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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