Lucky Words

Abstract

I had little thought when I chose “words” for this article that I had such a large project before me. I soon found that I had embarked on an ocean and that soon or late I would find myself swamped and sunk if I did not limit myself and keep within territorial waters. This paper will reveal no erudition in etymology or grammar. Neither will it pretend to be an exemplar of the King's English. “The choice word and measured phrase beyond the reach of ordinary men,” as Wordsworth puts it, will only be evident in quotation. The warning of Ecclesiastes, “Let thy words be few,” hangs over me, for, as Pope, a veritable huckster in words, says: “Words are like leaves and where they most abound much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.”

Citation

PROUDFOOT, A. (1943), "Lucky Words", Library Review, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 93-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012062