A WORD A DAY.

Southland Times, Issue 21331, 27 February 1931, Page 8

A WORD A DAY.

PERSONALITY.’ Before one is lured into developing “personality”—and herd the word is used in its modern sense, it .being drummed into us as a priceless ingredient in the recipe for success; —let him pause a moment to remember that the word actually denotes something behind which one hides his true self. In this it adheres closely to its Latin root, persona, “a mask,” later applied to parts played by. actors. Per, “through,” and sonare, “to sound,” combine in persona, and hint of the resonance of the voice in sounding through the largemouthed masks. “Individuality” is a far better word and often could be substituted to advantage in our conversation.’ It expresses the genuine character of an individual, the quality, or sum of characteristic traits, Which may distinguish one individual from another. Per-son-al-i-ty is accented on the third syllable, and is pronounced as though spelled pur-sun-al-i-ti, first u as in urn, second as in circus, a as in hat, each i as in it.

“He was hot misled by the suggestion that a man should cultivate a personality which would dominate and attract his coworkers.”