Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1872-11-28

The number of well-educated peop'e
who habitually speak correct English is
very small. A great many who, con
slider themselves good gramniaria1,s con-
stantly indulge in expressions that
Lindiey Murray wouldn't know how to
parse, and that our modern grammarians
would utterly condemn We can for
give those who from imperfect culture
always will say sit amt for ''it isn't, +"
and 'sI'll teach YOU but, when gradu-
ates from our common schools persist in
such inaccuracies, it is time protest
should be entered, and they be called to
account for corrupting the Kings
English.
It's not only with grammatical errors,
however, that we have now to deal. -
Hurtful as these are, they are less in
furious to the language of social life
than that vast class of expressions that
are covered by the word "slang" Bad
grammer is not nearly so contagious as
piquant, yet faulty, expression. 1t is
/ certainly better to violate a rule Of
grammar CT language than to. break. one
of the ten commandments, to express
the intensity OF ones emotions in slang
rather than in profanity Such is the
infirmitt Of human nature that the best
of us feel at times compel ed to use
vigorous and unusual phraseology. 1t
is wei, to remember that even in such
cases we shall accomplish more in the
way of tOrcible dlctiOn by coOllv select
ing our expressions, by polishing our
invective, by refining our epithets, than
we can possibly do by indulging in
Billingsgate, or profanity, or slang. A
witty scientist once silenced a London
fishwoman, who was pouring out at him
a flood Of vile talk, by hurting at her,
in emphatic tones, the language of
paleontology, thus: "You ichthyosausus
you pterodactyl, I'll send you to the
pa eozoic reg ions; I'll feed you on
cephalopods, and saurians shall consume
your pal'ietals' In blank silence the
woman started at her enemy, and could
not utter word in reply.
We have all noted and admired the
grace and elegance with which educated
foreigners speak our language. The
secret Of this lies in their careful pro
nunciation, their accurate observance Of
grammatical ru es, and their total ig-
norance of slang. They talk, as we say,
like a book. The conscientious and
habitual avoidance on our part Of all
impure English will make our language
chaste, and elegant, and expressive, as
is theirs. This may be done without
the slightest atfectation! - .
1t is frequently the case that children
in our schools every day use slang and
bad grammar, and are not corrected
Teachers refrain from doing their duty
from fear of hurting the feelings of their
parents, from whom the children have
learned these errors. This is al wrong.
Every teacher should feel in duty
bound to SOW the seed of correction by
all waters, and, so far as she can, edu-
cate parents, through their chill
dren, into the use Of taultless English.
In the South the temptation to borrow
original and racy idioms from the class
formerly held in servitude is almost ire
sistible, and in private circles, where the
standard of syntax is not the very high
est, the derivation of words used, and
the manner Of putting them together,
present many puzziing and amusing
phrases AS rule, southern men and
boys use better language than their
wives and sisters, because less tempted
by constant hearing of African idioms
to depart from the purity of their ma
tive tongue.
Every section has its peculiarities of
pronunciation, its idioms, its provincial
isms, and in proportion as ones langu-
age is faultless are are all these features
removed, and it becomes impossible to
tell the northerner from the southerner,
the New Highlander from the Californian
the American from the Englishman,
Cicero says that the men Of his time
noted for their elegance of language
learned of their mothers to speak their
native tongue with precision, and never
knew how to talk but with propriety-
OF Caesar it was said he was incapable
of talking as private man.
10 the cultured-ear no music IS 80
delightful as the constant flow ofelegant
thought in exquisite diction. Only by
flowing and discriminating study of
words, by careful exclusion Of al
questionable phrases, by an artistic
choice of language, can this rare and
enviable accomplishment be made ones
own.
From the lips of beauty how dis
cordantly fall the clashings of false
syntax and provincial slang. What a
sad contrast we often see between the
spotless and shining silken robes that
drape the figure of Iove'iness and the
bedraggled, muddy, ragged phrase that
does snowy linen, shining kip, and i'm
mactlate broadcloth e., ering an igon-
rant soul supply the place CT vigor Of