Project Gutenberg's Three Articles on Metaphor, by Society for Pure English
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Tract XI: Three Articles on Metaphor
Author: Society for Pure English
Release Date: August 28, 2004 [EBook #13311]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ARTICLES ON METAPHOR ***
Produced by David Starner, Project Manager, Keith M. Eckrich,
Post-Processor, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed
Proofreaders Team
_SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH_
_TRACT No. XI_
THREE ARTICLES ON METAPHOR
By E.B., H.W. Fowler & A. Clutton-Brock
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES & CORRESPONDENCE
_At the Clarendon Press_
1922
THREE ARTICLES ON METAPHOR
I. NOTES ON THE FUNCTION OF METAPHOR
The business of the writer is to arouse in the mind of his reader the
fullest possible consciousness of the ideas or emotion that he is
expressing.
To this end he suggests a comparison between it and something else
which is similar to it in respect of those qualities to which he
desires to draw attention. The reader's mind at once gets to work
unconsciously on this comparison, rejecting the unlike qualities and
recognizing with an enhanced and satisfied consciousness the like
ones. The functions of simile and metaphor are the same in this
respect.
Both simile and metaphor are best when not too close to the idea they
express, that is, when they have not many qualities in common with it
which are not cogent to the aspect under consideration.
The test of a well-used metaphor is that it should completely fulfil
this function: there should be no by-products of imagery which
distract from the poet's aim, and vitiate and weaken the desired
consciousness.
A simile, in general, need not be so close as a metaphor, because the
point of resemblance is indicated, whereas in a metaphor this is left
to the reader to discover.
When a simile or metaphor is from the material to the immaterial, or
vice versa, the analogy should be more complete than when it is
between two things on the same plane: when they are on different
planes there is less dullness (that is, less failure to produce
consciousness), and the greater mental effort required of the reader
warrants some assistance.
The degree of effort required in applying any given metaphor should be
in relation to the degree of emotion proper to the passage in which it
is used. Only those metaphors which require little or no mental
exertion should be used in very emotional passages, or the emotional
effect will be much weakened: a far-fetched, abstruse metaphor or
simile implies that the writer is at leisure from his emotion, and
suggests this attitude in the reader.--[E.B.]
II. SOME NOTES ON METAPHOR IN JOURNALISM
Live and dead metaphor; some pitfalls; self-consciousness and mixed
metaphor.
1. Live and Dead Metaphor.
In all discussion of metaphor it must be borne in mind that some
metaphors are living, i.e. are offered and accepted with a
consciousness of their nature as substitutes for their literal
equivalents, while others are dead, i.e. have been so often used that
speaker and hearer have ceased to be aware that the words are not
literal: but the line of distinction between the live and the dead is
a shifting one, the dead being sometimes liable, under the stimulus of
an affinity or a repulsion, to galvanic stirrings indistinguishable
from life. Thus, in _The men were sifting meal_ we have a literal use
of _sift_; in _Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as
wheat_, 'sift' is a live metaphor; in _the sifting of evidence_, the
metaphor is so familiar that it is about equal chances whether
_sifting_ or _examination_ will be used, and a sieve is not present to
the thought--unless, indeed, some one conjures it up by saying _All
the evidence must first be sifted with acid tests_, or _with the
microscope_; under such a stimulus our metaphor turns out to have been
not dead, but dormant. The other word, _examine_, will do well enough
as an example of the real stone-dead metaphor; the Latin _examino_,
being from _examen_ the tongue of a balance, meant originally to
weigh; but, though weighing is not done with acid tests or microscopes
any more than sifting, _examine_ gives no convulsive twitchings, like
_sift_, at finding itself in their company; _examine_, then, is dead
metaphor, and _sift_ only half dead, or three-quarters.
2. Some pitfalls. A, Unsustained Metaphor; B, Overdone Metaphor; C,
Spoilt Metaphor; D, Battles of the Dead; E, Mixed Metaphor.
A. Unsustained Metaphor
_He was still in the middle of those twenty years of neglect which
only began to lift in 1868_. The plunge into metaphor at _lift_, which
presupposes a mist, is too sudden after the literal _twenty years of
neglect_; years, even gloomy years, do not lift.
_The means of education at the disposal of the Protestants and
Presbyterians of the North were stunted and sterilized._ 'The means at
disposal' names something too little vegetable or animal to consort
with the metaphorical verbs. Education (personified) may be stunted,
but means may not.
_The measure of Mr. Asquith's shame does not consist in the mere fact
that he has announced his intention to ..._ Metaphorical measuring,
like literal, requires a more accommodating instrument than a stubborn
fact.
