BULLS AND EPIGRAMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 4 October 1924, Page 8

BULLS AND EPIGRAMS

LACK OF ACCURACY

Accuracy in language is one of the many things which modem education does* not appear to teach, writes R.11.F.C. in the Daily Mail. The richness of the English tongue lies in its capacity to express infinite gradations but many people use words as though they had no precise meaning, and thus the language is debased and words lose their significance. This inaccuracy Is not confined to conversation, but constantly find its way into print. In this respect there are several words which appear to be special stumbling blocks. Take, for instance, the word “hull.” A bull is not a double metaphor or an illogical joke. It is a statement which contradicts Jjself in a manner palpably absurd to the listeners, but unperceived by the person who makes it. Probably the most famous bull ever made was that of Sir Boyle Roche, the Irish member of Parliament. “Air Speaker, how could 1 have been in two places at once unless I were a. bird?”

“Epigram” is another word which people frequently use wrongly. An epigram is not merely a shori wise saying; it., must have a. sting in its tail. About the true epigram there is always a. touch of malice or mockery. The remark of Oscar Wilde’s, “Experience is a., name which everyone gives to his mistakes,” is a typical example of an epigram. “.Metaphor” and “simile” are two words Which come in for much rough handling. To speak in metaphors is to transfer your thoughts into- analogous imagery for pie purpose of adding point of impressiveness to what you are saying, The imagery of a good metaphor must he opposite and suggest vividly, though not necessarily closely, the object lo which you are referring.

A simile is a term of comparison; that, is to say, it is the same thing as a metaphor with the addition of the word “as” ot the word “like.” When Shelley wrote, “Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the. white radiance of eternity,” he used a- simile; if he had omitted “lilco” he would have used a metaphor.