Purist
Oh, stop, for goodness’ sake! Look here, try this way; I want to get my profit out of it too.
Oh, stop, for goodness’ sake! Look here, try this way; I want to get my profit out of it too.
Lycinus
Well?
Well?
Purist
Suppose you were to go through all the blunders you say I have missed, and tell me what is the right thing for each.
Suppose you were to go through all the blunders you say I have missed, and tell me what is the right thing for each.
Lycinus
Good gracious, no; it would take us till midnight. No; you can look those out for yourself. Meanwhile, we had better take fresh ones, as we have only a quarter of an hour (by the way, never pronounce the ‘h’ in hour; that sounds dreadful). Then as to that outrage which you say I have committed upon you; if I were to speak of an outrage committed against you, that would be another thing.
Good gracious, no; it would take us till midnight. No; you can look those out for yourself. Meanwhile, we had better take fresh ones, as we have only a quarter of an hour (by the way, never pronounce the ‘h’ in hour; that sounds dreadful). Then as to that outrage which you say I have committed upon you; if I were to speak of an outrage committed against you, that would be another thing.
Purist
Would it?
Would it?
Lycinus
Yes; an outrage upon you must be committed upon you personally, in the shape of blows, interference with your liberty, or the like. An outrage agaiust you is upon something that belongs to you; he who does an outrage upon your wife, child, friend, or slave, does it against you. This distinction, however, does not apply to inanimate things. An ‘outrage against’
a legitimate phrase with them, as when Plato talks in the Symposium of an outrage against a proverb.
Yes; an outrage upon you must be committed upon you personally, in the shape of blows, interference with your liberty, or the like. An outrage agaiust you is upon something that belongs to you; he who does an outrage upon your wife, child, friend, or slave, does it against you. This distinction, however, does not apply to inanimate things. An ‘outrage against’
a legitimate phrase with them, as when Plato talks in the Symposium of an outrage against a proverb.
Purist
Ah, I see now.
Ah, I see now.
Lycinus
Do you also see that the exchange of one for the other is a solecism?
Do you also see that the exchange of one for the other is a solecism?
Purist
Yes, I shall know that for the future.
Yes, I shall know that for the future.
Lycinus
And if a person were to use ‘interchange’ there instead of ‘exchange,’ what would you take him to mean?
And if a person were to use ‘interchange’ there instead of ‘exchange,’ what would you take him to mean?
Purist
Just the same.
Just the same.
Lycinus
Why, how can they be equivalent? Exchange is merely the substitution of one expression for another, the improper for the proper; whereas interchange involves a false statement
1
.
Why, how can they be equivalent? Exchange is merely the substitution of one expression for another, the improper for the proper; whereas interchange involves a false statement
1
.
Purist
I see now; exchange is the use of a loose instead of a precise expression, while interchange is the use of both expressions, each in the other’s place.
I see now; exchange is the use of a loose instead of a precise expression, while interchange is the use of both expressions, each in the other’s place.
Lycinus
These subtleties are not unpleasing. Similarly, when we are concerned with a person, it is in our own interest; but when we are concerned for him, it is in his. It is true the phrases are sometimes confused, but there are those who observe the distinction; and it is as well to be on the safe side.
These subtleties are not unpleasing. Similarly, when we are concerned with a person, it is in our own interest; but when we are concerned for him, it is in his. It is true the phrases are sometimes confused, but there are those who observe the distinction; and it is as well to be on the safe side.
Purist
Quite true.
Quite true.
Soleocista. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.
Sponsored by Tufts University.
Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.