B. Overdone Metaphor
The days are perhaps past when a figure was deliberately chosen that
could be worked out with line upon line of relentless detail, and the
following well-known specimen is from Richardson:--
_Tost to and fro by the high winds of passionate control, I
behold the desired port, the single state, into which I
would fain steer; but am kept off by the foaming billows of
a brother's and sister's envy, and by the raging winds of a
supposed invaded authority; while I see in Lovelace, the
rocks on one hand, and in Solmes, the sands on the other;
and tremble, lest I should split upon the former or strike
upon the latter_.
The present fashion is rather to develop a metaphor only by way of
burlesque. All that need be asked of those who tend to this form of
satire is to remember that, while some metaphors do seem to deserve
such treatment, the number of times that the same joke can safely be
made, even with variations, is limited; the limit has surely been
exceeded, for instance, with 'the long arm of coincidence'; what
proportion may this triplet of quotations bear to the number of times
the thing has been done?--_The long arm of coincidence throws the
Slifers into Mercedes's Cornish garden a little too heavily. The
author does not strain the muscles of coincidence's arm to bring them
into relation. Then the long arm of coincidence rolled up its sleeves
and set to work with a rapidity and vigour which defy description_.
Modern overdoing, apart from burlesque, is chiefly accidental, and
results not from too much care, but from too little. _The most
irreconcilable of Irish landlords are beginning to recognize that we
are on the eve of the dawn of a new day in Ireland_. 'On the eve of'
is a dead metaphor for 'about to experience', and to complete it with
'the dawn of a day' is as bad as to say, _It cost one pound sterling,
ten_ instead of _one pound ten_.
C. Spoilt Metaphor
The essential merit of real or live metaphor being to add vividness to
what is being conveyed, it need hardly be said that accuracy of detail
is even more necessary in metaphorical than in literal expressions;
the habit of metaphor, however, and the habit of accuracy do not
always go together.
_Yet Taurès was the Samson who upheld the pillars of the Bloc._
_Yet what more distinguished names does the Anglican Church of the
last reign boast than those of F.D. Maurice, Kingsley, Stanley,
Robertson of Brighton, and even, if we will draw our net a little
wider, the great Arnold?_
_He was the very essence of cunning, the incarnation of a book-thief._
Samson's way with pillars was not to uphold them; we draw nets closer,
but cast them wider; and what is the incarnation of a thief? too, too
solid flesh indeed!
D. Battles of Dead Metaphors
In _The Covenanters took up arms_ there is no metaphor; in _The
Covenanters flew to arms_ there is one only--_flew to_ for _quickly
took up_; in _She flew to arms in defence of her darling_ there are
two, the arms being now metaphorical as well as the flying; moreover,
the two metaphors are separate ones; but, being dead, and also not
inconsistent with each other, they lie together quietly enough. But
dead metaphors will not lie quietly together if there was repugnance
between them in life; e'en in their ashes live their wonted fires, and
they get up and fight.
_It is impossible to crush the Government's aim to restore the means
of living and working freely_. 'Crush' for baffle, 'aim' for purpose,
are both dead metaphors so long as they are kept apart, but the
juxtaposition forces on us the thought that you cannot crush an aim.
_National military training is the bedrock on which alone we can hope
to carry through the great struggles which the future may have in
store for us_. 'Bedrock' and 'carry through' are both moribund or
dormant, but not stone-dead.
_The vogue of the motor-car seems destined to help forward the
provision of good road-communication, a feature which is sadly in
arrear_. Good road-communication may be a feature, and it may be in
arrear, and yet a feature cannot be in arrear; things that are equal
to the same thing may be equal to each other in geometry, but language
is not geometry.
They are cyphers living under the _shadow_ of a great man.
He stood, his feet _glued_ to the spot, his eyes _riveted_ on the
heavens.
The Geddes report is to be _emasculated_ a little in the Cabinet, and
then _thrown_ at the heads of the Electorate.
Viscount Grey's suggestion may, in spite of everything, prove the
_nucleus_ of _solution_.
The superior stamina of the Oxonian told in no _half-hearted measure_.
[Even careful writers are sometimes unaware of the comical effect of
some chance juxtaposition of words and ideas, whereby a dormant
metaphor is set on its legs. Thus Leslie Stephen in his life of Swift
wrote: _Sir William Temple, though he seems to have been vigorous and
in spite of gout a brisk walker, was approaching his grave_. And again
when he was triumphantly recording the progress of agnosticism he has:
_Even the high-churchmen have thrown the Flood overboard_. [ED.]]
E. Mixed Metaphors
For the examples given in D, tasteless word-selection is a fitter
description than mixed metaphor, since each of the words that conflict
with others is not intended, as a metaphor at all. 'Mixed metaphor' is
more appropriate when one or both of the terms can only be consciously
metaphorical. Little warning is needed against it; it is so
conspicuous as seldom to get into speech or print undetected.
