PHILTRE

is stereotyped by forming part of a title (Philosophical Transactions &c.), the -ic form is now commoner in all the more specific senses; -ical still prevails in the very general sense resembling' or befitting a philosopher', i.e. wise or unperturbed or well balanced; & this gives a basis for differentiation; see -IC(AL). philtre, -ter. The first is usual. phiz. See CURTAILED WORDS. phlegm &c. The g is silent in p. & phlegmy, but sounded in phlegmatic. phlogiston. See GREEK G. Phoenician, phoenix. written; see Æ, E.

Best SO

phone, vb. See CURTAILED WORDS.

PHONETICS. It often happens that one who is perhaps himself unacquainted with complicated & complete phonetic systems, & at any rate writes for those to whom they are mysterics, has occasion to make the pronunciation of some word intelligible in print. A scheme that would enable this to be done would be of value; but it would have to meet several requirements rather hard to reconcile. 1. It must use no special types, or it cannot be printed on demand. 2. It must be both simple & systematic, or those who learn it, but have to read it only now & then, will not remember it. 3. It must be to a great extent self-explaining, or it will nothing to those who have not learnt it. 4. It must be capable of rendering all English sounds, unEnglish ones being ruled out beyond the compass of a scheme subject to requirements 1 & 2. The following is offered as a solution that may serve for want of a better.

mean

as

A. VOWEL SOUNDS Each of the five vowels a ei o u represents two clear sounds & an obscure one, according as it has the long mark over it (māte mēte mite mōte mūte), or the short mark (råck reck rick rock ruck), or no mark (a in about, e in cozen, i in cousin, o in proceed, u in Whitsun).

When two or more italic letters are used, they form a single symbol, as aw, ow, oi, ah, oor, owr (cawl, cowl, coil, bah, boor, dowry).

The italic symbols consisting of one vowel & r, & oo, have always a long or short mark over the first letter thus: māre, mēre, mire, mōre, mūre, părt, pěrt, põrt, stool, stood; their r is usually not trilled before a consonant, but is or may be before a vowel sound. If two italic symbols (see B also) come together, a vertical line (as in Illustrations, rouge, douche) should part them.

B. CONSONANT SOUNDS b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, v, w, z, are unambiguous.

c, q, x, are not used.

g is reckoned hard (get); s is reckoned hard (set); y is reckoned consonantal (yet).

The italic combinations ch, sh, zh, th, dh, ng, ngg, hw, represent the italicized parts of witch, wish, vision, pith, with, singer, finger, whit: thus, wich, wish, vizhon, pith, widh, singer, fingger, heit.

C. ACCENT

This should be placed after the vowel sound of the syllable on which it falls (tě'nder, fē'nian).

ILLUSTRATIONS

father, fah'dher

iniquitous, ini'kwitus pyjamas, pijah'maz

laboratory, la'boratori

fascination, făsănă'shon magical, mă'jikal

consciousness, kõ'nshusnis rouge, rōozh

mountaineer, mowntiner' douche, doo sh

Colquhoun, kohōo'n

agriculture, ǎ'grikŭlchur

whetstone, hwě ́tstōn

coyness, koi'nis burglary, ber'glari burglarious, buglār ́ius dubiety, dubi'iti business, biznis

phylum. Pl. -la. physic, n.

See FORMAL words. physic makes -cked, -cking, -cky; see -C-, -CK-.

physician, doctor, surgeon, in ordinary parlance. The p.' & the d.' may be used to denote the same person, viz one whose vocation is to heal physical troubles, p. being the FORMAL WORD, & no particular relation to s. being implied by either. A s. is always a doctor who undertakes to perform manual operations, but not necessarily one who confines himself to them. Physician is also used in contrast with s. to denote one who Ideals with medicines & treatment, not with surgical instruments, & again in contrast with general practitioner to denote a specialist or consultant. It must be remembered, however, that In the United Kingdom, every medical practitioner is now required to have a qualification as Physician & also as Surgeon; so that a general practitioner usually describes himself as" Physician & Surgeon "'—OED.

