Part 4

ANXIETY OF MIND. See EQUANIMITY OF MIND.

APOSTROPHE. Turning from the person or persons to whom a discourse is addressed and appealing to some person or thing absent, constitutes what, in rhetoric, is called the apostrophe. The following are some examples:

"O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness?" "Sail on, thou lone imperial bird Of quenchless eye and tireless wing!"

"Help, angels, make assay! Bow, stubborn knees! and heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe: All may yet be well!"

APPEAR. See SEEM.

APPRECIATE. If any word in the language has cause to complain of ill-treatment, this one has. Appreciate means, to estimate justly--to set the true value on men or things, their worth, beauty, or advantages of any sort whatsoever. Thus, an overestimate is no more appreciation than is an underestimate; hence it follows that such expressions as, "I appreciate it, or her, or him, highly," can not be correct. We value, or prize, things highly, not appreciate them highly. This word is also very improperly made to do service for rise, or increase, in value; thus, "Land appreciates rapidly in the West." Dr. L. T. Townsend blunders in the use of appreciate in his "Art of Speech," vol. i, p. 142, thus: "The laws of harmony ... may allow copiousness ... in parts of a discourse ... in order that the condensation of other parts may be the more highly appreciated."

APPREHEND--COMPREHEND. The English often use the first of these two words where we use the second. Both express an effort of the thinking faculty; but to apprehend is simply to take an idea into the mind--it is the mind's first effort--while to comprehend is fully to understand. We are dull or quick of apprehension. Children apprehend much that they do not comprehend. Trench says: "We apprehend many truths which we do not comprehend." "Apprehend," says Crabb, "expresses the weakest kind of belief, the having the least idea of the presence of a thing."

APT. Often misused for likely, and sometimes for liable. "What is he apt to be doing?" "Where shall I be apt to find him?" "If properly directed, it will be apt to reach me." In such sentences as these, likely is the proper word to use. "If you go there, you will be apt to get into trouble." Here either likely or liable is the proper word, according to the thought the speaker would convey.

ARCTICS. See RUBBERS.

ARTIST. Of late years this word has been appropriated by the members of so many crafts, that it has well-nigh been despoiled of its meaning. Your cook, your barber, your tailor, your boot-maker, and so on to satiety, are all artists. Painters, sculptors, architects, actors, and singers, nowadays, generally prefer being thus called, rather than to be spoken of as artists.

AS. "Not as I know": read, "not that I know." "This is not as good as the last": read, "not so good." "It may be complete so far as the specification is concerned": correctly, "as far as."

As, preceded by such or by same, has the force of a relative applying to persons or to things. "He offered me the same conditions as he offered you." "The same conditions that" would be equally proper. See, also, LIKE.

ASCRIBE. See IMPUTE.

AT. Things are sold by, not at, auction. "The scene is more beautiful at night than by day": say, "by night."

AT ALL. "It is not strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark." Had Shakespeare written, "It is not at all strange," it is clear that his diction would have been much less forcible. "I do not wish for any at all"; "I saw no one at all"; "If he had any desire at all to see me, he would come where I am." The at all in sentences like these is superfluous. Yet there are instances in which the phrase is certainly a very convenient one, and seems to be unobjectionable. It is much used, and by good writers.

AT BEST. Instead of at best and at worst, we should say at the best and at the worst.

AT LAST. See AT LENGTH.

AT LEAST. This adverbial phrase is often misplaced. "'The Romans understood liberty at least as well as we.' This must be interpreted to mean, 'The Romans understood liberty as well as we understand liberty.' The intended meaning is, 'that whatever things the Romans failed to understand, they understood liberty.' To express this meaning we might put it thus: 'The Romans understood at least liberty as well as we do'; 'liberty, at least, the Romans understood as well as we do.' 'A tear, at least, is due to the unhappy'; 'at least a tear is due to the unhappy'; 'a tear is due at least to the unhappy'; 'a tear is due to the unhappy at least'--all express different meanings. 'This can not, often at least, be done'; 'this can not be done often, at least.' (1. 'It often happens that this can not be done.' 2. 'It does not often happen that this can be done.') So, 'man is always capable of laughing'; 'man is capable of laughing always.'"--Bain.

AT LENGTH. This phrase is often used instead of at last. "At length we managed to get away": read, "at last." "At length we heard from him." To hear from any one at length is to hear fully; i. e., in detail.

AUTHORESS. With regard to the use of this and certain other words of like formation, Mr. Gould, in his "Good English," says: "Poet means simply a person who writes poetry; and author, in the sense under consideration, a person who writes poetry or prose--not a man who writes, but a person who writes. Nothing in either word indicates sex; and everybody knows that the functions of both poets and authors are common to both sexes. Hence, authoress and poetess are superfluous. And they are superfluous, also, in another respect--that they are very rarely used, indeed they hardly can be used, independently of the name of the writer, as Mrs., or Miss, or a female Christian name. They are, besides, philological absurdities, because they are fabricated on the false assumption that their primaries indicate men. They are, moreover, liable to the charge of affectation and prettiness, to say nothing of pedantic pretension to accuracy.

"If the ess is to be permitted, there is no reason for excluding it from any noun that indicates a person; and the next editions of our dictionaries may be made complete by the addition of writress, officeress, manageress, superintendentess, secretaryess, treasureress, walkeress, talkeress, and so on to the end of the vocabulary."

AVOCATION. See VOCATION.

BAD COLD. Inasmuch as colds are never good, why say a bad cold? We may talk about slight colds and severe colds, but not about bad colds.

BAGGAGE. See LUGGAGE.

BALANCE. This word is very frequently and very erroneously used in the sense of rest, remainder. It properly means the excess of one thing over another, and in this sense and in no other should it be used. Hence it is improper to talk about the balance of the edition, of the evening, of the money, of the toasts, of the men, etc. In such cases we should say the rest or the remainder.

BARBARISM. Defined as an offense against good usage, by the use of an improper word, i. e., a word that is antiquated or improperly formed. Preventative, enthuse, agriculturalist, donate, etc., are barbarisms. See also SOLECISM.

BEEN TO. We not unfrequently hear a superfluous to tacked to a sentence; thus, "Where have you been to?"

BEG. We often see letters begin with the words, "I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor," etc. We should write, "I beg leave to acknowledge," etc. No one would say, "I beg to tell you," instead of, "I beg leave to tell you."