ for the priesthood; the _crown_ for royalty; for military occupation we say the _sword_; and for the literary professions, those especially of theology, law, and physic, the common expression is the _gown_."--Campbell.

Dr. Quackenbos, in his "Course of Composition and Rhetoric," says: "_Metonymy_ is the exchange of names between things related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on the relation of, 1. Cause and effect; as,'They have _Moses_ and _the prophets_,' i. e., their writings; '_Gray hairs_ should be respected,' i. e., _old age_. 2. Progenitor and posterity; as, 'Hear, O Israel!' i. e., _descendants of Israel_. 3. Subject and attribute; as, '_Youth_ and _beauty_ shall be laid in dust,' i. e., _the young_ and _beautiful_. 4. Place and inhabitant; as, 'What _land_ is so barbarous as to allow this injustice?' i. e., what _people_. 5. Container and thing contained; as, 'Our _ships_ next opened fire,' i. e., our _sailors_. 6. Sign and thing signified; as, 'The _scepter_ shall not depart from Judah,' i. e., _kingly_ power. 7. Material and thing made of it; as, 'His _steel_ gleamed on high,' i. e., his _sword_."

"Petitions having proved unsuccessful, it was determined to approach the throne more boldly."

MIDST, THE. See IN OUR MIDST.

MIND--CAPRICIOUS. "Lord Salisbury's _mind_ is _capricious_."--"Tribune," April 3, 1881. See EQUANIMITY OF MIND.

MISPLACED CLAUSES. In writing and speaking, it is as important to give each clause its proper place as it is to place the words properly. The following are a few instances of misplaced clauses and adjuncts: "All these circumstances brought close to us a state of things which we never thought to have witnessed [_to witness_] in peaceful England. _In the sister island, indeed, we had read of such horrors_, but now they were brought home to our very household hearth."--Swift. Better: "We had read, indeed, of such horrors occurring in the sister island," etc.

"The savage people in many places in America, except the government of families, have no government at all, and live at this day in that savage manner as I have said before."--Hobbes. Better: "The savage people ... in America have no government at all, except the government of families," etc.

"I shall have a comedy for you, in a season or two at farthest, that I believe will be worth your acceptance."--Goldsmith. Bettered: "In a season or two at farthest, I shall have a comedy for you that I believe will be worth your acceptance."

Among the following examples of the wrong placing of words and clauses, there are some that are as amusing as they are instructive: "This orthography is regarded as normal _in England_." What the writer intended was, "in England _as normal_"--a very different thought. "The Normal School is a commodious building capable of accommodating three hundred students four stories high." "HOUSEKEEPER.--A highly respectable middle-aged Person who has been filling the above Situation with a gentleman for upwards of eleven years and who is now deceased is anxious to meet a similar one." "TO PIANO-FORTE MAKERS.--A lady keeping a first-class school requiring a good piano, is desirous of receiving a daughter of the above in exchange for the same." "The Moor, seizing a bolster boiling over with rage and jealousy, smothers her." "The Dying Zouave the most wonderful mechanical representation ever seen of the last breath of life being shot in the breast and life's blood leaving the wound." "Mr. T---- presents his compliments to Mr. H----, and I have got a hat that is not his, and, if he have a hat that is not yours, no doubt they are the expectant ones." See ONLY.

MISPLACED WORDS. "Of all the faults to be found in writing," says Cobbett, "this is one of the most common, and perhaps it leads to the greatest number of misconceptions. All the words may be the proper words to be used upon the occasion, and yet, by a _misplacing_ of a part of them, the meaning may be wholly destroyed; and even made to be the contrary of what it ought to be."

"I asked the question with no other intention than to set the gentleman free from the necessity of silence, and to give him an opportunity of mingling on equal terms with a polite assembly from which, _however uneasy_, he could not then _escape_, _by a kind introduction_ of the only subject on which I believed him to be able to speak with propriety."--Dr. Johnson.

"This," says Cobbett, "is a very bad sentence altogether. '_However uneasy_' applies to _assembly_ and not to _gentleman_. Only observe how easily this might have been avoided. 'From which _he_, _however uneasy_, could not then escape.' After this we have, '_he_ could not then _escape_, _by a kind introduction_.' We know what is _meant_; but the Doctor, with all his _commas_, leaves the sentence confused. Let us see whether we can not make it clear. 'I asked the question with no other intention than, by a kind introduction of the only subject on which I believed him to be able to speak with propriety, to set the gentleman free from the necessity of silence, and to give him an opportunity of mingling on equal terms with a polite assembly from which he, however uneasy, could not then escape.'"

"Reason is the glory of human nature, and one of the chief eminences whereby we are raised above our fellow-creatures, the brutes, _in this lower world_."--Doctor Watts' "Logic."

"I have before showed an error," Cobbett remarks, "in the _first_ sentence of Doctor Watts' work. This is the _second_ sentence. The words _in this lower world_ are not words _misplaced_ only; they are wholly _unnecessary_, and they do great harm; for they do these two things: first, they imply _that there are brutes in the higher world_; and, second, they excite a doubt _whether we are raised above those brutes_.

"I might greatly extend the number of my extracts from these authors; but here, I trust, are enough. I had noted down about _two hundred errors_ in Dr. Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets'; but, afterward perceiving that he had revised and corrected 'The Rambler' with _extraordinary care_, I chose to make my extracts from that work rather than from the 'Lives of the Poets.'"