A Dictionary of Cont..

usually expressed by cnlmbly), was formerly
also spelled crummy. The slang crummy, mean,
shabby (What a crummy joint!) seems to stem
from an earlier slang meaning lousy which, in
turn, may have derived from the idea t.hat a
louse looked like a crumb.
crux is a cross. The term came to be applied figuratively
to anything that torments by its puzzling
nature, particularly philosophical and textual
difficulties (The unity of opposites was the crzzx
of ancient thinkers. The consideration of a
textual crux sharpens the wits). In modern usage
it has come to be applied almost solely to a
vital, basic, or decisive point, especially in the
rather tired phrase the crux of the matter. It is
a word that has been confined, heretofore, to
literary problems so that it has distinctly an
academic flavor and should be avoided by all
who wish to avoid the imputation of peda.ntry.
(The plural is crrdxes or truces.)
cry; weep. Cry is the everyday word. It has in it
the suggestion of a passionate, inarticulate but
loud lament, an open expression of sorrow. In
all meanings of cry there is an implication of
great noise. Weep is a more poetic word (Weep
no more, my lady). It suggests a quieter expression
of grief, though the grief may be as
deep (When the poor have cried, Caesar hath
wept). Sobbing is weeping or crying with a convulsive
catching of the breath. A wail is a prolonged
inarticulate, mournful cry, usually highpitched
(Then from the jail/ Came the wail/
Of a downhearted frail). A low-pitched wail
would be a moan.
cry over spilt milk, no use to. There’s no use
telling those who think this a fresh and original
way of expressing the folly of vain regret that
it has been a cliche for a century and a proverb
for two centuries before that. But it has.
cry wolf. To say of someone who raises needless
alarms that he is crying wolf is to employ a
cliche. The phrase is a hackneyed reference to
Aesop’s fable of the shepherd boy who shouted
“Wolf! Wolf!” as a joke or just to get attention
and then failed to get help when the wolf really
came because his cry for help was no longer
taken seriously.
cryptic is a mysterious word for mysterious,
hidden, secret, occult, and unless one wishes to
risk the contempt and resentment which, as well
admiration, is sometimes bestowed on those who
use strange words, he would do well to use one
of the commoner synonyms.
cue; queue. There used to be distinctions between
these words. The actor’s indication and the rod
used in pool and billiards were invariably cue.
The pigtail and people waiting in line were
queue, and this spelling still holds for these
uses in England. But in America. although it
is known that the law-abiding Engiish queue up
in queues, cue is the accepted spelling for all
senses, except that queue is sometimes used for
the pigtail.
cumulus. The plural is cumuli.
cups that cheer. Those who refer to alcoholic
beverages as the cups that cheer are guilty of a
123 curtesy
number of errors. In the first place, the full
phrase, taken from Cowper’s The Tusk (1783),
is the cups that cheer but not inebriate, and it
refers to tea. And if, as seems likely, Cowper
was echoing a passage from Bishop Berkeley, it
referred originally to tar water. Just how an
infusion of tar in water cheered him or anyone
else, the Bishop did not say; it was probably part
of the mystery of his philosophy, Subjective
Idealism. The phrase is a clich6, worn out and
misunderstood and should be avoided.
curate. See rector.
curb; kerb. For the protective margin of the sidewalk,
the American spelling is curb, the English
kerb. For curb in the sense of restrain, see check.
curious; inquisitive. Curious can mean desirous
of knowing or that which makes us desirous of
knowing (Children are very curious, eager to
find out anything that they think is being concealed
from them by their parents. His behavior
seemed curious and occasioned a great deal of
speculation in the village).
In popular usage curious in the first of these
senses has come to mean almost entirely an
eagerness to know something that is not properly
one’s concern. Like inquisitive, with which it
is largely synonymous, it implies a prying into
other people’s affairs. Of the two words, inquisitive
suggests more action, in the form of
asking impertinent questions or investigating in
some way. One can be curiozrs without doing
anything more than wondering (She was curious
about what was going on in her neighbor’s
house and soon became inquisitive among the
children).
currently. See presently.
curriculum. The plural is curriculums or curricula.
curry favor. To curry favor, as an expression for
ingratiating oneself with another by flattery or
complaisance, is a standard expression not used
enough to be condemned as a clich6. But,
although its general meaning is plain, it may be
doubted if one out of ten thousand who use it
have any idea of its spedific meaning, and it
stands as a striking illustration of the ways of
language and the fact that usage can in time
make any blunder acceptable.
To curry is to groom, as with a currycomb.
Favor is a corruption of favel (until the sixteenth
century the saying was to curry favel), which is
the English form of the Old French fauvel,
fallow-golored. Fauvel, a fallow horse, was the
rascally hero of a romance, the Roman de
Fuuvel (1310). Whether a fallow horse was a
symbol of dishonesty before the romance or
whether the idea came from the story is not
clear, but the thought of currying this cunning
rogue as a means of gaining his favor became
proverbial, though the rascality of the one
curried is not in the modern usage.
curse. The past tense is cursed or curst. The paticiple
is cursed. Cuss and cussed are often used
by educated people as a softened form of curse.
cursing. See blasphemy.
curtesy; curtsey; curtsy; courtesy. Curtesy is a
legal term meaning the life tenure formerly en-