age and gave to it its idiomatic strength; the latter came later,
and added to the strength of the language its grace and refinement.

In our speech there can be no doubt that short words are used when the
purpose is to be understood quickly, even harshly, while the longer
words are frequently employed for saying unpleasant things pleasantly.
Euphemism, the choice of words not harsh for harsh ideas, has its
uses. It is not always wrong to say, "He was taken away" for "He was
killed." But when the plain truth is to be spoken, when, as in most
composition, the object is to be understood, the words should be
chosen which exactly express the thought, be those words Latin or
Saxon. For any one to say, "Was launched into eternity" for "Was
hanged," or "When the fatal noose was adjusted about the neck of the
unfortunate victim of his own unbridled passions" for "When the halter
was put around his neck," is a useless parade of vocabulary.[51] One
knows that such phrases are made by a writer who is ignorant of the
value of words, or by a penny-a-liner, willing to sacrifice every
effect of language to the immediate needs of his purse. Such writing
has no power. The words are dictated by too low a motive to have any
force in them. Let a writer go straight to the point as directly as
the hindrances of language will allow. Even then his expression will
lag behind his thought.

This does not mean that one is to use Saxon words always. It means
that one shall use the words that say exactly what is to be said, so
that the reader can get the exact thought with the least outlay of
attention to the words. Latin words are as common as Saxon words. To
search out a Saxon word because it is Saxon and short is as
reprehensible as to use the indirection of Latin words where
directness is wanted. Latin words have a place; they express the finer
distinctions and gradations of thought. In the discussion of any
question requiring nice precision of statement Latin words are
necessary. In the following from Newman, it would be difficult,
perhaps impossible, to substitute words of Anglo-Saxon origin for the
words of Latin origin, and could it be done, the passage would not
then have the clearness it now has from his use of common words,
though they be Latin:--

"I mean then by the Supreme Being, one who is simply
self-dependent, and the only Being who is such; moreover,
that He is without beginning or Eternal, and the only
Eter