_This is not the time to throw up the sponge, when the enemy, already
weakened and divided, are on the run to a new defensive position_. A
mixture of prize-ring and battlefield.
In the following extract from a speech it is difficult to be sure how
many times metaphors are mixed; readers versed in the mysteries of
oscillation may be able to decide:
_No society, no community, can place its house in_ _such a
condition that it is always on a rock, oscillating between
solvency and insolvency. What I have to do is to see that
our house is built upon a solid foundation, never allowing
the possibility of the Society's life-blood being sapped.
Just in proportion as you are careful in looking after the
condition of your income, just in proportion as you deal
with them carefully, will the solidarity of the Society's
financial condition remain intact. Immediately you begin to
play fast and loose with your income the first blow at your
financial stability will have been struck._
A real poet losing himself in the _meshes_ of a foolish _obsession_.
Johnson tore the _hearts_ out of books ruthlessly in order to extract
the _honey_ out of them expeditiously. Are we to let the _pendulum_
swing back to the old _rut_? Those little houses at the top of the
street, _dwarfed_ by the _grandiloquence_ on the opposite side, are
too small, too.
3. Self-consciousness and Mixed Metaphor.
The gentlemen of the Press regularly devote a small percentage of
their time to accusing each other of mixing metaphors or announcing
that they are themselves about to do so (What a mixture of metaphors!
If we may mix our metaphors. To change the metaphor), the offence
apparently being not to mix them, but to be unaware that you have done
it. The odd thing is that, whether he is on the offensive or the
defensive, the writer who ventures to talk of mixing metaphors often
shows that he does not know what mixed metaphor is. Two typical
examples of the offensive follow:
_The _Scotsman_ says: 'The crowded benches of the Ministerialists
contain the germs of disintegration. A more ill-assorted majority
could hardly be conceived, and presently the Opposition must realize
of what small account is the manoeuvring of the Free-Fooders or of any
other section of the party. If the sling be only properly handled, the
new Parliamentary Goliath will be overthrown easily enough. The stone
for the sling must, however, be found on the Ministerial side of the
House, and not on the Opposition side.' Apparently the stone for the
sling will be a germ. But doubtless mixed feelings lead to mixed
metaphors._ In this passage, we are well rid of the germs before we
hear of the sling, and the mixture of metaphors is quite imaginary.
Since literal benches often contain literal germs, but 'crowded
benches' and 'germs of disintegration' are here separate metaphors for
a numerous party and tendencies to disunion, our critic had ready to
his hand in the first sentence, if he had but known it, something much
more like a mixture of metaphors than what he mistakes for one.
_'When the Chairman of Committees--a politician of their own
hue--allowed Mr. Maddison to move his amendment in favour of secular
education, a decision which was not quite in accordance with
precedent, the floodgates of sectarian controversy were opened, and
the apple of discord--the endowment of the gospel of
Cowper-Temple--was thrown into the midst of the House of Commons.'
What a mixture of metaphor! One pictures this gospel-apple battling
with the stream released by the opened floodgates._ In point of fact,
the floodgates and the apple are successive metaphors, unmixed; the
mixing of them is done by the critic himself, not by the criticized;
and as to _gospel-apple,_ by which it is hinted that the mixture is
triple, the original writer had merely mentioned in the _gospel_
phrase the thing compared by the side of what it is compared to, as
when one explains _the Athens of the North_ by adding _Edinburgh._
Writers who are on the defensive apologize for _change_ and _mixture_
of metaphors as though one was as bad as the other; the two sins are
in fact entirely different; a man may change his metaphors as often as
he likes; it is for him to judge whether the result will or will not
be unpleasantly florid; but he should not ask our leave to do it; if
the result is bad, his apology will not mend matters, and if it is not
bad no apology was called for. On the other hand, to mix metaphors, if
the mixture is real, is an offence that should have been not
apologized for, but avoided. Whichever the phrase, the motive is the
same--mortal fear of being accused of mixed metaphor.
_...showed that Free Trade could provide the jam without recourse
being had to Protective food-taxes: next came a period in which (to
mix our metaphors) the jam was a nice slice of tariff pie for
everybody, but then came the Edinburgh Compromise, by which the jam
for the towns was that there were to be..._ When _jam_ is used in
three successive sentences in its hackneyed sense of consolation, it
need hardly be considered in the middle one of them a live metaphor at
all; however, the as-good-as-dead metaphor of jam _is_ capable of
being stimulated into life if any one is so foolish as to bring into
contact with it another half-dead metaphor of its own (i.e. of the
foodstuff) kind, and it _was_, after all, mixing metaphors to say the
jam was a slice of pie; but then the way of escape was to withdraw
either the jam or the pie, instead of forcing them together down our
throats with a ramrod of apology.
