Purists And Pedants

Many purists condemii such a phrase as "do eort or kind" uu tbe gronud of tautology. I should te sorry, bowever, to see it disappear, because it is a landmark iu Euglisb pbilology. It is a relio of tbe íusicu of tíaxon and NormanFrenen. At tbat period niany phrasesof a biliuguul churacter crept iutouse, aud tbis is oue of tbeni. "ïrutli aud bouor" is auotber, trutb beiug "trotb, " or bouor, as iu "by niy trctb. " "Voice" as a verb is mucb objectcd to, coming to ns nioderiis as it does trom i"uierican souroes - e. g., to "voice" tbc public seiitimeut. I don't like it and liever use it, but it oecnrs iu Shakespeare. Kotoriously many so called Americaniems are old English provincialisms. Tbe pnrists threaten, indeed, to become iiisufl'erable pedantss. It is now tbe custoin of tbe Jiinter's reader - our great autbority - to treat "none" as invariably singular, a contraction for no one. But it is useful as a plural and is so used in Shakespeare- e. g., "Speak daggers, but use none." Why may we not continue to say, "I spoke to no vomen at the meeting because there were none