that have disturbed them the most and caused the trained

ear to shudder in paroxysms of horror. There is no attempt to

evaluate and to decide which errors are the most egregious. Of
course, there will be some vulgarities of which only our most
illiterate citizens will be guilty alongside those “nice Nellies”
that trouble only the visiting professor from upstate. But you
make the choice and decide which abuses you can live with
and which ones you have vowed—upon the new dictionary—
“just must go.”
I ask for another word to the reader. There is no time spent
in this book to discuss the history of the abuse or the reason
why many authorities have declared the construction to be a
violation of English usage. There are many excellent grammars
and unabridged dictionaries. It is hoped that the curious will
use this book to stimulate his curiosity and then search elsewhere
for a fuller discussion of the term in question. This book simply
aims to be a springboard from which the reader may leap to
greater insight into the workings of his mother tongue.
I have no doubt that there will be some who will be disturbed
by the inclusion of such errors as the use of the objective where
the predicate nominative is recommended or the confusion
between “like” and “as,” remarking that this is “oid hat” and
should be doffed as a borrowed chapeau and not worn in its
outmoded gloss. A friend of mine pointed out, “Why, after all,
you can now find ‘ain’t’ in the Dictionary, too.” (Dictionary,
with a Capital D, is my own inclusion.) I listened patiently and
hoped that someone would send flowers to his widow. But
perhaps we do need a fuller understanding on this point. Time
has a way of adding dignity to expressions, and words that were
once considered offensive and fit only for the neighborhood
saloon may enter the parlor—and do so through the front door.
We present many such problem words and ask the reader to
make his own decision. Suffice it to say, that these are the words
that have disturbed our educators, words that were considered
not appropriate for formal writing. If you desire to use these

VI