_Time sifts the richest granary, and posterity is a dainty feeder. But
Lyall's words, at any rate--to mix the metaphor--will escape the blue
pencil even of such drastic editors as they_. Since all three
metaphors are live ones, and _they_ are the sifter and the feeder, the
working of these into grammatical connexion with the blue pencil does
undoubtedly mix metaphors. But then our author gives us to understand
that he knows he is doing it, and surely that is enough. Even so some
liars reckon that a lie is no disgrace provided that they wink at a
bystander as they tell it, even so those who are addicted to the
phrase 'to use a vulgarism' expect to achieve the feat of being at
once vulgar and superior to vulgarity.
_Certainly we cannot detect the suggested lack of warmth in the speech
as it is printed, for in his speech, as in the Prime Minister's, it
seems to us that (if we may change the metaphor) exactly the right
note was struck_.
_We may, on the one hand, receive into our gill its precise content of
the complex mixture that fills the puncheon of the whole world's
literature, on the other--to change the metaphor--our few small
strings may thrill in sympathetic harmony to some lyrical zephyrs and
remain practically unresponsive to the deep-sea gale of Aeschylus or
Dante_.
Why, yes, gentlemen, you may change your metaphors, if it seems good
to you, but you may also be pretty sure that, if you feel the
necessity of proclaiming the change, you had better have abstained
from it.
_Two of the trump cards played against the Bill are (1) that 'it makes
every woman who pays a tax-collector in her own house', and (2) that
'it will destroy happy domestic relations in hundreds of thousands of
homes'; if we may at once change our metaphor, these are the notes
which are most consistently struck in the stream of letters, now
printed day by day for our edification in the_ Mail. This writer need
not have asked our leave to change from cards to music; he is within
his rights, anyhow, and the odds are, indeed, that if he had not
reminded us of the cards we should have forgotten them in the
intervening lines, but how did a person so sensitive to change of
metaphor fail to reflect that it is ill playing the piano in the
water? 'A stream of letters', it is true, is only a picturesque way of
saying 'many letters', and ordinarily a dead metaphor; but once put
your seemingly dead yet picturesque metaphor close to a piano that is
being played, and its notes wake the dead--at any rate for readers who
have just had the word _metaphor_ called to their memory.--H.W.
FOWLER.
III. DEAD METAPHORS
Metaphor becomes a habit with writers who wish to express more emotion
than they feel, and who employ it as an ornament to statements that
should be made plainly or not at all. Used thus, it is a false
emphasis, like architectural ornaments in the wrong place. It demands
of the reader an imaginative effort where there has been no such
effort in the writer, an answering emotion where there is none to be
answered. And the reader gets the habit of refusing such effort and
such emotion; he ceases even to be aware of metaphors that are used
habitually. He may not consciously resent them; but unconsciously his
mind is wearied by them as the eye by advertisements often repeated.
By their sameness they destroy expectation so that, even if the writer
says anything in particular, it seems to be all generalities.
Here is an instance of habitual metaphor, not manufactured for this
tract, but taken from an article by a well-known writer. He is
speaking of the career of Mr. Lloyd George:
There was nothing like it in the histories of the ancient
European monarchies, hide-bound by caste and now lying on
the scrap-heaps of Switzerland and Holland. In the more
forward nations, the new republics, men have indeed risen
from humble beginnings to high station, but not generally by
constitutional means and usually only (as now in Russia) by
wading to their places through blood. The dizzy height to
which Lloyd George has attained, not as a British statesman
only but also as a world celebrity, seems to leave the
foreign nations breathless. It is a spectacle that has of
itself some of the thrill and fascination of romance.
Here are metaphors that might be used, or have been used, so as to
surprise the reader; but in this case they are stock-ornaments to a
passage that needs no ornament. If the metaphors in the first sentence
were alive to us they would be mixed; at least the transition from
monarchies hide-bound by caste to monarchies lying on scrap-heaps
would be too sudden; but we hardly notice it because we hardly notice
the metaphors. And there is an inconsistency in the notion of rising
by wading which, again, we do not notice only because we are so used
to rising and wading as metaphors that both have lost their power as
images. Mr. Lloyd George has waded to such a dizzy height that he
seems to leave foreign nations breathless; and we should be breathless
at the thought of such an impossibility if the metaphors were not
dead.
