efensible as an idiom,
as those who always used it before their attention was directed to it
take the trouble to point out. It comes of such contractions as he'd
for he would, I'd for I would. These clipped words are erroneously
restored as "he had," "I had." So we have such monstrosities as "He
had better beware," "I had better go."

_Hail_ for _Come_. "He hails from Chicago." This is sea speech, and
comes from the custom of hailing passing ships. It will not do for
serious discourse.

_Have Got_ for _Have_. "I have got a good horse" directs attention
rather to the act of getting than to the state of having, and
represents the capture as recently completed.

_Head over Heels_. A transposition of words hardly less surprising
than (to the person most concerned) the mischance that it fails to
describe. What is meant is heels over head.

_Healthy_ for _Wholesome_. "A healthy climate." "A healthy
occupation." Only a living thing can be healthy.

_Helpmeet_ for _Helpmate_. In Genesis Adam's wife is called "an help
meet for him," that is, fit for him. The ridiculous word appears to
have had no other origin.

_Hereafter_ for _Henceforth_. Hereafter means at some time in the
future; henceforth, always in the future. The penitent who promises to
be good hereafter commits himself to the performance of a single good
act, not to a course of good conduct.

_Honeymoon_. Moon here means month, so it is incorrect to say, "a
week's honeymoon," or, "Their honeymoon lasted a year."

_Horseflesh_ for _Horses_. A singularly senseless and disagreeable
word which, when used, as it commonly is, with reference to
hippophilism, savors rather more of the spit than of the spirit.

_Humans_ as a Noun. We have no single word having the general yet
limited meaning that this is sometimes used to express--a meaning
corresponding to that of the word animals, as the word men would if it
included women and children. But there is time enough to use two
words.

_Hung_ for _Hanged_. A bell, or a curtain, is hung, but a man is
hanged. Hung is the junior form of the participle, and is now used for
everything but man. Perhaps it is our reverence for the custom of
hanging men that sacredly preserves the elder form--as some, even, of
the most zealous American spelling reformers still respect the u in
Saviour.

_Hurry_ for _Haste_ and _Hasten_. To hurry is to hasten in a more or
less disorderly manner. Hurry is misused, also, in another sense:
"The