Some Misused Words.
Why not be Right?
QNE of the nonsense rhymes referred to yesterday runs, Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. You find something similar in Scottish poetical dialect. If there is anyone who can give without fear of contradiction the meaning of Burns’s line: A diamen icker in a thrave’s a sma’ request he does not know the Scots. However, that can keep. Senile is see-nile, not sen-ile, but senility takes the shorter “ e ” in the division se-ml-ity. Apparent is ap-par-ent, with the “ a ” as in fare, not as in paragraph. Balance is an ill-used word. In accountancy it has a meaning that is clear enough, and for an accountant to say that he will pay the balance may be all right. But to speak of the balance of the evening or the balance of the programme, meaning the rest or remainder, is bad. TOUCHSTONE.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19310619.2.74
Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 144, 19 June 1931, Page 6
Word Count
164Some Misused Words. Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 144, 19 June 1931, Page 6
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