It is indeed the mark of a dead metaphor that it escapes absurdity
only by being dead. The term has been used for metaphors that have
lost all metaphorical significance; but these, perhaps, are better
called buried metaphors. I prefer to use the word _dead_ of metaphors
not yet buried but demanding burial. 'Risen from humble beginnings' is
perhaps a buried metaphor; 'wading to their places through blood' is a
dead one. It has been used so often that it jades instead of
horrifying us; it is a corpse that fails to make us think of corpses.
But in the next sentence the writer returns to the metaphor of rising
and elaborates it so that it is no longer buried, though certainly
dead. We are vaguely aware of the sense of this passage, but the
metaphors are a hindrance, not a help, to our understanding of it.
Writers fall into habitual metaphor when they fear that their thought
will seem too commonplace without ornament; and, because the motive is
unconscious, they choose metaphors familiar to themselves and their
readers. The article from which I have quoted contains many such
metaphors. Mr. Lloyd George is 'like other men only cast in bigger
mould'. He is 'clearly no plaster saint'. 'You cannot think of him in
relation to the knock-out blow except as the man who gives, not
receives, it.' 'He has never lost his head on the dizzy height to
which he has so suddenly attained. He is clearly in no danger of the
intoxicating impulse of the people who find themselves for the first
time on great eminences, to leap over. In a word, he is not spoiled.'
Here the writer, as he would put it, gives himself away. All that
metaphor means only that Mr. George is not spoiled, and the fact that
he is not spoiled would be established better by instances than by
metaphors.
Then we are told that some of Mr. George's feats 'seem to partake of
the nature of legerdemain'. 'He sways a popular assembly by waves of
almost Hebraic emotion.' 'No man has ever had his ear closer to the
ground and listened more attentively to the tramp of the oncoming
multitudes.' He 'held Great Britain's end up' at the International
conference. A 'magnificent tribute was paid to him by Earl Balfour'
but it 'did not put him alone on a pinnacle'. And then we read of the
whirligig of time, of 'clouds of misunderstanding which point to the
coming of a storm'; of how 'foreign nations suddenly became aware that
a new star had swum into the world's ken'; of how 'the situation of
this country is perilous with so much Bolshevik gunpowder moving
about', and how 'it has required a strong heart and a clear head to
keep the nation from falling either into the sloughs of despond or the
fires of revolution'.
Some of these are metaphors that were excellent in their first use and
original context; but they lose their excellence if repeated in any
context where they have not been discovered by the emotion of the
writer but are used by him to make a commonplace appear passionate.
Then they seem an unfortunate legacy from poetry to prose; and it is a
fact, I think, that our prose now suffers from the richness of our
past poetry. Even the prose writers of the Romantic movement regarded
prose as the poor relation of poetry; they did not see that prose has
its own reasons for existing, its own state of being and its own
beauties. They had the habit of writing about Shakespeare in
Shakespeare's own manner, which, in later plays such as _Antony and
Cleopatra_, is often a fading of one metaphor into another so fast
that the reader's or listener's mind cannot keep pace with it:
O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me: throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault;
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder.
And finish all foul thoughts.
The metaphors here, though instinctive rather than habitual, are
excessive even for the dying speech of Enobarbus. The style is the
worst model for prose, yet it has persisted as a mere habit in the
prose of writers who fear to be prosaic and who are prevented by that
habit from saying even what they have to say.
The principles of composition, whether verse or prose, are based on
the fact that the unit of language is not the word, or even the
phrase, but the sentence. From this it follows that every word and
every phrase gets its meaning from the sentence in which it occurs;
and so that words and phrases should be used freshly on each occasion
and, as it were, recharged with meaning by the aptness of their use.
Every sentence should, like a piece of music, establish its own
relation between the words that compose it; and in the best sentences,
whether of prose or verse, the words seem new-born; like notes in
music, they seem to be, not mere labels, but facts, because of the
manner in which the writer's thought or emotion has related them to
each other. But habitual metaphor prevents this process of relation;
it is the intrusion of ready-made matter, with its own stale
associations, into matter that should be new-made for its own
particular purpose of expression. Phrases like--The lap of luxury,
Part and parcel, A sea of troubles, Passing through the furnace,
Beyond the pale, The battle of life, The death-warrant of, Parrot
cries, The sex-war, Tottering thrones, A trail of glory, Bull-dog
tenacity, Hats off to, The narrow way, A load of sorrow, A
charnel-house, The proud prerogative, Smiling through your tears, A
straight fight, A profit and loss account, The fires of martyrdom, The
school of life--are all ready-made matter; and, if a writer yields to
the temptation of using them, he impedes his own process of
expression, saying something which is not exactly what he has to say.
