Part 2 (1/2)
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 un.o.bjectionable. 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.
AUTh.o.r.eSS. 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 s.e.x; and everybody knows that the functions of both poets and authors are common to both s.e.xes. Hence, _auth.o.r.ess_ 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 a.s.sumption 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.”
BEGIN--COMMENCE. These words have the same meaning; careful speakers, however, generally prefer to use the former. Indeed, there is rarely any good reason for giving the preference to the latter. See also COMMENCE.
BEING BUILT. See IS BEING BUILT.
BELONGINGS. An old idiomatic expression now coming into use again.
BESIDE--BESIDES. In the later unabridged editions of Webster's dictionary we find the following remarks concerning the use of these two words: ”_Beside_ and _besides_, whether used as prepositions or adverbs, have been considered synonymous from an early period of our literature, and have been freely interchanged by our best writers. There is, however, a tendency in present usage to make the following distinction between them: 1. That _beside_ be used only and always as a preposition, with the original meaning _by the side of_; as, to sit _beside_ a fountain; or with the closely allied meaning _aside from_, or _out of_; as, this is _beside_ our present purpose: 'Paul, thou art _beside_ thyself.' The adverbial sense to be wholly transferred to the cognate word. 2. That _besides_, as a preposition, take the remaining sense, _in addition to_; as, _besides_ all this; _besides_ the consideration here offered: 'There was a famine in the land _besides_ the first famine.' And that it also take the adverbial sense of _moreover_, _beyond_, etc., which had been divided between the words; as, _besides_, there are other considerations which belong to this case.”
BEST. See AT BEST.