A Dictionary of Cont..

people. In current English people is a true plural.
It means more than one person and can be used
with a numeral. This use of the word is now
standard but it was considered unacceptable
fifty years ago.
Originally people meant a tribe or nation. The
word was commonly followed by a plural verb,
as in a people who have little in common with US.
The plural form was also people and two nations
were usually called IWO people. When the word
is revived for its literary or archaic etl’ect, a
plural with s, as in two peoples, occurs more
often. This is seen in Tennyson’s description of
Armageddon, where he speaks of the standards
of the peoples plunging thro’ the thunder ,storm.
By extension, people came to mean any group
of persons. Here too it was followed by a plural
verb. But it was still felt to be a group name,
like family or jury, and could not be used with
a numeral, which would have meant more than
one group. A grammarian writing in 176.5
claimed that one could no more say two or three
people than one could say two or three cattle or
two or three company. Company is still a group
name, but most people today have no difficulty
at all in saying two or three people or iwo or
three cattle. In its modern sense, the plural with
s, as in you peoples, is not standard.
The use of people with a numeral was condemned
by many grammarians in the early part
of this century, but it is now standard E.nglish
and is generally preferred to the word persons.
We may now say three people were present or
three persons were present, as we please. Most
people prefer the first form, and persons now
sounds pedantic or bookish. This may be because
it is sometimes used to mean bodies, in contrast
to spirits. Or perhaps persons, because of its association
with personage, offends the popular
sense of equality.
In its modern sense of “persons,” people has
the genitive form people’s, as in the people’s
opinions. Some publishers omit the apostrophe
and write the peoples opinions. This is unusual,
but accepted. If the word is being used in its
old sense of “nation,” and if more than one
nation is meant, the form peoples’ might Ibe defended,
as in two peoples’ borders. But even here
two people’s borders would be more literary.
pep (short for pepper), meaning vigor, spirit, energy,
animation, drive, and so on, is classilied as
slang by most dictionaries (as in Z put in a new
set of plugs and she’s had lots of pep since (then).
But in its use as an attributive adjective, describing
college rallies and talks designed to
stimulate enthusiasm before a football game, it
is surely standard. No terms other than pep talk
and pep meeting have been employed for thirty
years and it would be hard to think of any other
way of saying what these terms say without being
tedious and pompous.
perceive. When used in an active form, this verb
may be followed by an object and the simple
form of a verb, as in Z perceived them stop; by
an object and the -ing form of a verb, as in 1
363 peremptory
perceived them stopping; or by n clause, as in
Z perceive they have stopped. When perceive is
used in a passive form it may be followed by a
to-infinitive, as in they were perceived to stop,
or by the -ing form of a verb, as in they were
perceived stopping. See descry.
percent; percentage. Percentage means a proportion
reckoned in terms of one hundred. Thirty
years ago percent was considered an abbreviation
for per centum and was written per cenf.,
with a period. It was a prepositional phrase and
meant “to the hundred.” Today it is usually
treated as a single word. Some publishers still
print it as two words, as per cent, but the period
has been dropped.
The word now means just what percentage
means and is used in just the same ways. Perhaps
percentage will disappear as other unnecessary
words, such as domestical, have done.
In the meantime, anyone who likes to make
distinctions can do so. Some editors use one of
these words as a noun and the other as an adjective,
but there is difference of opinion as to
which is which. The United States Bureau of
the Census does not distinguish here between
nouns and adjectives. They use percent in table
headings and wherever it is important to save
space. In the text of an article, they prefer percentage
when the word is used without a nn
meral, as in the high percentage, and percent
when it is used with a numeral, as in three percent.
perceptible; perceptive; perceptual. Perceptible
means capable of being perceived (Within ten
minutes of the shifting of the wind there was a
perceptible coolnes,s in the air). Perceptive means
capable of perceiving (Any perceptive judge
would see the difference at once). Perceptual is
a specialized term meaning pertaining to perception
(In thinking we tend to move from perceptual
imnges to concepts).
perception; apperception. Perception designates
the action or faculty of perceiving, cognition,
taking cognizance of some object of which the
senses can be aware, or an immediate or intuitive
recognition, as of a moral or aesthetic quality.
It may also mean the result or product of
perceiving, as distinguished from the act of
perceiving. In its specialized psychological sense,
perception refers to a single unified meaning
obtained from sensory processes while a stimulus
is present. Apperception is used exclusively
in a specialized psychological sense. It means
conscious perception, perception clearly conceived,
a full awareness that we have perceived.
perdurable, meaning permanent, everlasting, long
enduring, eternal, was used chiefly in theological
writings, and fell into disuse, even among the
learned, about the middle of the seventeenth century.
It was revived in the nineteenth century
but remains largely a show word, a little artificial
and forced. There are half a dozen better known
synonyms which are to be preferred.
peremptor:.; precmptory. Peremptory means imperative,
dictatorial, leaving no opportunity for