WORDS WHICH CONVEY ERRONEOUS IDEAS 



T is an unfortunate fact that many of the words 

 in common use actually convey erroneous state- 

 ments of fact. This arises partly from the cor- 

 ruption to which all words in common use are 

 liable and partly from the changes which are constantly 

 going on in every living language. A change of this kind 

 is seen in the word admire, of which the old meaning was 

 simply to wonder, and in this sense it was used by Shake- 

 speare and Milton. But it carries a very different sig- 

 nification now. Again, take the word vulgar, which now 

 conveys the idea of something offensive. Formerly it 

 merely meant common, as when in " Twelfth Night" Shake- 

 speare makes Viola say: "for 'tis a vulgar proof " (Act III, 

 Scene i, line 135). And in this sense it is still used in 

 France, where they have a journal for the vulgarization of 

 science (" Vulgarisation Scientifique ")> or what we would 

 call the popularization of science. As a matter of fact, 

 however, the words vulgarization and popularization both 

 come from roots which signify the common people. 



So too the word fond, which now means loving or affection- 

 ate, formerly meant foolish, and is so used by Shakespeare 

 in several passages, notably in "The Merchant of Venice/' 

 Act III, Scene 3, line 9, and other places in that play. 



Perhaps the most curious transformation of meaning 

 occurs in the word telescope, which literally means an in- 

 strument for seeing things afar off, and in this sense it is 

 still used when speaking of the optical^ instrument. But 

 from the fact that the mechanical portion of telescopes 



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