Some Misused Words.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 521, 2 August 1932, Page 6

Some Misused Words.

CORRESPONDENT, writing about

American mispronunciation, say-s that while travelling in Europe, she asked a companion what a funicular railway was, and received the unexpected answer from an American woman in a corner of the carriage that it was a “ kag ” railway. Actually it is neither a ‘‘kag ” nor a “ cog ” railway, but one employ-ing a rope or cable. A contemporary reports Mr E. Hitchcock as saying that the people of Illinois were once “ wrath ” with Mr Ford. The word Mr Hitchcock used, however, was "wroth,” a picturesque archaism that, because of its expressiveness, is not likely to be suppressed It occurs in Genesis; “And Cain was very wroth.” The pronunciation is changing. The older dictionaries give wroth as " rawth ” as in “ nor,” but they also give wrath with the "a” sound in “ arm.” Nowadays, however, we make wrath “ rawth ” and shorten “wroth” to rhy-ms with * froth.” TOUCHSTONE.