English Synonyms.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 120, 27 February 1872, Page 6

English Synonyms.

o The copiousness of the English tongue, as 1 k well as the difficulty of acquiring the ability | to use its immense vocabulary correctly, is 1 I well exhibited in the following array of synonymous words ; which, if not new, are yet I capital illustrations of the nice distinctions i L which characterise so many of our vocables, jlt is no wonder that we slip occasionally, | even the Wariest of ns. A little girl was I looking at the picture of a number of ships, I when she exclaimed, “See, what a Hock of I I ships !” We corrected her by saying that a > Hock of ships is called a licet, and that a fleet of slice}* is called a flock. And here we may . add, for the benefit of the foreigner who is | mastering the intricacies of our language in ; ; respect to nouns and multitude, that a flock i I j of girls is called a bevy, that a bevy of wolves II is called a pack, and a pack of thieves is . | called a gang, and a gang of angels is called a . i host, and a host of porpoises is called a shoal, 5 jaud a shoal of buffaloes is called a herd, and i a herd of children is called a troop, and a f I troop of partridges is called a covey, and a [> | covey of beauties is called a galaxy, and a 3 i galaxy of ruffians is called a horde, and a j \ horde of rubbish is called a heap, and a heap [Jot oxen is called a drove, and a drove of .(blackguards is called a mob, and a mob of whales is called a school, and a school of wor- , shippers is called a congregation, and a cont gregation of engineers is called a corps, and 3 1 a corps of robhors is called a band, and a 5 | band of locusts is called a swarm, and a swarm I, of people is called a crowd, and a crowd of . gentlefolks is called the elite, and the elite xjof the city’s thieves and rascals arc called 3 1 the roughs, and the miscellaneous crowd of s the city folks is called the community, or the public, according as they are spoken of by tbe religions community or the secular public.—A mcricaa Educational Monthly.

f _ =“■' 1 At Hokitika, on the 10th insfc., a lunatic patient named John Bloy, while walking s with Ins keeper, sprang into the river, and was drowned in attempting to swim across.