Even for Exact. “An even dozen.”

Every for Entire, Full. “The president had every confidence in him.”

Every for Ever. “Every now and then.” This is nonsense: there can be no such thing as a now and then, nor, of course, a number of now and thens. Now and then is itself bad enough, reversing as it does the sequence of things, but it is idiomatic and there is no quarreling with it. But “every” is here a corruption of ever, meaning repeatedly, continually.

It would have helped if Bierce had emphasized ‘a’ in “There is no such thing as a now and then”. I had to read the sentence two or three times to understand it. Perhaps something went wrong in the typesetting. It’s easy to miss an italicized word when it is only one letter.

July 03, 2004 | Comments (0)

Ex. “Ex-president,” “an ex-convict,” and the like. Say, former. In England one may say, Mr. Roosevelt, sometime President; though the usage is a trifle archaic.

Example for Problem. A heritage from the text-books. “An example in arithmetic.” An equally bad word for the same thing is “sum”; “Do the sum,” for Solve the problem.

Excessively for Exceedingly. “The disease is excessively painful.” “The weather is excessively cold.” Anything that is painful at all is excessively so. Even a slight degree or small amount of what is disagreeable or injurious is excessive—that is to say, redundant, superfluous, not required.

Executed. “The condemned man was executed.” He was hanged, or otherwise put to death; it is the sentence that is executed.

Executive for Secret. An executive session of a deliberative body is a session for executive business, as distinguished from legislative. It is commonly secret, but a secret session is not necessarily executive.

Expect for Believe, or Suppose. “I expect he will go.” Say, I believe (suppose or think) he will go; or, I expect him to go.

Expectorate for Spit. The former word is frequently used, even in laws and ordinances, as a euphemism for the latter. It not only means something entirely different, but to one with a Latin ear is far more offensive.

Experience for Suffer, or Undergo. “The sinner experienced a change of heart.” This will do if said lightly or mockingly. It does not indicate a serious frame of mind in the speaker.

Extend for Proffer. “He extended an invitation.” One does not always hold out an invitation in one's hand; it may be spoken or sent.

F

Fail. “He failed to note the hour.” That implies that he tried to note it, but did not succeed. Failure carries always the sense of endeavor; when there has been no endeavor there is no failure. A falling stone cannot fail to strike you, for it does not try; but a marksman firing at you may fail to hit you; and I hope he always will.

Favor for Resemble. “The child favors its father.”

Feel of for Feel. “The doctor felt of the patient’s head.” “Smell of” and “taste of” are incorrect too.

Feminine for Female. “A feminine member of the club.” Feminine refers, not to sex proper, but to gender, which may be defined as the sex of words. The same is true of masculine.

Fetch for Bring. Fetching includes, not only bringing, but going to get—going for and returning with. You may bring what you did not go for.

Finances for Wealth, or Pecuniary Resources.

Financial for Pecuniary. “His financial reward”; “he is financially responsible,” and so forth.

Firstly. If this word could mean anything it would mean firstlike, whatever that might mean. The ordinal numbers should have no adverbial forms: “firstly,” “secondly,” and the rest are words without meaning.

Fix. This is, in America, a word-of-all-work, most frequently meaning repair, or prepare. Do not use it.

Forebears for Ancestors. The word is sometimes spelled forbears, a worse spelling than the other, but not much. If used at all it should be spelled forebeers, for it means those who have been before. A forebe-er is one who fore-was. Considered in any way, it is a senseless word.

Forecasted. For this abominable word we are indebted to the weather bureau—at least it was not sent upon us until that affliction was with us. Let us hope that it may some day be losted from the language.

Former and Latter. Indicating the first and the second of things previously named, these words are unobjectionable if not too far removed from the names that they stand for. If they are they confuse, for the reader has to look back to the names. Use them sparingly.

Funeral Obsequies. Tautological. Say, obsequies; the word is now used in none but a funereal sense.

Fully for Definitively, or Finally. “After many preliminary examinations he was fully committed for trial.” The adverb is meaningless: a defendant is never partly committed for trial. This is a solecism to which lawyers are addicted. And sometimes they have been heard to say “fullied.”

Funds for Money. “He was out of funds.” Funds are not money in general, but sums of money or credit available for particular purposes.

Furnish for Provide, or Supply. “Taxation furnished the money.” A pauper may furnish a house if some one will provide the furniture, or the money to buy it. “His flight furnishes a presumption of guilt.” It supplies it.

G

Generally for Usually. “The winds are generally high.” “A fool is generally vain.” This misuse of the word appears to come of abbreviating: Generally speaking, the weather is bad. A fool, to speak generally, is vain.

Gent for Gentleman. Vulgar exceedingly.

Genteel. This word, meaning polite, or well mannered, was once in better repute than it is now, and its noun, gentility, is still not infrequently found in the work of good writers. Genteel is most often used by those who write, as the Scotchman of the anecdote joked—wi’ deeficulty.