Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1919 — Word “Nothing” Defined as Meaning Something [ARTICLE]

Word “Nothing” Defined as Meaning Something

Words, says an authority, have an elastic meaning, according to the sense in which they are employed; much also depending on how “nothing” is defined. As sometimes used, “nothing”' means something very insignificant, but still something that really exists. For instance, you pick up an empty bottle and say: “There is nothing in it” —but there is air in it. When a person is taken ill he may say: “It is nothing;” but it may turn out to be something that will result in his death. Then "again the expression; “He began life with nothing.” means 'that he’ gan with very little. “I have done nothing all day” means that I have accomplished little, not that I have actually done nothing, for that would be impossible. Such uses of wofds are proper, according to common sense as well as authority. Dryden wrote: “ 'Tis nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, this nothing, sir, will bring you to your end.”