Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/219

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Errors in English
statue
stricken

off on your way down by car" are colloquial but objectionable expressions. The latter clearly means "step off and call in" and would be met by a simple "call in." Stop implies finality, and should therefore never be used in the sense of a temporary stay. The true meaning of the word stop was well understood by the man who did not invite his professed friend to visit him: "If you come at any time within ten miles of my house, just stop."—Mathews, Words, Their Use and Abuse, ch. xiv. p. 359.

straight, strait: Exercise care in spelling these words. That which is straight lies evenly between any two of its points or passes from one point to another by direct course; not curved. A strait is a narrow channel connecting two seas. In the plural, strait denotes a difficult or restricted condition; distress or perplexity.

street: According to law, land includes all above and all below. Thus a house on the land or a gold mine beneath is covered by the word land, and its possessor is entitled to both one and the other. In the same way a street includes the houses there built; and it is therefore not strictly correct to speak of a certain house as being on a certain street: it is in the street and is part of it. Compare on.

stricken: As a past participle of strike, archaic in England, except when there is an implication in it of misfortune; as, "He was stricken with paralysis." In the United States stricken, in general application,

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