The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-02-06
GRAND WORDS.
ny PROFESSOR WILLIAM MATHEWS, or TIE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

! Among The pecuiidrtieI by which we are
wont TO Judge OF character. few are more
significant than the language which II man
Individually uses No me Is nj loss, TOR IN
stance, TO determine the character OF man
who clothes his Thoughts N the plain but cy-
pressiTe Ang!o-SAxou. and eschcws the bad
French and WORSE Italian which are affected
I by literary dandies and cockaeys. Nor Is one
! puzzled for IN mint To characterize the
opposite class, -peFSons, US Seidcn Calls
them, OF squeamish slomaclIs, y no would
rather choose to live in ignorance OF things
the most useful and important. than 10 have
their delicate ears wounded by he use ota
word unknown to Cicero, Sailust, Or the
writer's OF the Augustan age" Bat what
shall We thiuk OF tblrd class, growing more
and more ndja.:rous, who, sppart uliy DIES
pising the Aomely but tsrse and telling
words of their mother tongue, never use
Saxon term IT they can fiud a ioug-tai.ed
word in oSity or atom TO cnnvey, or rather
darken, their meaning? Is 1t from ii con
seriousness of their pnverty OF thought thai
they try to dignity their tru'sms, ana iltt
them out OF the limbo of commonplace, by
lrickipg them in glttering words and pnra-
SOS? Or it because they share in the uni-
versa mania 70. the sensational the cray.
ing FOR novelty and excitement, which is -,
co'Amou in these days, that they never call
things by their proper namss2 Was Tally
rand wrong when he said that lauguag, was
gwen to man to conceal bis thougats; aud
was 1t really given to hide his want OF
thought? Is it, indeed, the main ohicc, ot
expression to convey the snslrst pooslbIe
amount OF meaning with the greatest posi-
bile amount of the ap Iearxncc OF meaning
and, since nobody can be "as wise ~ r1ur-
ow looked" to look as wise as ThurioW
while ut1rrInS the verIest truisms?
Be this ms 1t may, the persons OF wh0m we
speak do not regard the simple Saxon a.
good enough for their purposes, and s" hey
array he r ideas in "bix, dctiona-y words, y
derived from the Latin, and load heir st Vie
with expetives as tast4iess rs the strramere
OF tattered finely that Outer about the per-
son OF a diiapIdat"d belle. Provided that
word Is out-ofihe. way. unusual, or tar
fetched, land especially IL 1t is one Of many
syllables, --they care little whether u is apt
and fit or not. The beautiful English words
boy" and girl" they have nearly ban
iehcd from our toCgue, Boys and girls have
transformed into "javeniles and "juven-
tie members o! the coInmun'ty;" workbench
have become Operatives - and men aud
Ito. =
"Individual is q good Latin word, and
serves u good purpose when it Distinguishing
person from people or Class, ss it, served a
good purpose in the scholastic philosophy;
but would Cicero or Duus Ccotus have called
"a great man an en,ineus indiuld,tuns? These
individuals" strange to say, are never
dressed, but always "attired :" they never
take off their things. but "diveAt themselves
OF their habillments." which Is SO mucb
grander.
Again; the Anti SAxons, II we n.ay SO call
them, never tell us that man was asleep,
but say he was clicked in slumber;" they
deem it vulgar, and perhaps cruel, to say
mat CRIMINAL was hanged but very ele-
giant 10 say that he was ''launched into
eternity person of their acquaintance
never does so low thing as to break his Leg
he tract ures his limb" He Is not. when
dead, placed in a coffin, and buried in ID
graveyard; but-oh refinement Of cruelty,
&c he individual! woen d. funct," Is 'sde.
posted in burial casket," aud entered n
cemetery" Our Latin Tiends-tortuual
souls-never have their feelings nurt, though
it must be confessed that their 'sensiblli-
ties are sometimes dresdiully "lacerated."
Above the necessities of their teliow-crea-
lures, they never eat n meal they always
"partake of u repast," which is SO much
more elegant. They never do so common
place thing as to take q walk they SNAKE
pedestrian excursion" conjuror with
them is prestidigltstor; ;" q tortunt-tel-
Ter, q " vaticinator." As Pascal says, they
mask all nature. There la with them no
King, but an august monarch no Paris, but
a capital OF "A Kingdom. They act upon the
advice of Boieau:
DUBUQUE vous ecriveZ, evitez la bassesSe;
Lac slyte lie moins noble a pourtant So mob
Jesse;
and, to avoid th4 undgnifed, according to
them, it is only necessary not to call things
by their right names The most deplorable
effect OF this way OF speaking, aside from its
moral aspects is that it is depriving a! the
sound, sterling part Of the English language
OF it's peculiar significance and force. Words
hat are rarely used will at last inevitably
disappear, and thus. II not speedily checked,
this grandiloquence of expression will do an
rreparabie injury to our dear old English
tongue.