A Dictionary of Cont..

emembrance 418
to my heart are the scenes of my cltildhoodl
When fond recollection presents them to view).
Reminiscence, generally plural, means recollections
narrated or told. Recollections and reminiscences
are the staple of writers of memoirs
and autobiography (My Recollections of Lord
Byron, Men and Memories: Recollections of
William Rothenstein, Carlyle’s Reminiscences,
and soon).
remembrance; reminder. A reminder is some
thing which causes one to remember, usually
at some fitting or necessary time (Tie this string
on your finger as a reminder). A remembrance
is something which serves to hold something
or, more often, someone continually in the
memory, usually with fondness or affection
(Keep this ring as a remembrance).
remit; send. In America remit means primarily
to transmit or send money to a person or place
(Please remit). This meaning is known in England
but is not common. This is the only sense
in which remit means send. In some of its less
common senses, remit may mean to send back,
or give back (He remitted the fine) or, in law,
to send back a case to an inferior court.
remittance; money. Remittance is a commercial
term to describe money or its equivalent sent
from one place to another (Enclosed find my
remittance in the amount of $25.00). It is not
to be used as a term for money, however, in
social, as opposed to business, relations. When
SO used, it is affected, a sort of euphemism to
avoid SO coarse a word as money. A remittance
man (the term is dying out, though not the practice
upon which it is based) is one living abroad
who depends for support on money sent from
home, money which is sent on condition that
he remain abroad and not come home to disgrace
by his presence the respectable members
of his family.
remove is one of those words that now seem
slightly pompous, with an archaic flavor, to the
English but are in everyday use in America
where Remove your hats or Let us remove your
garbage and similar public notices strike no one
as incongruous.
remuneration is a rather lofty and affected word
for pay. It is an apologetic word. It implies that
the money is a base and inadequate recompense
for the service offered or the loss endured. But
it is quite unnecessary. Most people today are
quite willing to accept pay-if there’s enough
of it.
Renaissance; renaissance; renascence. As a synonym
for rebirth, renascence is the correct word
(The phoenix, the great poetic image of renascence,
fascinated the old poets). For a revival
in art or literature, either renaissance or renascence
will do, although renascence is preferred
(Theodore Watts-Dunton, Poetry and
the Renascence of Wonder). The Renaissance
is the word to describe the activity, spirit, or
time of the great revival of art, letters, and
learning in Europe during the fourteenth, fifteenth,
and sixteenth centuries, marking the
transition from the medieval to the modern
world (Walter Pater, The Renaissance), or the
forms and treatments in art used during this
period.
rend. The past tense is rent. The participle is also
rent.
render; make. English and American authorities
do not agree on permissible uses of render. The
English will not accept render in the sense of
cause to be (The blow rendered him helpless)
but this meaning is standard in American usage.
In the context of making a decision, render is
felt, in American usage, to be somewhat more
formal than make; ordinary people make decisions,
judges render them when they deliver
them officially as judgments.
As a synonym for sing or play (Miss Bile
will now render a charming lullaby of her own
composition), render is stilted since it means
more than these-to bring out the meaning of
by performance, execution, or interpretation.
Such highfalutin words, by promising much,
place the performer at a disadvantage.
render service. See service.
rendezvous. The plural is rendezvous.
rendition; performance. Rendition means primarily
the act of rendering, the action of restoring,
surrendering, yielding. In America, especially,
it is used to mean the translation of a text
(I will not omit mention of Calverley’s complete
rendition of Theocritus) and performance,
as of a role or a piece of music (The festivities
were enlivened by the rendition of a few instrumental
selections). British usage prefers rendering
to rendition in the senses of translation and
performance.
Unless some unusual interpretation is attempted
or accomplished, performance is definitely
the word to be preferred as the term for
singing or acting. Rendition implies the bringing
out of a full or special meaning and while a
good performance does this a bad performance
does not and in either case the performer suffers
from great claims being made for him.
renown. See celebrity.
rent. See hire; and rend.
reoccurrence; recurrence. Reoccurrence, a coinage
of the late nineteenth century and still, happily,
exceedingly rare, is really no more than a
blunder for recurrence, an established and useful
word, euphonious and satisfactory. There is
no need for the more awkward form and most
dictionaries do not recognize its existence.
repairable; reparable. Reparable is the genera1
term to describe that which is capable of being
repaired or remedied (The mistake is easily
reparable). Repairable is preferred by authorities
in England to describe material objects
which are reparable (A survey is needed to determine
to what extent the buildings damaged
by bombs are repairable). In American usage,
reparable is preferred in all circumstances. The
negatives are irreparable and unrepairable.
repartee. See answer.
repast; collation; meal; banquet. Repast for meal
is straining a little to be elegant and sumpruous
repast and rich repast are journalistic cliches.