The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-10-28
The Language We speak.
WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO CULTIVATE !
BEYOND RECOGNITION!


BEYOND RECOGNITION?
To the Editor Of the Dispatch:
Will YOU be kind enough to inform M
through your valuable paper who ha
charge OF the English language Who does
the matchmaking and word-taklng "
nav, the wOrd-torturing- OF the presen
days
We must confess that we are utiltarlani
in the strictest sense OF the word; that W.
are perfectly willing to exchange "olC
lamps for new ones" just as soon as The
old ones grow dim and smoky, but we have
q profound respect, amounting almost t'
reverence, for our dear old language, pure
and undetiled as il was when handed dow
to us by our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, sub
Sequently adorned and enriched by statel,
Latin and Greek derivatives; hence, an,
attempt TO trifle with it " unadyisedly Of
lightly" appears almost dissertation.
With our sober. old-fashioned ideas. w
would as soon think OF Waiting to th'
tune OF Old Hundred as to say :" intris ting
for interesting, "caricE ture" for carica
ture, "peck u liar" for peculiar, and host
of other good, solid words which W.
almost fail to recognize "a old acqualnt
The new pronunciation decorative
seems more in keeping with its Latin pa
rent and its next OF kin, decOrum; it ha
also a sonorous sound, but when used il
connection with "painting on shingles,
the paper blind daubs in otherwise pretty
sea-shells, and the thousand and one ilimsl
and tasteless gewgaws with which moderl
houses are burthened, we confess tina
Worcester's more flippant pronunciation
decorative" seems peculiarly applicable
The mother who superintends her chill
dren;s geographical studies comes nea
getting wrecked upon the coast OF " Neto
foun land" imagining she has come Il
- No mans land" Tor | should have salt
=. Nomansland.") The original signItico
ton OF this descriptive compound word Il
perfectly lost in this aeUfangled" pro
nunciation, which is as cockney-like as !
"ten-poun' note"
If she survives the threatened ship
wreck, her neck ~ soon endangered among
the scafIolds," which (under the name o
diagrams) surround that imposing structure
denominated English grammar, and upor
which the youth OF the present day noun
to the pinnacle OF learning. There she i
as hopeesSly lost as II she had stumbled
into the labyrinth of Crete without he
clue
History and literature share the sam,
fate, the modern GOths and Vandals dis
torting old familiar names until we de
clare we never heard Of those people in al
our DAYS. Who would recognize the Dan
ish king who sat in his chair on the beacl
commanding the waves OF the sea to ODE!
him when called Ca-nute"? Even poo
old dead and gone Chaucer is not allowed
to repose in his grave 10y that name, bu
figures i'm the nineteenth century rs Chou
cer." Suggestive OF souse.) Weonce hearC
the conundrum: IF "A tough beefsteal
could speak, what poet would it name
Chaucerl" But alas! now when we hav'
abundant opportunities Of bringing VI
this old joke, and fixing literary fact OF
the infant mind while exercising the in
FAINT Jaws. it is utterly lost, and with it un
told possibilities OF instruction!
OF course language must have its growtl
and culture as well as plant, but when W,
cultivate our plants we do not miss then
prettiest buds, or top off their branches un'
less diseased. II the plant is our very owl
we have a right to mar its beauty, but who
owns the language, and who has the right T.
cultivate" it beyond recognitionI
MANCHESTER