child's vocabulary is almost wholly Saxon. He says, I have, not I possess—-I wish, not I desire; he does not reflect, he thinks; he does not beg for amusement, but for play; he calls things nice or nasty, not pleasant or disagreeable. The synonyms which he learns in after years, never become so closely, so organically connected with the ideas signified, as do these original words used in childhood; and hence the association remains less strong
The Philosophy of Style
·
Herbert Spencer
