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Page 19
BICKER
As Burns happens to use _bickering_ as his epithet for the mouse's
brattle, we may take this word as another illustration of Littr�'s
principle. The _N.E.D._ gives the original meaning as _skirmish_, and
quotes Shakespeare,
If I longer stay
We shall begin our ancient bickerings,
which a man transposing the third and fourth words might say to-day
without rising above colloquial speech; but there is another allied
signification which Milton has in
Smoak and bickering flame;
and this is followed by many later writers. It would seem therefore,
if the word is to have a special sense, that it must be focused in the
idea of something that both wavers and skirmishes, and this suggests
another word which caught our eye in the dictionary, that is
BRANGLE
It is defined in the _N.E.D._ as 'a brawl, wrangle, squabble' and
marked _obsolete_. It seems to differ from its numerous synonyms by
the suggestion of what we call a muddle: that is an active wrangling
which has become inextricably confused.
SURVIVALS IN LANCASHIRE SPEECH
Mr. Ernest Stenhouse sends us notes on Tract II, from which we extract
the following:
'_Poll_ (= to cut the hair) is still familiar in Lancashire. _Tickle_
(unstable) is obsolescent but not yet obsolete. As a child I often
heard _meterly_ (= moderately): e.g. _meterly fausse_ (? false) =
moderately cunning. It may still be in use. _Bout_ (= without = A.S.
butan) is commonly heard.
'The words tabulated in Tract II, p. 34, and the following pairs are
not homophones in Lancashire: stork, stalk; pattern, patten; because
although the _r_ in stork and pattern is not trilled as in Scotland,
it is distinctly indicated by a modification of the preceding vowel,
somewhat similar to that heard in the _[(or]e_ words (p. 35).
'Homophony may arise from a failure to make distinctions that are
recognized in P.S.P. Thus in Lancashire the diphthong sound in _flow_,
_snow_, _bone_, _coal_, _those_, &c., is very often pronounced as a
pure vowel (cf. French _eau_, _mot_): hence confusion arises between
_flow_ and _flaw_, _sow_ and _saw_, _coal_ and _call_: both these
vowel sounds tending to become indistinguishable from the French
_eau_.'
FEASIBLE
_Feasible_ is a good example of a word which appears in danger of
being lost through incorrect and ignorant use. It can very well
happen that a word which is not quite comfortable may feel its way
to a useful place in defiance of etymology; and in such cases it is
pedantry to object to its instinctive vagaries. But _feasible_ is a
well-set comfortable word which is being ignorantly deprived of its
useful definite signification. In the following note Mr. Fowler puts
its case clearly, and his quotations, being typically illustrative of
the manner in which this sort of mischief comes about, are worthy of
attention.
'With those who feel that the use of an ordinary word for an ordinary
notion does not do justice to their vocabulary or sufficiently exhibit
their cultivation, who in fact prefer the stylish to the working word,
_feasible_ is now a prime favourite. Its proper sense is "capable of
being done, accomplished, or carried out". That is, it means the same
as _possible_ in one of the latter's senses, and its true function
is to be used instead of _possible_ where that might be ambiguous. _A
thunderstorm is possible_ (but not _feasible_). Irrigation is possible
(or, indifferently, _feasible_). _A counter-revolution is possible_;
i.e., (a) one may for all we know happen, or (b) we can if we choose
bring one about; but, if _b_ is the meaning, _feasible_ is better than
_possible_ because it cannot properly bear sense _a_, and therefore
obviates ambiguity.
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