PICTURE

physics) (physiology. The two words had once the same wide meaning of natural science or natural philosophy. They have now been narrowed & differentiated, physics retaining only the properties of matter & energy in inorganic nature, & physiology only the normal functions & phenomena of living beings.

physiognomy, -nomical. The g is silent.

physiology. See PHYSICS. For the adjective, -ical is SO much the commoner that it should be accepted as the only form. See -1c(AL).

pi (pious). See CURTAILED Words. pianist. Pronounce pē'anist. piano. The instrument is plǎ'nō; pl. -os, see -0(E)S 5. The musical direction is pyah'nō.

pianola. Pronounce peanō'la. piazza. The OED gives piă'za; but the Italian pyah'tsa is perhaps as often said; see ITALIAN SOUNDS. pibroch. Pronounce as Scotch (pē-, & ch as in lock).

picaresque. The p. novel is defined in the Enc. Brit. as: The prose autobiography of a real or fictitious personage who describes his experiences as a social parasite, & who satirizes the society which he has exploited'. The type is Spanish, but the most widely known example is the French Gil Blas. Picaro is a Spanish word meaning vagabond. piccolo. Pl. -os; see -0(E)S 6. pickaxe. For spelling see AXE. picket, vb, makes -eted, -eting, &c. ; see -T-, -TT-.

picket, picquet, piquet. The second form serves no purpose at all; the third should be reserved for the card-game, & picket be used for all other senses, including that of the military outpost often spelt with -qu- or -cqu-.

picnic makes -cking, -cked, -cker, -cky; see -c-, -CK-.

picture. Piktur is academic; pi'ktyer is impossible except with a deliberate pause after the t (though many people think they say

PIDGIN

it who do not); pi'kcher is the only form practicable for ordinary mortals. See PRONUNCIATION.

Business-English' pidgin, pigeon. was the name given by the Chinese to the Anglo-Chinese lingua franca ; but they pronounced business pidgin, & we have confused the meaningless pidgin with the significant pigeon; cf. AMUCK. Pigeon, however, is two centuries younger in print than amuck, so that there is not the same reason to protest against pidgin as against amok.

piebald)(skewbald. P. is properly of white & black, s. of white & some colour.

piece makes -ceable; see -ABLE 1. pièce de résistance. See FRENCH

WORDS.

pierce makes -ceable; see -ABLE 1. pierrot, -ette. See FRENCH WORDS. pietà. Pronounce pyā'tah. pig. See COLLECTIVES 4. pigeon) (dove. Used absolutely, the words are coextensive in application, every d. being a p., & vice versa; but p. is the ordinary word, & d. is now the rarity, suited for poetical contexts, symbolism, &c. D. is also still used without special significance of particular kinds of pigeon, especially the turtle & other natives, but not of exotics; & much more often the kind is specified, as in stock, ring, turtle, -d.

pigeon English. See PIDGIN.
piggy, -ie. See -EY, -IE, -Y.
pigmy. See PYGMY.
pigsty. Pl. -ies.

pilau, -aw, -aff. The OED gives precedence to the spelling pilau & the pronunciation pilow'.

pile, vb, makes -lable; see MUTE E. pilfer makes -ered, -ering, &c.; see

piquedly. A bad form; see -EDLY. pis aller. See FRENCH Words. piscina. Either pronounce as Latin (pisi'na) & use Latin pl. -nae, or pronounce pisē'na & use English pl. -nas. pistachio. Pl. -os; see -O(E)S 4. The pronunciation put first in the OED is pistä'shiō.

It

pistil makes -lled; see -LL-, -L-. pistol makes -lled, -lling; -LL-, -L-. piteous, pitiable, pitiful. There are three broadly different senses for the words: 1. Feeling pity; 2. Exciting pity; 3. Exciting contempt. would have been easy, then, if the problem had been posed beforehand, to assign a word to a sense, piteous to No 1, pitiable to N° 2, & pitiful to No 3. But language-making is no such simple affair as that, & spontaneous development has worked badly here; piteous has senses 1 & 2, pitiable senses 2 & 3, & pitiful senses 1, 2, & 3-a very wasteful confusion, but too inveterate to be got into order at present. See also PLENTEOUS.

pithecoid. Pron. pithě koid.

pituitary. Pronounce pitū'itari. Latinists grieved by the accent & the short second i may find consolation in FALSE QUANTITY.

pity, n. In the meantime, we can only muse upon the pity of it. For the p. of it, & p. 'tis 'tis true, see STOCK PATHOS, & HACKNEYED PHRASES.

pivotal is open to the same objec tions as coastal; see HYBRID DE

PIXY

re

placate. The pronunciation commended is plakā't, but both plā kāt & plǎ'kāt are also heard. The word is much more in American than in British use, but is quoted from the 17th c. Beside the adjective placable, placatable can be made for the gerundive use; see -ABLE 1. place, vb, makes -ceable; see -ABLE 1. placid makes-dest; see -ER & -EST 4. plagiarize makes -zable; see MUTE E. plague makes-guable, -guing, -guy ; see MUTE E, -EY & -Y.

plaice (fish). So spelt. plaid. Pronounced plad in Scotland, but plåd in England.