He may, of course, attain to a familiar metaphor in his own process of
expression; but if he does, if it is exactly what he has to say, then
it will not seem stale to the reader. Context may give life to a
metaphor that has long seemed dead, as it gives life to the commonest
words. If an image forces itself upon a writer because it and it alone
will express his meaning, then it is his image, no matter how often it
has been used before; and in that case it will arrest the attention of
the reader. But the effect of habitual and dead metaphor is to dull
attention. When a phrase like 'the lap of luxury' catches the eye, the
mind relaxes but is not rested; for we are wearied, without exercise,
by commonplace.
Further, the use of dead metaphor weakens a writer's sense of the
connexion between mood and manner. All the metaphors which I have
quoted are fit for the expression of some kind of emotion rather than
for plain statement of fact or for lucid argument; yet they are used
commonly in statements of fact and in what passes for argument. Indeed
one of their evils is that they make a writer and his readers believe
that he is exercising his reason when he is only moving from trite
image to image. If eloquence is reason fused with emotion, writing, or
speaking, full of dead metaphors is unreason fused with sham emotion.
I add in illustration a further list of dead metaphors lately noticed:
'Branches of the same deadly Upas Tree. Turning a deaf ear to. The
flower of our manhood. Taking off the gloves. Written in letters of
fire. Stemming the tide. Big with possibilities. The end is in sight.
A place in the sun. A spark of manhood. To dry up the founts of pity.
Hunger stalking through the land. A death grip. Round pegs (or men) in
square holes. The lamp of sacrifice. The silver lining. Troubling the
waters, and poisoning the wells. The promised land. Flowing with milk
and honey. Winning all along the line. Casting in her lot with. The
fruits of victory. Backs to the wall. Bubbling over with confidence.
Bled white. The writing on the wall. The sickle of death. A ring fence
round. The crucible of. Answering the call. Grinding the faces of the
poor. The scroll of fame.'--A. CLUTTON-BROCK.
IRRELEVANT ALLUSION
We all know the people--for they are the majority, and probably
include our particular selves--who cannot carry on the ordinary
business of everyday talk without the use of phrases containing a part
that is appropriate, and another that is pointless or worse; the two
parts have associated themselves together in their minds as making up
what somebody has said, and what others as well as they will find
familiar, and they have the sort of pleasure in producing the
combination that a child has in airing a newly acquired word. There
is, indeed, a certain charm in the grown man's boyish ebullience, not
to be restrained by thoughts of relevance from letting the exuberant
phrase jet forth. And for that charm we put up with it when a speaker
draws our attention to the methodical by telling us there is a method
in the madness, though method and not madness is all there is to see,
when another's every winter is the winter of his discontent, when a
third cannot complain of the light without calling it religious as
well as dim, when for a fourth nothing can be rotten outside the State
of Denmark, or when a fifth, asked whether he does not owe you 1s. 6d.
for that cab fare, owns the soft impeachment.
A slightly fuller examination of a single example may be useful. The
phrase to _leave severely alone_ has two reasonable uses--one in the
original sense of to leave alone as a method of severe treatment, i.e.
to send to Coventry or show contempt for, and the other in contexts
where _severely_ is to be interpreted by contraries--to leave alone by
way not of punishing the object, but of avoiding consequences for the
subject. The straightforward meaning, and the ironical, are both good;
anything between them, in which the real meaning is merely to leave
alone, and _severely_ is no more than an echo, is pointless and vapid
and in print intolerable. Examples follow: (1, straightforward) _You
must show him, by leaving him severely alone, by putting him into a
moral Coventry, your detestation of the crime_; (2, ironical) _Fish of
prey do not appear to relish the sharp spines of the stickleback, and
usually seem to leave them severely alone_; (3, pointless) _Austria
forbids children to_ _smoke in public places; and in German schools
and military colleges there are laws upon the subject; France, Spain,
Greece, and Portugal leave the matter severely alone_. It is obvious
at once how horrible the faded jocularity of No. 3 is in print; and,
though things like it come crowding upon one another in most
conversation, they are not very easy to find in newspapers and books
of any merit; a small gleaning of them follows:
_The moral_, as Alice would say, _appeared to be that, despite its
difference in degree, an obvious essential in the right kind of
education had been equally lacking to both these girls_ (as Alice, or
indeed as you or I, might say).
_Resignation_ became a virtue of necessity _for Sweden_ (If you do
what you must with a good grace, you make a virtue of necessity;
without _make_, a virtue of necessity loses its meaning).
_I strongly advise the single working-man who would become a
successful backyard poultry-keeper_ to ignore the advice of Punch,
_and to secure a useful helpmate_.
_The beloved lustige Wien_ [merry Vienna] _of his youth had_ suffered
a sea-change. _The green glacis ... was blocked by ranges of grand new
buildings_ (Ariel must chuckle at the odd places in which his
sea-change turns up).
_Many of the celebrities who in that most frivolous of
watering-places_ do congregate.
