Word: apt
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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Foreigners are especially open to these dangers. One cannot blame the Italian who chose "cellar-door" as the most melodious word in our language; Tennyson's choice for the same distinction unfortunately is not admitted to polite company. Even men of the same tongue are apt to get into difficulties, as Americans in England have discovered with such words as "bloody" and others that appear equally innocent. Lore Robert Cecil, when he was being entertained in a Boston club, meant only courteous approval when he remarked "What a homely room you have here!"--and he found it difficult to understand...
Foreigners are especially open to these dangers. One cannot blame the Italian who chose "cellar-door" as the most melodious word in our language; Tennyson's choice for the same distinction unfortunately is not admitted to polite company. Even men of the same tongue are apt to got into difficulties, as Americans in England have discovered with such words as "bloody" and others that appear equally innocent. Lord Robert Cecil, when he was being entertained in a Boston club, meant only courteous approval when he remarked "What a homely room you have here!" and he found it difficult to understand...
...often said that "they do things better in France." Certain it is that the Frenchman argues on all possible occasions on subjects which Americans avoid. The result is that while the Frenchman keeps his ideas sharp and clear, the Anglo-Saxon is apt to leave his thoughts in the dim background. There will be ample opportunity at Silver Bay to try the French method, not only with older men but also with delegates from a large number of other colleges. Anyone who is so firmly fixed in his faith that he has nothing to receive, or so strongly silent that...
...What's the use of studying History anyway?" the modern skeptic is apt to declare, particularly if the impressions of his school days are fresh in his mind, and if he has had an over-dose of the "drum-and-trumpet" brand of History or of the genealogical and chronological table variety. "History is just a chaos of inconsequential facts", he is likely to add, "not the thousandth part of which is worth remembering. History has no laws that can be deduced from this welter of facts and applied for practical purposes, unless it be for a few vague generalizations...
...willingness to fight at the drop of the hat. It merely asks us to fight only when every conceivable honorable expedient has been tried to keep the country out of war. Countries armed to the teeth and with a conscious sense of military power are apt to be less fertile in finding and interested in following expedients for peace, even these whose seeking could bring only honor. Neither General Edwards nor any other militarist can point to the time when the United States has dishonored itself by endeavoring to preserve peace, although the press and the propagandists of many past...