plain makes plainness. P. sailing is (probably-OED) a popular use of the nautical term plane sailing, which means navigation by a plane chart, a simple & easy method, approximately correct for short distances'. The corruption, if it is one, is so little misleading, since plain sailing is as intelligible in itself as clear going or any such phrase, that any attempt to correct it is needless as well as vain.

plait. Pronounce plăt. planchette. See FRENCH WOrds. plane, vb, makes -nable; MUTE E. plane sailing, as a correction of the plain sailing of ordinary use, is a pedantry; see PLAIN.

plangent. Pronounce -ănj-. plantain. Pronounce plă'ntin. plaster makes -ered &c.; -R-, -RR-. plat (food served). See FRENCH

WORDS.

plateau. See FRENCH WORDS; but the sound plă'tō, & the pl. -s, are now common; see also -x.

platen, -tt-, pressing-plate in printing. The OED prefers -t- to -tt-. Pronounce -ǎt-.

platform. The political sense of party programme is still rather American than English, but in England too is now not uncommon.

platinize makes -zable; see MUTE E. platitude, -dinous. The words are misused in the following extracts; for the differences between P., commonplace, & truism, see cOMMONPLACE. He would probably in his speech at Glasgow have avoided the use of certain phrases & arguments which, though he clearly means them to be innocuous & even platitudinous, have none the less been the subject of vehement controversy. / The miners acknowledge the force of this principle or platitude as freely as the rest of us.

:

Platonic love. For the origin of the expression, see Plato's Symposium. For its meaning, the definition, & one or two quotations, from the OED here follow :-(Definition) Applied to love or affection for one of the opposite sex, of a purely spiritual character, & free from sensual desire. (Quotations) (Howell) It is a love that consists in contemplation & idaeas of the mind, not in any carnall fruition. (Norris) Platonic Love is the Love of Beauty abstracted from all sensual Applications, & desire of Corporal Contact. (Lewes) Love is the longing of the Soul for Beauty; the inextinguishable desire which like feels for like, which the divinity within us feels for the divinity revealed to us in Beauty. This is the celebrated Platonic Love, which, from having originally meant a communion of two souls, & that in a rigidly dialectical sense, has been degraded to the expression of maudlin sentiment between the sexes.

platypus. Pl. -puses, not -pi; see LATIN PLURALS.

pleasant has -er, -est, in comparison; sce -ER & -EST 2.

pleased. For very p., see VERY. pleasure. I have the p. of doing so-&-so means I do it, & am glad to do it-a courteous announcement that one is conferring some favour. It is my p. to do so-&-so, or that so-&-so should be done, means I choose to, & therefore of course shall, do it or have it done-an imperious statement of intention. The second idiom is based on the definite special sense of p. with possessives (my, his, the king's, &c.), viz one's will, desire, choice.

It is

a p. to do, on the other hand, means the same as I have the p. of doing. But insensibility to idiom often causes It is my or our (not a) p. to be substituted for I or We have the P.; see CAST-IRON IDIOM. Examples of the mistake are:-Once again it is our p. to notice the annual issue of The Home Messenger'./ In the experiment which it was my p. to witness, M. Bachelet used only two traction coils./When it was my p. to address a public meeting of more than 2000 at the Royal Theatre the organized opposition numbered less than seven score.

PLEONASM

the language-duties much less simple than they are apt to suppose.

plenteous, -iful. As with other pairs in -eous & -iful (e. g. from bounty, beauty, duty, pity), the meaning of the two is the same, but the -cous word is the less common & therefore the better suited to the needs of poetry & exalted prose; for these it should be reserved.

plenty. Excuses are plenty (i.e. plentiful), There is p. wood (i. e., p. of), That is p. hot enough (i. e. quite), are irregularities of which the first is established in literature, the second is still considered a solecism (though the omission of of is easily paralleled, as in a little brandy, a dozen apples, more courage, enough food), & the third is recognized colloquial, but not literary, English.

PLEONASM is the using of more words than are required to give the sense intended.

1. It is often resorted to deliberately for rhetorical effect (Lest at any time they should see with their eyes & hear with their ears). The writer who uses p. in that way must be judged by whether he does produce his effect & whether the occasion is worthy of it.

2. There are many phrases originally put together for the sake of such emphasis, but repeated with less & less of impressiveness until they end by boring instead of striking the hearer. Such are the pairs of synonyms if & when, unless & until, save & except, in any shape or form, of any sort or kind. These & many others have long worn out their force, & what those who would write vigorously have to do with them is merely to unlearn them; see IF & WHEN, the apparently least pleonastic of these stock phrases, for fuller discussion. Those who use this form of p. can hardly be unconscious that they are saying a thing twice over, the and or or being there as a reminder.

3. In other phrases, the offender is