Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking by Bechtel, John Hendricks, 1841-

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exquisite, and other expressive adjectives, which constitute a kind of society slang.

Words and phrases are often taken up by writers and speakers, repeated, and again taken up by others, and thus their use enlarges in ever-widening circles until the expressions become threadbare. Drop them before they have reached that state. Function, environment, trend, the masses, to be in touch with, to voice the sentiments of-- these are enough to illustrate the kind of words referred to.

No one who has any regard for purity of diction and the proprieties of cultivated society will be guilty of the use of such expressions as yaller for yellow, feller for fellow, kittle for kettle, kiver for cover, ingons for onions, cowcumbers for cucumbers, sparrowgrass for asparagus, yarbs for herbs, taters for potatoes, tomats for tomatoes, bile for boil, hain't for ain't or isn't, het for heated, kned for kneaded, sot for sat or set, teeny for tiny, fooling you for deceiving you, them for those, shut up for be quiet, or be still, or cease speaking, went back on me for deceived me or took advantage of me, a power of people for a great many _________________________________________________________________

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people, a power of money for great wealth, a heap of houses for many houses, lots of books for many books, lots of corn for much corn or large quantities of corn, gents for gentlemen, and many others of a similar character. _________________________________________________________________

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CHAPTER II

Our American writers evince much variety in their graces of diction, but in the accurate choice of words James Russell Lowell and William Cullen Bryant stand out conspicuous above the rest. So careful and persistent was the latter, that during the time that he was editor of The Evening Post, of New York City, he required the various writers upon that paper to avoid the use of a long list of words and expressions which he had prepared for them, and which were commonly employed by other papers. This list was not only used, but enlarged by his successors.

Strive to cultivate the habit of observing words; trace their delicate shades of meaning as employed by the most polished writers; note their suggestiveness; mark the accuracy with which they are chosen. In this way your mind will be kept on the alert to discover the beauties as well as the blemishes of all the thought pictures that are presented, and your vocabulary will be greatly enlarged and enriched. _________________________________________________________________

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BRYANT'S LIST OF OBJECTIONABLE EXPRESSIONS

Above, and over, use more than. Artiste, use artist. Aspirant. Authoress Beat, use defeat. Bagging, use capturing. Balance, use remainder. Banquet, use dinner or supper. Bogus. Casket, use coffin. Claimed, use asserted. Collided. Commence, use begin. Compete. Cortege, use procession. Cotemporary, use contemporary. Couple, use two. Darkey, use negro. Day before yesterday, use the day before yesterday. Debut. Decease, as a verb. Democracy, applied to a political party. Develop, use expose. Devouring element, use fire. Donate. Employe. Enacted, use acted. Endorse, use approve. En route. Esq. Graduate, use is graduated. Gents, use gentlemen. Hon. House, use House of Representatives. Humbug. Inaugurate, use begin. In our midst. Item, use particle, extract, or paragraph. Is being done, and all similar passive forms. Jeopardize. Jubilant, use rejoicing. _________________________________________________________________

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