FullReads

Head over Heels. A transposition of words hardly less surprising than (to the person most concerned) the mischance that it fails to describe. What is meant is heels over head.

Healthy for Wholesome. “A healthy climate.” “A healthy occupation.” Only a living thing can be healthy.

Helpmeet for Helpmate. In Genesis Adam’s wife is called “an help meet for him,” that is, fit for him. The ridiculous word appears to have had no other origin.

Hereafter for Henceforth. Hereafter means at some time in the future; henceforth, always in the future. The penitent who promises to be good hereafter commits himself to the performance of a single good act, not to a course of good conduct.

Honeymoon. Moon here means month, so it is incorrect to say, “a week’s honeymoon,” or, “Their honeymoon lasted a year.”

Horseflesh for Horses. A singularly senseless and disagreeable word which, when used, as it commonly is, with reference to hippophilism, savors rather more of the spit than of the spirit.

Humans as a Noun. We have no single word having the general yet limited meaning that this is sometimes used to express–a meaning corresponding to that of the word animals, as the word men would if it included women and children. But there is time enough to use two words.

Hung for Hanged. A bell, or a curtain, is hung, but a man is hanged. Hung is the junior form of the participle, and is now used for everything but man. Perhaps it is our reverence for the custom of hanging men that sacredly preserves the elder form–as some, even, of the most zealous American spelling reformers still respect the u in Saviour.

Hurry for Haste and Hasten. To hurry is to hasten in a more or less disorderly manner. Hurry is misused, also, in another sense: “There is no hurry”–meaning, There is no reason for haste.

Hurt for Harm. “It does no hurt.” To be hurt is to feel pain, but one may be harmed without knowing it. To spank a child, or flout a fool, hurts without harming.

Idea for Thought, Purpose, Expectation, etc. “I had no idea that it was so cold.” “When he went abroad it was with no idea of remaining.”

Identified with. “He is closely identified with the temperance movement.” Say, connected.

Ilk for Kind. “Men of that ilk.” This Scotch word has a narrowly limited and specific meaning. It relates to an ancestral estate having the same name as the person spoken of. Macdonald of that ilk means, Macdonald of Macdonald. The phrase quoted above is without meaning.

Illy for Ill. There is no such word as illy, for ill itself is an adverb.

Imaginary Line. The adjective is needless. Geometrically, every line is imaginary; its graphic representation is a mark. True the text-books say, draw a line, but in a mathematical sense the line already exists; the drawing only makes its course visible.

In for Into. “He was put in jail.” “He went in the house.” A man may be in jail, or be in a house, but when the act of entrance–the movement of something from the outside to the inside of another thing–is related the correct word is into if the latter thing is named.

Inaugurate for Begin, Establish, etc. Inauguration implies some degree of formality and ceremony.

Incumbent for Obligatory. “It was incumbent upon me to relieve him.” Infelicitous and work-worn. Say, It was my duty, or, if enamored of that particular metaphor, It lay upon me.

Individual. As a noun, this word means something that cannot be considered as divided, a unit. But it is incorrect to call a man, woman or child an individual, except with reference to mankind, to society or to a class of persons. It will not do to say, “An individual stood in the street,” when no mention nor allusion has been made, nor is going to be made, to some aggregate of individuals considered as a whole.

Indorse. See Endorse.

Insane Asylum. Obviously an asylum cannot be unsound in mind. Say, asylum for the insane.