National Republican., 1883-05-23
THE VULGAR TONGUE.
Errors OF Expression Common 20 Careless
Speakers and Writers.
-. James Gazette,

-. James Gazette
Novel-writing women and newspapers
have dono much to corrupt tho vulgar
tongue. Both have their excuses: : women
are often ignorant, and newspapers are
always hurried. If tho newswriter errs in
haste he does sometimes repent at leisure;
but women rarely recognize their Mistakes
or, having learnt them, forget to go and sin
no more. For want of knowledge of the
originals vast number of English words
convey no distinct meaning to them. They
are mere labels, and have no connotation,"
to use Mills word. When q lady novelist
writes, "They began life under very humble
auspices" no doubt she takes her fno word
from the newspapers, where writers do occa-
sionally use some other word than favor
able" or "unfavorable " IN connection with
auspices. But, of course, "humble auspices
is ridiculous. Then there Is embrace"
which women and newspapers abuse terribly.
With tho first. embrace is often a sort of
modest circumlocution, but IL does not mean
kiss. The newspapers use the word other
wise; as the well known announcement that
a memorial was going to embrace a statue.
The usage of society plays odd pranks
with language; sometimes meaningless, as in
the case of dropping the final o in words
which end with "ing," and sometimes correct
by accident. 1t is not we'll to say, 'Will you take
some pudding" when you mean Shall gire
you some pudding?" A lady "at the Wells"
not quito in the great world, presumed upon
insufficient acquaintance to ask Beau Brum-
mel to take tea" with her. Madam" he
said, 1--WE take walk, we take medicine, and
VIC take a liberty; but we drink tea" As to
the question, "Do you take sugar ~ asked so
often at afternoon tea-table, and considered
by some people to be vulgarism, there is
nothing wrong about it, certainly. 1t may be
an inquiry about habit. Many little mis-
takes both in talking and writing are due to
an idea that long words and roundabout
phrases give an air of vivacty to our humble
mother tongue. woman will say, shall
retire to my apartment and reposo," and feel
that she is being quite arch. trick of speech
like this soon grows into habit and most
| abominable one.
| writers for speaking of an "alleged murder"
/ He thinks that i" according to these new lin
| guistic lights an allegation means II guess"
Possibly they may be so ignorant, but so far
as we have observed the newspaper reporter
knows that "alleged Is II good legal term,
and when he speaks Of an alleged murder he
means that some one has said that there has
been murder. As to phenomenon applied
to something wonderful and abnormal, those
who 50 apply the word are merely doing what
| has been done in English for 800 years -
adapting from the French. Voltaire used
phenomena for an astonishing occurrence, and
| he was not the first to do so. 1t is commonly
used by the best French writers of the pres
ent day. In obecting to numerous as
equivalent to many" Mr. Turner is unques-
tionably right but he would have been wiser
if he had given his Judgment without his rea-
sons. He says rightly enough that the custom
of the poets in applying numerous" " to OBJ
.jects of magnitude, vastness, grandeur or
depth, even though the terms of such object
[such object j were not nouns of multitude"
but nouns in the singular number, shows the
impropriety of using numerous" for many"
In illustration he cites from Waller:
| Thy heart, no ruder than the rugged stone.
j might like Orpheus, with my numerous moan
| Melt 10 compassion.
In commenting upon this passage Mr.. Tur'
ner goes very wrong. Waller meant that his
moan would be expressed in plumbers -
verse or music. But Mr.. Turner thinks that
"the many-voiced or multitudinously mur.
muring quality which much older poet than
| Waller ascrbes to the sea- is hero very ele'
gantly suggested in IA line through which we
seem to hear the breathings of an Eoliar
harp" As for the "purist," against whom
Mr.. Turner is most fierce, he has on his side
one of the greatest masters of modern Eng
lsh. The word probably came into common
use after Mr.. Ruskin had adopted it in Mod
| ern pninterSb