Education: The Lost Positive

I know a little man both ept and ert. And intro? extra? No, he's just a vert. Sheveled and couth and kempt, pecunious, ane; His image trudes upon the ceptive brain.

Rhymester David McCord is fascinated by what happened to the positive form of such common words as inept, inert, disheveled, uncouth and unkempt. For years, McCord, who is secretary of the Alumni Fund of Harvard University and a well-known writer of light verse, has waged a happy campaign for the restoration of what he calls the Lost Positive. For amusement he writes sprightly...

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