The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1854-02-23

y
so keen, at iv'ry like, o'luggin into th'
country parcel of oullarJish wards, er
seea shamm d o'talking their avn. For,
olaf years, young foak are grown seea
maachy (proud) an see fearfully geen
to knackin Speaking affectedly) at their
parents er i'll set to knaw what their
barns (chtldren) er javverin about"
But while we have such great ten
dency for making progress, our progress
in language is like our progress in many
other things, in the wrong direction
There seems to be an innate propensity
in this people to go-ahead," it don't
seem to be so much the anxiety to 60 in
the proper direction as it is to go-right
or wrong. Among all the written Ian
guages, there is, perhaps none stronger
or more simple, and at the same time so
easily made to express the ideas desired
if used in its proper and legitimate
sense, as to the English. All lovers Of
the pure and the beautiful must depre-
cate the great tendency of the present
age to express ideas in slang phrases"
This arises probably from the fact that
we have gone ahead SO fast that We have
used up all the really expressive words
on such trivial occasions that they have
in great measure lost their force, and
we are Obliged, in order to the produc-
tion of a strong phrase, to do it by the
use Of some low expression which has
been robbed Of its legitimate meaning
for the purpose of such application, if
indeed it ever had any real meaning.
The fact is, simplicity is as necessary to
strength in language as iu architecture
or anything else.
Owing to our great propensity to cx-
aggerate we are prone, on the most in
significant occasions, to employ the
superlative adjectives furnished US, and
thereby, of course, the language is so
impoverished that when we have real
necessity for the use Of these words they
fail to perform the duties which apper-
tain to them, because the words are so
associated with trivial affairs that they
will not convey the idea which they
were orignally y intended to do, or which
they really did before they were so
abused. 1fevery new hat, shawl, dress,
carpet, or other piece of furniture which
!, We see il" beautiful ,""splendid," ""mag-
nifcent, ""grand, sublime" Sc, how
can We convey true ideas of the produc-
tons Of aColc,a Powers; or ofa Niagara, "a
storm at sea, or indeed any Of the great
works of either man or nature. Our
assuming the style grandiloqent on all
such occasions places us in a position
very similar to that of the spendthrift
who, having inherited fortune, flitters
it away on nothing, spending his dollars
and eagles for mock pearls and paste
diamonds so that when he arrives at a
necessity for the use Of his wealth, he
finds that these representatives Of bis
wealth will not effect the desired object,
they have not the value formerly attach
ed to them. And thus we have been SO
prodigalin in the use Of our language, that,
though it is one Of the most ample and
powerful in the world, it has in a great
measure lost its original force. We
have the same words, but they have lost
their value, because they are so COM
mon. We have many new words, but
they have not the strength of the old
! Anglo-Saxon expressions. They have
| a foreign air about them, or we look or
!, them with suspicion, fearing them to be
counterfeit, and not being sure that they
will pass for what We have intended
that they should.
, As sample of the simple and pow
erful, We give the following extract from
an old book which we have read will
considerable interest, and it is, in oul
Y opinion, as good a specimen of th'
q strength of the almost pure Anglo Saxol
$ as can often be met with.
= I" Hast thou given the horse strength
D hast thou clothed his neck with thun