"Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense." --Earl of Roscommon.
IMPROPRIETY. As a rhetorical term, defined as an error in using words in a sense different from their recognized signification.
IMPUTE. Non-painstaking writers not unfrequently use _impute_ instead of _ascribe_. "The numbers [of blunders] that have been _imputed_ to him are endless."--"Appletons' Journal." The use of _impute_ in this connection is by no means indefensible; still it would have been better to use _ascribe_.
IN OUR MIDST. The phrases _in our midst_ and _in their midst_ are generally supposed to be of recent introduction; and, though they have been used by some respectable writers, they nevertheless find no favor with those who study propriety in the use of language. To the phrase _in the midst_ no one objects. "Jesus came and stood in the midst." "There was a hut _in the midst_ of the forest."
IN RESPECT OF. "The deliberate introduction of incorrect forms, whether by the coinage of new or the revival of obsolete and inexpressive syntactical combinations, ought to be resisted even in trifles, especially where it leads to the confusion of distinct ideas. An example of this is the recent use of the adverbial phrases _in respect of_, _in regard of_, for _in_ or _with_ respect _to_, or regard _to_. This innovation is without any syntactical ground, and ought to be condemned and avoided as a mere grammatical crotchet."--George P. Marsh, "Lectures on the English Language," p. 660.
IN SO FAR AS. A phrase often met with, and in which the _in_ is superfluous. "A want of proper opportunity would suffice, _in_ so far as the want could be shown." "We are to act up to the extent of our knowledge; but, _in_ so far as our knowledge falls short," etc.
INAUGURATE. This word, which means to install in office with certain ceremonies, is made, by many lovers of big words, to do service for _begin_; but the sooner these rhetorical high-fliers stop _inaugurating_ and content themselves with simply _beginning_ the things they are called upon to do in the ordinary routine of daily life, the sooner they will cease to set a very bad example.
INDEX EXPURGATORIUS. William Cullen Bryant, who was a careful student of English, while he was editor of the "New York Evening Post," sought to prevent the writers for that paper from using "over and above (for 'more than'); artiste (for 'artist'); aspirant; authoress; beat (for 'defeat'); bagging (for 'capturing'); balance (for 'remainder'); banquet (for 'dinner' or 'supper'); bogus; casket (for 'coffin'); claimed (for 'asserted'); collided; commence (for 'begin'); compete; cortége (for 'procession'); cotemporary (for 'contemporary'); couple (for 'two'); darky (for 'negro'); day before yesterday (for 'the day before yesterday'); début; decrease (as a verb); democracy (applied to a political party); develop (for 'expose'); devouring element (for 'fire'); donate; employé; enacted (for 'acted'); indorse (for 'approve'); en route; esq.; graduate (for 'is graduated'); gents (for 'gentlemen'); 'Hon.'; House (for 'House of Representatives'); humbug; inaugurate (for 'begin'); in our midst; item (for 'particle, extract, or paragraph'); is being done, and all passives of this form; jeopardize; jubilant (for 'rejoicing'); juvenile (for 'boy'); lady (for 'wife'); last (for 'latest'); lengthy (for 'long'); leniency (for 'lenity'); loafer; loan or loaned (for 'lend' or 'lent'); located; majority (relating to places or circumstances, for 'most'); Mrs. President, Mrs. Governor, Mrs. General, and all similar titles; mutual (for 'common'); official (for 'officer'); ovation; on yesterday; over his signature; pants (for 'pantaloons'); parties (for 'persons'); partially (for 'partly'); past two weeks (for 'last two weeks,' and all similar expressions relating to a definite time); poetess; portion (for 'part'); posted (for 'informed'); progress (for 'advance'); reliable (for 'trustworthy'); rendition (for 'performance'); repudiate (for 'reject' or 'disown'); retire (as an active verb); Rev. (for 'the Rev.'); rôle (for 'part'); roughs; rowdies; secesh; sensation (for 'noteworthy event'); standpoint (for 'point of view'); start, in the sense of setting out; state (for 'say'); taboo; talent (for 'talents' or 'ability'); talented; tapis; the deceased; war (for 'dispute' or 'disagreement')."