_When about to quote Sir Oliver Lodge's tribute to the late leader,
Mr. Law_ drew, not a dial, _but what was obviously a penny memorandum
book_ from his pocket (You want to mention that Mr. Bonar Law took a
notebook out of his pocket. But pockets are humdrum things. How give a
literary touch? Call it a poke? No, we can better that; who was it
drew what from his poke? Why, Touchstone, a dial, to be sure! and
there you are).--H.W.F.
CORRESPONDENCE
We have a constant flow of correspondence, and we are afraid the
writers must think us unpractical, incompetent, or neglectful, because
we give their inquiries no place in our tracts; they may naturally
think that it is our business to pass judgement on any linguistic
question that troubles them; but most of these queries would be
satisfactorily answered by reference to the _O. E. D._, which we do
not undertake to reprint; in other cases, where we are urged to
protest against the common abuse of some word or phrase, we do not
think (as we have before explained) that it is worth while to treat
any such detail without full illustration, and this our correspondents
do not supply. We propose now to demonstrate the situation by dealing
with a small selection of these abused words, which may serve as
examples.
* * * * *
IMPLICIT
The human mind likes a good clear black-and-white contrast; when two
words so definitely promise one of these contrasts as _explicit_ and
_implicit_, and then dash our hopes by figuring in phrases where
contrast ceases to be visible--say in 'explicit support' and 'implicit
obedience', with _absolute_ or _complete_ or _full_ as a substitute
that might replace either or both--, we ask with some indignation
whether after all black is white, and perhaps decide that _implicit_
is a shifty word with which we will have no further dealings. It is
noteworthy in more than one respect.
First, it means for the most part the same as _implied_, and, as it is
certainly not so instantly intelligible to the average man, it might
have been expected to be so good as to die. That it has nevertheless
survived by the side of _implied_ is perhaps due to two causes: one is
that _explicit_ and _implicit_ make a neater antithesis than even
_expressed_ and _implied_ (we should write _all the conditions,
whether explicit or implicit_; but _all the implied conditions;
implied_ being much commoner than _implicit_ when the antithesis is
not given in full); and the other is that the adverb, whether of
_implicit_ or of _implied_, is more often wanted than the adjective,
and that _impliedly_ is felt to be a bad form; _implicitly_, preferred
to _impliedly_, helps to keep _implicit_ alive.
Secondly, there is the historical accident by which _implicit_, with
_faith, obedience, confidence_, and such words, has come to mean
absolute or full, whereas it originally meant undeveloped or potential
or in the germ. The starting-point of this usage is the ecclesiastical
phrase _implicit faith_, i.e. a person's acceptance of any article of
belief not on its own merits, but as a part of, as 'wrapped up in',
his general acceptance of the Church's authority; the steps from this
sense to unquestioning, and thence to complete or absolute or exact,
are easy; but not every one who says that implicit obedience is the
first duty of the soldier realizes that the obedience he is describing
is not properly an exact one, but one that is involved in acceptance
of the soldier's status.--[H.W.F.]
It seems to us (by virtue of this 'historical accident') that in such
a phrase as the _implied_ or _implicit conditions_ of a contract,
there is a recognized difference of meaning in the two words.
_Implied_ conditions, though unexpressed, need not be hidden, they are
rather such as any one who agreed to the main stipulation would
recognize as involved; and the word _implied_ might even carry the
plea that they were unspecified because openly apparent. On the other
hand _implicit_ conditions are rather such as are unsuspected and in a
manner hidden.--[ED.]
PRACTICALLY
A correspondent complains that the adverb 'almost' is being supplanted
by 'practically'. 'The true meaning of "practically" (he writes) is
"in practice" as opposed to "in theory" or "in thought"; for instance,
_Questions which are theoretically interesting to thoughtful people
and practically to every one_, or again, _He loves himself
contemplatively by knowing as he is known and practically by loving as
he is loved._' And he finds fault with the _O.E.D._, whence he takes
his quotations, for not condemning such phrases as these, _The
application was supported by practically all the creditors_, and, _He
has been very ill but is now practically well again_.
The word is no doubt abused and intrudes everywhere. _The Times_
writes of a recent gale, _Considerable damage was done by the gale in
practically every parish in Jersey_, and again of a bridge on the
Seine that _The structure has practically been swept away_; but it
seems that in the sense of 'for practical purposes' it can be defended
as a useful word. For instance, a friend, leaving your house at night
to walk home, says, _It is full moon, isn't it?_ and you reply
_Practically_, meaning that it is full enough for his purpose. You
might say _nearabouts_ or _thereabouts_ or _sufficiently_, but you
cannot say _almost_ or _nearly_ without implying that you know the
full moon to be nearly due and not past. In such cases it might be
argued that 'practically' is truly opposed to 'theoretically', but
'actually' is rather its opposite. 'Practically' implies an undefined
margin of error which does not affect the situation.
