WORDS THAT GO TO THE BAD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 78710, 11 January 1904, Page 4

WORDS THAT GO TO THE BAD .

It may seem whimsical to. attribute a quality of origjnal sin to the dictionary (says a writer in The Academy and Literature), bub tbere is certainly some tendency in words, as there" is in human nature, which makes for degeneracy. A word comes info tbe world, Jike the babe, in a state of innocence. • Look at it after a few centuries, or even decades* and the chafloes are that you will find it coarsened, if not actually soiled. To take a very simple and obvious instauce, one would pay that " knowledge " was an idea so definite and excellent that ib could not take on any unworthy significance. Yet to say that a parson is " knowing " is not always an unadulterated compliment ; it suggests wisdom plus certain other qualities which had no place in the original rueauing. S'i'l more sad is tbe case of the word "cunning," eiymologically identical with " knowledge," and now so far removed from it that only the Students of language know they are related. Think, too, of our forefathers' euphemism for a witch — '■ wise woman " — wise with the, wisdom, as the "cunning" man is learned with the knowledge, of an inferior world to this. The same debasing principle may be seen at work in such words as " notorious." Many living rtesoend ants of Mrs Malaprop use the word as if it were a synonym of " notable," not detecting that the trail of the serpent is already over it. The .word has not yet gone very far on the downward path — not so far, for instance, as " enormity" — but ie has long since acquired the specific I meaning of fame in the evil sense. - You call an Anarchist notorious, but not an Archbishop. That the distinction was made in Shakespeare's time is plain from the fact that he applies the epithet to " knave," villain," " pirate," "liar," and I other persons not udmitted -to polite society. Perhaps — who know 3? — it wasbe -who gave it the first push on its downward career. , It is only within recent times— probably since the arrival of musical cornedy — that that push has been given to v the worrj " fcuggestive." You may still speak with perfect correctness of a ".suggestive" book or a " suggestive" sermon as one oharged with thought ; and yet when you speak of a "suggestive" play, ie is not, as a rule; its intellectual quality to whioh you wish to call attention. If we are to argue from experience, we muse conclude that some day ih>) word will confine itself to that meaning exclusively, and we shall have to find some other term for purposes of encomium. It is merely by tbe differeniiaiion of ppelhng — : 'a modern innova'ion — that the word " holiday " has been saved from a similar, though not so sinister, doublemeaning. Probably 'Arry will disbelieve you if you tell him that bis Bank Holiday was originally connected with religion ; so wide has the gap become between '• holiduy " and " holy day." It is a typical instance of the family quarrels (has occur umong words.

Holloway's Ointment and Pills. With the changing season it is prudent for all to lectify any ailment aniicting them; but it is incumbent on the aged, suffering under liberations and similar debLitating causes, to have them removed or worse consequences will follow. This Ointment is their remedy; on its powers all may confidently rely; it not only simply puts their sores out of sight, but extirpates the source of mischief, extracts the corroding poison, and stimulates Nature to fill up the ulcer with ' sound healthy granulations that will abide through life. Under this treatment nad legs soon become sound, scorbutic skins cast off their scales, and scrofulous sores oeaso to annoy. — Advt.