San Andreas independent., 1858-02-06
Thoughts. About Words.

We commend the following to newspaper
correspondents, and especially to the members
of the pulpit the press and the bar.
We often hear men of good sense-intclli-
gent men-compan of the affectation of "hard
words by journalists, and we must confess
that the good old vigorous Saxon is getting to
be sadly neglected in some quarters, though
not more perhaps by newspaper writers than
by others who provide ailment for the public
mind. The present is said to be practical
age, and so it wonld seem, in everything but
writing and talking. Babies, we know, are
natural productions; but it is astonishing how
altogether artificial the adults become, par
ticuarly in the matter of words. Quite often
we hear little men laboring under a load of
words bigger than misunderstanding to
end nouns and adverbs, huge sesquipedalians,'
eighteen inches to the foot.
Nowadays nobody is "womenp that doesn't
work foi living; sick folks do not get well,
they only. " convalesce;' ladies make their
toilette, though they never comb their hair !;
none but common people go to bed, or bid
one good night; they invariably retire." or
give you "good evening" Whenever gentle
men eat cold beans, it is digniied into taking
n 'slight repast." Such thing as a naked
Cupid has not been known for a number of
years-it is only nude;" what our simple
old grandmothers called gowns, are now
''dresses," and posies are all "boquets." Our
good old proper names, too, handed down
through succeeding generations from the days
of Egbert and Ethelwolf, but now attacked by
the ruthless tooth of time are fast losing their
fair proportions. The fair-haired Martha of
our boyhood is now the quite-another-sort- of
thing, +" Matte; - Harriet, is " Hattie;" Caro-
line is 4" Carrie Matilda is Tillic," and so
on, ad aJsurdum.
Plain, simple Saxon is fig -lcaved and house
hold words rugged out in foreign aprons, as if
SIN Adams fall they sin-ned all.
Let man put on a coat-price five dollars
and no one would ever suspect him of doing
so grand thing as making his toilette. We
were once greatly impressed with the refine
ment Of lady who fairly startled us with the
inquiry if we would take some more "aspar-
rowgrass;' giving us to understand that she
used no such plebian term as " sparrergrass"
We shouldn't wonder if she was the identical
person who proposed building porto-rico in
front and pizarro in the rear of the house,
while the lawn to be degraded.
1t is a curious circumstance to say the least,
that when man is really angry or thoroughly
in earnest, he at once proceeds to use words
without aprons, or as we have heard the ex-
preston, words with the bark off," and talks
the planest kind of English The oxen and
dray horses hear better Saxon-though possi-
bly, worse morality-than some audiences that
wait ON public speakers. and many readers
that wait on the public press, good, strong
Saxon, direct as one of Soils noon-day
beams. To rise at once from dray horses to
poets, what can be more homespun thau the
following familiar lines:
The curfew tolls the kncl Of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly DER the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods lis weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
When man grows eloquent it is the Sax
on element that lends wings to his soaring
thought; so we find whole paragraphs from
Chatham and Junius, and Webster and Ever
EFT are all English, and whole columns from
Sophomores and newspaper writer's arc full of