European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 27, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes monday july 27,1987 columns & comments seek and use the right word by James j. Kilpatrick a few week ago i offered some Sage advice on the use of the Hyphen. If a Hyphen would avoid ambiguity i wrote use the  whereupon Kenn Oberrecht of North Bend ore., pounced on the verb. He thought i should have said if a Hyphen would prevent ambiguity and he s right prevent would have been belter. Was my correspondent nil picking not at All. He was concerned Ai All Good writers must be concerned about using words exactly. To my Way of  he wrote ship s railing can prevent someone s falling overboard but it can t avoid it. Safely glasses might prevent Eye injury bul they can t avoid it. Concepts and inanimate objects can Avert or prevent but arc incapable of avoiding. Only people and other animals can consciously avoid. A person can avoid driving his car into a train. A Railroad crossing Gale can prevent not avoid such  amen to All that we ought constantly to search for shades of meaning. Some months ago Margaret Cline of Seattle wrote to inquire about the distinction Between farther and  other readers have posed the same ques Tion. Of course there s a distinction and it s Worth preserving. Farther has to do with distances either real or metaphorical. Further has to do with degree. Helen Bircher of Kirtland Ohio writes to protest the almost Universal misuse of Lay and  she is especially irked by "11 it laying on the  Hie preservation of the Clear distinction Between the two verbs May be i lost cause bul i Hope not for the abuse of Lay when lie is mean t is a source of severe irritation. The Rule is elementary Lay likes an of Jett lie never does. Thus we Lay bricks we Lay bets we Lay eggs. Diane Slacom of Huntington station n.y., voices a Peeve that is widely shared what killed off he word lend so suddenly and effectively hat it is never heard anymore not even Bankers use it now poor loan has to carry the whole Load and of course does a slovenly Job through no Faull of its  my own Strong feeling is that Banks make Loans but lend Money but my own Strong feeling commands weak support. As a transitive verb loan has been around since the time of Henry Viii. William and Mary Morris in their authoritative dictionary of con temporary usage say thai loan is perfectly accept Able As a verb. I Don t like it and my own advice is to stick with lend As a verb and loan As a noun. Can you imagine Marc Antony asking. Loan me your ears Alice o Brien of Man Mcl mass., is peeved by the use of reflexives instead of simple pronouns. Exam Ples this has been a bad year for my family and  " Bennett recalled the years when such Guys As himself and Sinatra were written off As hopeless squares whose Lime had  Why not my family and me surely he and Sinatra would provide some improvement for a Clumsy sentence. Lie Lay loan lend farther further these arc the quarrels in which word lovers Delight. Whenever writ ers get together they la dispute the usages bul when did you Ever know writers to be quiet m Unm Rul Pili s population decline not Oil bad Brandy Honey there arc going to be fewer of us Reily soon. By the year 2025, the population of the United states will begin to decline. _ since i la be 100 yews old Hen it is not a matter of great personal concern but Ben Wallenberg who will be Only 91, is worried. The United Stales will be in for serious economic problems and will lose a lot of importance in the world if american women continue to have fewer babies he says in his Book the birth  Well Ben maybe you re right. But i d sure like to be around 38 years from now to see. I d enjoy having things return to the Way they were when i was growing up in the 1920s. The population of our country was 124 million then about half what it is today. Once again there might be a place big enough to spread a Blanket on the Beach and a person who likes quiet might even find a Pond to with in whose Banks weren t crowded with other fishermen with radios. The Check cashing lines at the Bank would be Short. There d be seats on the bus free tables in the restau rants available hotel rooms and no lines outside Thea ters showing a Good movie. Ill take a Chance on losing world influence Ben if we can gel a Little of our privacy Back. I la Settle for the United states having less Impact on political affairs in Nicaragua and Iran if i can find a place to Park near my office i associate overpopulation with poverty and unhappiness. You say in your Book that the Western world will have Only 9 percent of the world s population in 2025 whereas it has 15 percent today and had 22 per cent in 1950. Are you saying that the countries with the biggest populations have the Best Chance of being successful have you been to India recently with its 785 million people you say we need a lot of people to fight a War and a of of people o tax to buy the weapons for the people to tight the War with. I know it sounds silly bul in l there a possibility that with fewer people we won t even have a War because the ones alive will be Happy and satisfied to Tell you the truth Ben i Haven t noticed that bigger is belter anywhere but in basketball. Sorry Ben. Ii May be doomsday to you bul a decline in our population looks Good 10 me. 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