LITERALLY
A correspondent quotes: _For the last three years I literally coined
money_, and, _My hair literally stood on end_. The common misuse of
this word is so absurd that it would not be worth while to protest
against it, if its daily appearance in every newspaper did not show
that it was tolerated by educated people. Mr. Fowler writes:
'We have come to such a pass with this emphasizer that where the truth
would require us to acknowledge our exaggeration with, "not literally,
of course, but in a manner of speaking", we do not hesitate to insert
the very word that we ought to be at pains to repudiate; such false
coin makes honest traffic in words impossible. _If the Home Rule Bill
is passed, the 300,000 Unionists of the South and West of Ireland will
be_ literally thrown to the wolves. _The strong "tête-de-pont"
fortifications were rushed by our troops, and a battalion crossed the
bridge_ literally on the enemy's shoulders. In both, _practically_ or
_virtually_, opposites of _literally_, would have stood.'
INFINITELY
This word, like _infiniment_ in French, is commonly used for
'extremely', and it is pedantic to object to it by insisting always on
its full logical meaning; but it should be avoided where measurable
quantities are spoken of; for instance, one may say _to indoctrinate
the mob with philosophical notions does infinite harm_, but to say
that _England is infinitely more populous than Australia_ is absurd.
That one can rightly call atoms infinitely small means that they are
to our senses immeasurable, and the word, as it here carries wonder,
may, like other conversational expletives, have an emotional force,
and can therefore be sometimes well used even where its exaggeration
is apparent. As when a man heightens some assertion with a 'damnable,'
he intends by the colour of his speech to warn you that his conviction
is profound, and that he is in no mood to listen to reason, so the
exaggeration of 'infinite' may have special value by giving emotional
colour to a sentence.
On the above principles there will be doubtful cases. For instance,
was Mr. Lloyd George justified the other day in saying, _If you cut
down expenditure to the lowest possible limit, the war debt would
still be so enormous that ... the expenditure for this country is
bound to be infinitely greater than before the war?--The Times_, Oct.
23.
THE AMERICAN INVITATION
The English reply to the American Invitation was despatched last
October. The text of it is as follows:
'To Professor Fred Newton Scott.
DEAR SIR,
We thank you heartily for the letter addressed to us by Professors
James Wilson Bright, Albert Stanburrough Cook, Charles Hall Grandgent,
Robert Underwood Johnson, John Livingston Lowes, John Matthews Manly,
Charles Grosvenor Osgood, and yourself.
We regret that so long a time should have passed before our joint
reply could be despatched: but our intentions have in the meanwhile
been privately made known to you. We now write to give you formal
assurance of the interest and sympathy with which your proposal has
been received, and to thank you for your generous suggestion that we
in the mother country of our language should take the lead in
furthering the project.
Since then we, both Americans and British, are in complete agreement
as to our aims, we have only to decide on the best means and devise
the best machinery that we can to attain them.
We feel that this practical question needs very careful consideration
and consultation: and we have therefore appointed a small committee of
five persons on our side to confer and draw up a table of suggestions
which can be submitted to you. We would invite you on your side to
take a similar step: we could then compare our respective proposals
and agree upon a basis on which to work. There are two dangers which
we feel it especially desirable to avoid: one is the establishment of
an authoritative academy, tending inevitably to divorce the literary
from the spoken language; the other is the creation of a body so large
as to be unmanageable. We have also to cope with the difficulty of
co-ordinating the activities of members representing many branches in
widely scattered territories. Our committee for consultation on these
matters consists of Henry Bradley, Robert Bridges, A.T.Q. Couch, Henry
Newbolt, and J. Dover Wilson: and we shall be glad if you can tell us
that you approve of our preliminary step and will be willing to
consider our suggestions when they are ready.
(Signed) BALFOUR.
ROBERT BRIDGES.
HENRY NEWBOLT.'
A first meeting of the consulting committee mentioned in the above
reply was held in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on Nov. 1st ult.
Present: Henry Bradley, Robert Bridges, Sir Henry Newbolt, and J.
Dover Wilson.
Discussion was confined to practical questions of organization, and
Sir Henry Newbolt undertook to draft a letter in which the sense of
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Articles on Metaphor
by Society for Pure English
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ARTICLES ON METAPHOR ***
***** This file should be named 13311.txt or 13311.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/1/13311/
Produced by David Starner, Project Manager, Keith M. Eckrich,
Post-Processor, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed
Proofreaders Team
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
https://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at https://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit https://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
https://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
