Pro hac vice, for this one turn. Pro tempore, temporarily. Quid pro quo, an equivalent, tit for tat. Quoad hoc, to this extent. Q. E. D. quod erat demonstrandum, which was to be proved. Q. E. F. quod erat faciendum, which was to be done. Regalia, badges of royalty. R. I. P. requiescat in pace, may he rest in peace. Sc. or scil., scilicet, that is to say. Seriatim, in order. Sine quâ non, indispensable Sinecure, sine curâ, emolument without work. Status in quo, as you were, used of the condition in which both parties were before a war. Sub silentio, in silence. Vade mecum, go with me; used of a pocket companion. Versus, v. against. Vice versa, the terms being changed. Viz. videlicet, namely. USE OF FRENCH WORDS IN ENGLISH. Care should be taken to use French words in English only where our own language has no equivalent expression. The practice of using French terms for plain English words is a sign of vulgarity, that is chiefly found in inferior newspapers. It is an old form of pretence to style. A writer in 1385 speaks of "uplondish men," who "wol liken hem self to gentil men, and fondeth with grete bisynesse for to speke Frensche, for to be the more y told." CAUTIONS IN PRONUNCIATION. 1. Reverence the letter h. Though our forefathers seem to have been very careless about it, no educated ear can now tolerate the omission of this letter. It is called the aspirate, because you have to fetch up your breath from the chest to make its sound. It is to be always sounded, even in humble and herb and hospital and humour, except in heir, heiress, (but always in heritage, inherit, etc.), in honour, honesty, and their compounds, and in hour. 2. Take care of the letter r. It is very vulgar to change it at the end of words into ah, and to call your father, mother, fathah and mothah. It is equally bad to put it in between two words, when the first ends and the second begins with a vowel sound, as when people say the Lor of Moses for the Law of Moses. 3 Avoid turning the letter o into a diphthong as coffee into cauffee, loss into lauss, soft into sauft. 4. Always sound g at the end of words, as shilling, not shillin; but be equally careful not to run it into the next word as smokin gashes for smoking ashes. The strong sound of g after n at the end of words must be checked. King is neither kin, nor king-ue, like tongue or fatigue. 5. Avoid slurring one word into another, when the first ends with a consonant, and the second begins with a vowel. This may be a rule in French, but in English there is only one exception that is tolerable, at home. 6. Remember that oo before k has a shorter sound than oo before 1, almost like u in put. Thus book, hook, look, are sounded more sharply than pool, stool, school. Many words that have this oo before d and t also have this shorter sound; as foot, stood, hood, as against root, boot, rood. 7. Care is necessary with u especially among North country folk. The words are few where it is sounded like oo, as in put, butcher, sugar, &c., but numerous where it is sounded as in but, as much, judge, run, lump, etc. 8. In speaking be careful not to talk in your throat, as if you were gargling; and always open your teeth. Take plenty of breath; form your words before you utter them, if you would cure yourself of indistinct speech; and set your lips to guard the words from tripping each other up in a too hasty flight, and to secure their making their exit in full form and sound. 9. Give the consonants a clear ringing utterance; otherwise your conversation at a distance falls into a bow-wow style where only vowels are heard, and resembles the talk of a Polynesian savage rather than an articulate speaking Englishman. 10. Every Englishman should take pains to speak plainly and simply, both in sound and in sense, because in a free country free speech is the bond of freedom, and there is no man who may not be called on in his turn to speak to others for his God, his Queen, or his fellow-citizens. DEAN ALFORD'S GOOD ADVICE. "All are not gentlemen by birth; but all may be gentlemen in openness, in modesty of language, in attracting no man's attention by singularities and giving no offence in forwardness; for it is this, in matter of speech and style, which is the sure mark of good taste and good breeding." |