Phrases that have gone out of use, said
| to be ARCHAIC or OBSOLETE.
|
| Brand-new words which have not become
| established in good use:  as, “burglarize,”
| “enthuse,” “electrocute.”
|
BARBARISMS:  Words and        | Phrases introduced from foreign countries
phrases not English; _i.e.,_ | (called FOREIGNISMS, ALIENISMS), or
not authorized by good       | peculiar to some district or province
English use.  The name       <  (called PROVINCIALISMS).  A phrase introduced
comes from a Greek           | from France is called a _Gallicism_;
word meaning “foreign,”      | from England, an _Anglicism_.  A
“strange.”                   | phrase peculiar to America is called an
| _Americanism_.  Similarly we have the
| terms _Latinism, Hellenism, Teutonism_,
| etc.  All these names may be applied
| also to certain kinds of Improprieties
\and Solecisms.

IMPROPRIETIES:  Good           \
English words or phrases       |  Most errors in the use of English
used in wrong senses:           |  are Improprieties, which are far more
as, “I _guess_ I’ll go to       > common than Barbarisms and Solecisms.
bed;” “He is _stopping_        |  No classification of them is here
for a week at the Berkshire    |  attempted. 
Inn.”                         

SOLECISMS:  Constructions not English, commonly called cases of “bad grammar” or “false syntax”:  as, “She invited Mrs. Roe and I to go driving with her.”  “Solecism” is derived from Soli, the name of a Greek tribe who lived in Cilicia and spoke bad Greek.

SLANG is a general name for current, vulgar, unauthorized language.  It may take the form of barbarism, impropriety, or solecism.

A COLLOQUIALISM is an expression peculiar to familiar conversation.

A VULGARISM is an expression peculiar to vulgar or ignorant people.

[2] This and the two following incidents are from the writer’s own observation. [3] A.S.  Hill:  Foundations of Rhetoric, p. 28. [4] Ibid., p. 20. [5] Barrett Wendell:  English Composition, p. 21. [6] A.S.  Hill:  Principles of Rhetoric, revised edition, p. 16.

EXERCISE I.

1.  Make a list of the provincial expressions you can think of, and give
   their equivalents in national English.
2.  Make a list of the slang or vulgar expressions you can think of, and
   give their equivalents in reputable English.
3.  Make a list of the words, forms, and phrases not in present use which
   you can find in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, authorized
   version, and give their equivalents in modern English.

EXERCISE II.

Which word in the following pairs should an American prefer?  Consult Hill’s “Foundations of Rhetoric,” pp. 28-29:  Coal, coals; jug, pitcher; street railway, tramway; post-card, postal-card; depA’t, station.

EXERCISE III.