the criminal court, the condemned cell, the blind asylum,
the cholera hospital, the foundling asylum, and the like.
"Still in harmonious intercourse they lived

The rural day, and talked the flowing heart."

"There be some who, with everything to make them
happy, plod their discontented and melancholy way through
life, less grateful than the dog that licks the hand that
feeds it."

Transpire.

This is one of the most frequently mis-
used words in the language. Its primary meaning is to
evaporate insensibly through the pores, but in this sense it
is not used; in this sense we use its twin sister perspire.
Transpire is now properly used in the sense of to escape
from secrecy, to become known, to leak out; and improp-
erly used in the sense of to occur, to happen, to come to
pass, and to elapse. The word is correctly used thus:
"You will not let a word concerning the matter transpire";
"It transpires [leaks out] that S. & B. control the enter-
prise"; Soon after the funeral it transpired [became
known] that the dead woman was alive"; "It has trans-
pired [leaked out] that the movement originated with John
Blank"; "No report of the proceedings was allowed to
transpire"; "It has not yet transpired who the candidate
is to be." The word is incorrectly used thus: "The Mex-
ican war transpired in 1847"; "The drill will transpire
under shelter"; "The accident transpired one day last
week”; “Years will transpire before it will be finished";
"More than a century transpired before it was revisited by
civilized man."

Trifling Minutiæ. The meaning of trifles and of minu-
tia is so nearly the same that no one probably ever uses
the phrase trifling minutiæ except from thoughtlessness.
Trustworthy. See RELIABLE.

Try. This word is often improperly used for make. We make experiments, not try them, which is as incorrect as it would be to say, try the attempt, or the trial.

Ugly. In England, this word is restricted to meaning ill-favored; with us it is often used-and not without authority-in the sense of ill-tempered, vicious, unmanageable. Unbeknown. This word is no longer used except by

the unschooled.

Underhanded.

This word, though found in the dictionaries, is a vulgarism, and as such is to be avoided. The proper word is underhand. An underhand, not an underhanded, proceeding.

Universal-All. He is universally esteemed by all who know him." If he is universally esteemed, he must be esteemed by all who know him; and, if he is esteemed by all who know him, he must be universally esteemed.

Upward of. This phrase is often used, if not improperly, at least inelegantly, for more than; thus, "I have been here for upward of a year"; "For upward of three quarters of a century she has," etc., meaning, for more than three quarters of a century.

Utter. This verb is often misused for say, express. To utter means to speak, to pronounce; and its derivative utterance means the act, manner, or power of uttering, vocal expression; as, "the utterance of articulate sounds." We utter a cry; express a thought or sentiment; speak our mind; and, though prayers are said, they may be uttered in a certain tone or manner. "Mr. Blank is right in all he utters": read, says. "The court uttered a sentiment that all will applaud": read, expressed a sentiment.

The primary meaning of the adjective utter is outer, on the outside; but it is no longer used in this sense. It is now used in the sense of complete, total, perfect, mere,

entire; but he who uses it indiscriminately as a synonym of these words will frequently utter utter nonsense—i. e., he will utter that which is without the pale of sense. For example, we can not say utter concord, but we can say utter discord-i. e., without the pale of concord.

Valuable. The following sentence, which recently appeared in one of the more fastidious of our morning papers, is offered as an example of extreme slipshodness in the use of language: "Sea captains are among the most valuable contributors to the Park aviary." What the writer probably meant to say is, “Sea captains are among those whose contributions to the Park aviary are the most valuable.”

Vast. This word is often met with in forcible-feeble diction, where it is used instead of great or large to qualify such words as number, majority, multitude, and the like. Big words and expletives should be used only where they are really needed; where they are not really needed, they go wide of the object aimed at. The sportsman that hunts small game with buck-shot comes home empty-handed.

Veracity. The loss would be a small one if we were to lose this word and its derivatives. Truth and its derivatives would supply all our needs. In the phrase so often heard, "A man of truth and veracity," veracity is entirely superfluous, it having precisely the same meaning as truth. The phrase, "A big, large man," is equally good diction.

Verbiage. An unnecessary profusion of words is called verbiage: verbosity, wordiness.

“I thought what I read of it verbiage.”—Johnson. Sometimes a better name than verbiage for wordiness would be emptiness. Witness: "Clearness may be developed and cultivated in three ways. (a) By constantly practicing in heart and life the thoughts and ways of honesty and frankness." The first sentence evidently means, "Clear

ness may be attained in three ways"; but what the second sentence means—if it means anything—is more than I can tell. Professor L. T. Townsend, "Art of Speech," vol. i, p. 130, adds: “This may be regarded as the surest path to greater transparency of style." The transparency of Dr. Townsend's style is peculiar. Also, p. 144, we find: “The laws and rules' thus far laid down furnish ample foundation for the general statement that an easy and natural' expression, an exact verbal incarnation of one's thinking," together with the power of using appropriate figures, and of making nice discriminations between approximate synonyms, each being an important factor in correct style, are attained in two ways.' (1) Through moral and mental discipline. (2) Through continuous and intimate acquaintance with such authors as best exemplify those attainments." "10

1. Would not laws cover the whole ground? 2. En. passant I would remark that Dr. Townsend did not make these laws, though he so intimates. 3. I suggest the word justify in place of these four. 4. What is natural is easy; easy, therefore, is superfluous. 5. If this means anything, it does not mean more than the adjective clear would express, if properly used in the sentence. 6. Approximate synonyms!! Who ever heard of any antagonistic or even of dissimilar synonyms? 7. The transparency of this sentence is not unlike the transparency of corrugated glass. 8. What has morality to do with correctness? 9. An intimate acquaintance would suffice for most people. IO. Those attainments! What are they? Dr. Townsend's corrugated style makes it hard to tell.

This paragraph is so badly conceived throughout that it is well-nigh impossible to make head, middle, or tail of it; still, if I am at all successful in guessing what Professor

Townsend wanted to say in it, then-when shorn of its redundancy and high-flown emptiness-it will read somewhat like this: "The laws thus far presented justify the general statement that a clear and natural mode of expression-together with that art of using appropriate figures and that ability properly to discriminate between synonyms which are necessary to correctness-is attained in two ways. (1) By mental discipline. (2) By the study of our best authors."

The following sentence is from a leading magazine : “If we begin a system of interference, regulating men's gains, bolstering here, in order to strengthen this interest, [and] repressing elsewhere [there], in order to equalize wealth, we shall do an [a] immense deal of mischief, and without bringing about a more agreeable condition of things than now [we] shall simply discourage enterprise, repress industry, and check material growth in all directions." Read without the eighteen words in italics and with the four inclosed. "Nothing disgusts sooner than the empty pomp of language."

Vice. See CRIME.
Vicinity.

This word is sometimes incorrectly used without the possessive pronoun; thus, "Washington and vicinity," instead of "Washington and its vicinity." The primary meaning of vicinity is nearness, proximity. In many of the cases in which vicinity is used, neighborhood would be the better word, though vicinity is perhaps preferable where it is a question of mere locality.

Vocation-Avocation. These words are frequently confounded. A man's vocation is his profession, his calling, his business; and his avocations are the things that occupy him incidentally. Mademoiselle Bernhardt's vocation is acting; her avocations are painting and sculpture.