Page:A Desk-Book of Errors in English.djvu/109

Rh gall: Correctly used is "an intensely bitter feeling." When used as a synonym for "cool assurance" or "impudence" it is slang which should be avoided.

gang is correctly applied to a squad of laborers, and others detailed to certain given tasks. But sometimes applied also, usually in an uncomplimentary way, to a company of persons who meet habitually for social intercourse; as, "He sent a letter to the gang at Seelig's."

gazebo: A term often misused for "chief person." A gazebo is a belvedere or elevated summer-house and as such is often the highest point of a building: applied to a person the term is slang.

gee whiz: A slang exclamation of astonishment that it is best to avoid.

geezer: A vulgar term applied, usually in derision to elderly persons, particularly women. Formerly it was used to designate a mummer or other grotesque character.

generally. Compare.

genius, genus: Discriminate carefully between these words. Genius implies the possession of remarkable natural gifts through which their possessor may attain ends or obtain results by intuitive power. Genus is a class or kind. In the natural sciences it is the subordinate of an order, tribe, or family.

gent: As an abbreviation for gentleman this word is not permitted in refined speech; and gentleman is