phrases the use of which should be discontinued ; competitors
were asked to give short reasons for their dislikes. Most of the entries received were clearly inspired by something approaching passion rather than any mere taste for pedantic accuracy. Expressions tainted with refinement, such as " ever so," " commence," " lounge," " paying guests " and " pleased to meet you " got a thin time, though it is pleasant to be able to record that no one wasted his shot on the obsolete " serviette." Neologisms like " talkie " and " hike " were common objects of protest, and " intrigue," in the sense of " to interest," " awful," " residence " (meaning " a house ") and the ubiquitous " definitely " were frequently and justly proscribed. " Slogan," " ideology," " categorically," " propaganda " and " proletariat " recurred in many entries ; " esquire," " papist " (and " popish "j and " totalitarian " attracted some hostile attention. Mr. B. Glover objected to the expression " The John Buchan of this War," which, as he correctly observed, hai already been applied by reviewers to half a dozen authors, and there was a wistful entry from a gentleman in Dublin whose list of good words gone to the bad began with " lunch ' -why not the proper ' luncheon '?" and ended with " 'tennis,' wrongly used to mean lawn-tennis.' " Miss G. Pitt pleasantly defined " pawky " as " conjuring up a revolting picture of a verbose pig in a kilt " ; there was an ingenious but perhaps belated entry from Mr. W. R. E. Stephenson pillorying the vocabulary of Mr. Waugh's Bright Young Things, and a gentleman who asked for his name to be suppressed evoked a deep sympathy in the judge by submitting an annotated paragraph from the Daily Express's prose stylist, Mr. William Hickey. The first prize is awarded to Mr. E. H. Holthouse, whose list contains no word appearing in any other entry, and the second to the Rev. J. S. MacArthur.
FIRST PRIZE.
Comestibles.-Lengthy and superfluous substitute for "food " or " viands."
Decontaminate.-A recent invention: lengthy, ugly, and super- fluous to " disinfect," "cleanse," or " Desuetude.-Superfluous: " disuse " enough whether as sub- stantive or verb.
Envisage.-A modern and unnecessary substitute for " regard," "consider," or " contemplate."
Mentality.-A modern and unnecessary substitute for " mind," "disposition," or "idiosyncrasy."
Meticulous.-Always used in wrong sense as substitute for "scrupulous," " punctilious," " exact," instead of in its proper meaning (if used at all) of " being in anxiety about."
E. H. HOLTHOUSE.
SECOND PRIZE.
Definitely.-The notion that a statement or a promise requires the backing of this word makes its use ethically as well as aestheti- cally objectionable.
Abysmal, -N.-Allowable in certain contexts, e.g., " abysmal ignorance " as a word-picture of a state of mind into which one may cast the longest plumb-line without ever reaching a piece of knowledge, but the falsely analogical " abysmally wrong " is intolerable.
Lousy.-Now that this adjective bids fair to rival the gentility of " bloody" it has lost its savour and ought to be cast on the dunghill.
Of that ilk.-Almost invariably misused as meaning " of that sort" with an implication of disparagement. Its proper use is to denote a gentleman whose surname and the title of whose estate are the same.
Ideology.-A slipshod way of indicating a set of political or social opinions with which the speaker disagrees.
Complex.-A pseudo-intellectual affectation of familiarity with modern psychology which the user of this word can rarely claim. J. S. MAcArritua.
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