Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/218

 not exceptions. That which is excessive surpasses the natural state, the normal, the usual, the wonted measure, degree, number, or condition of something. The weather being abnormally hot might with some reason be called excessively hot, since the temperature exceeds the normal degree.

On the other hand, we have banquet and dinner. These two words clearly are not synonyms; to employ them as such is a misuse of good terms. All dinners, unfortunately or otherwise, are not banquets; and certainly all banquets are dinners only to the professional opportunist. The function of a dinner is to appease hunger and to impart nourishment. This function may be supplemented by a social expression of good-will and hospitality. Thus a dinner may be very plain and simple, or it may be very elaborate; but a banquet always is a formal affair at which the eating plays a secondary part; it is a ceremony which slowly has evolved from the gluttonous feast of celebration into one