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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1261, 30 April 1896, Page 6

A controversy is being waged in a section of the American press over the terms “ dishorn " and “ dehorn." Oil one side it is contended that the tin;,dish dictionary doos not recognise “ the blundering and ill sounding form 1 dehorn,’" and that people using it in defiance of all authority and analogy should also say t/ebearten, ffiffionour and ffihonest if they care to bo consistent. On the other side the advocates for ‘‘dehorn" assert that their opponents are wanting in consistency in not using tho term 11 bishead" instead of “behead," &c. This reminds one of the war of words a number of years ago over tho term “ marsupials." An Oxford graduate insisted that when used in an adjective form to describe tho pouch-bearers “ marsupial animals " was quite correct, but that when used as a noun plural the term used ought to be “ marsupiates."