On Certain Abuses in Language [pp. 248-272]

ONV CER TAIN AB USES IN LA,NGUA GE.
practical evils in a sense in which no mere fault of style is.
And they often, moreover, lead to practical evils in a yet more
distinct sense, if, as is very likely to happen, confusions in
speech and misconceptions in thought lead directly to practical
errors of conduct. I will begin with some cases which are mere
questions of taste, where the error, if any, is a mere error of
style; from thence I will go up to the cases where I believe that
real practical errors have come of the misuse, the vague and
inaccurate use, of language.
I am not now directly pleading the cause of the native
English tongue against foreign intrusion. I believe I am doing
so indirectly; but it is only indirectly. I am not pleading for
Teutonic words as such against Romance words as such. I am
pleading for whatever words give the clearest and most accurate idea. I believe that, where you have the choice between
the two, the Teutonic word will commonly be found to give the
clearest and most accurate idea. But, in any case where it is
not so, I say for my present purpose-indeed I should say
at all times-use the Romance word without doubting. In
speaking of these matters, I have always pleaded for the Teutonic word against the Romance, whenever there is a real
choice between them. Bur I have always admitted that there
are many cases where there is no real choice in the matter.
I have always been for getting rid of Romance words wherever they can be got rid of; but I have always kept the fact
in sight that there are many cases in which they cannot be got
rid of. First of all, there are those words, some of which come
directly from Latin, some from Old-French, which came in so
early as to be thoroughly naturalized, and which have altogether put on the outward shape of English words. Secondly,
there is the great fact that we have so largely lost the power
of coining words in our own tongue that we are constantly
driven to use Romance words for any purposes which are at
all technical or abstract. My own rule is, as far as may be, to
look at Romance words of the second class-words whose shape
and endings show them at first sight to be Romance-strictly
as technical terms. I hold that they should be used freely
wherever they are really needed in their strict and accurate sense,
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