Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-05
NO FUN IN BAD SPELLING.

NO FUN IN BAD SPELLING.
Bad spelling is neither wiz MOI hu.
NOR. 4 phrase that is neither witty
nor humorous is not made moro witty
or moro humorous by bad spelling, Ii
q phrase possesses either wit or hui
NOR its wit or humor. is more obvious,
its wit possesses. q finer point and
more agreeable relish. its humor is more
captivating if it is choicely express
ed, Its syntax and photography are
correct. Ii, erratic departures from
accepted photographic standards con
stitutcd humor, the Chicago Tribune
would be the funniest newspaper inthe
country. A sort of puzzle or conun
drum possessing some interest may be
framed by the studied or ignorant mis-
placement of letters in q written or
printed expression. But the studied or
illiterato errors in spelling do not i'm
prove--they rather impair-the point
and sense of an aphorism, a jest or a
sarcasm.
A number of American humorists
have been distinguished by their abort
i've efforts to improve the quality of the
fun which they produced by misspell-
ing the words in which it was clothed;
Every such effort of a humorist, real
or spurious, isa mistake. Real humor
does not need to he clothed in bad or
biography to give it the character OF
humor. Erroneous photography will
not transmute spurious humor into
genuine humor.
Among the early alleged American
humorists were S.ba Smith who wrote
political satires in Jackson's time in
the form OF letters purporting to eman-
ate from n Major Jack Downing"
and Judge Thomas c. Halliburton, OF
Nova Scotia, the author of the Sam
Siick' letters, which were satires Oh
the social and popular manners of the
times. These two writer's adopted an
artificial and c%xtravagant Yankee YER.
nacular Theoretically spelled rs the
GARD in which their jests and sar-
casms were clothed. They came,
however, rather in the class of dialect
writers, like d. r. Locke (''Petroleum
V. Nasby'), than in the class of funny
writer's who fcign ilIiteracy. The late
Charles I. Brown (''Artemas Ward")
and Henry w. Shaw('.Josh Billings''),
whose sudden death in California was
announced a few days ago, have been
the recent most conspicuous masters
of humor, which they sought to render
more attractive by deliberate and afro.
cious violations of the plain laws Of
photography. Shakespeare informs US
that,
To gid refined gold, to paint the lily,
10 throw a perfume on the violet.
10 smooth the lcc, to add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper light
nc seek the beuuteOus eye OIL heaven to gar.
nish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.
These humorists reversed this pro.
cess OF attempting to make their pro.
auctions more attractive. They dress.
ed their wit in clownish and awkward
expression, they throw oyer it the cloak
Of Ignorance and folly, in order to in:
crease its Zest and to make il more Ell
fective. This was an error in taste
and judgment OF prodigous magnitude.
George H.. Derby ("John Phmnix''l,
spelled his words correctly and wrote
in a style OF scholastic elegance. He
is among the first humorists in Ameri-
can literature. Mortimer II. Thomp.
son l',Doeslicks''), whose first humor.
pus productions were Of meteoric bril-.
liancy, was correct in his photography
and syntax. The newspaper para.
graphic wits of the present day spell
well and study the utmost brevity and
sharpness OF style.
There is no real wit in 'Artemas
Ward" or Josh Billings" which
would not be better if the words in
which it is phrased were correctly
spelled. Writing SO much as task WORK,
these authors produced vast quantities
OF false wit. Disguised in false spell
ing, spurious wit may not be distin-
gulshed by hurried readers from genu-
inc wit. But genuine wit does not need
TO be clothed in wretched photography
20 recommend it, as ''good wine neeus
no bush.'
Isaac Barrow, n of the first of En-.
glish scholars and critics, has left US a
description Of wit. 1t is in the quaint
style OF zoo years ago, but its quaint.
ness is not n additional cAarm. In
telling what wit is, he says:
Sometimes it lieth in pat allusion
to a known story, or in seasonable ap.
pllcation Of q trivial saying or in forg.
ing an opposite tale; sometimes il
playelh in words and phrases, taking
advantage from the ambiguity of their
sense, or the affinity of their sound.
Sometimes it is wrapped in a dress OF
humorous expression; sometimes il
lurketh under an odd similitude; some.
times it is lodged in u sly question, in
a smart answer, in q quirkish reason,
in Il shreWd inlimation, in cunningly
diverting or clcverly retorting an oh.
lection; sometimes it is couched in a
told scheme OF speech, in d tart irony,
IN a lusty hyperbole, in a startling
metaphor, in a plausible rcconciling OF
contradictions, or in acute nonsense
sometimes Il cynical representation of
persons or things, Il counterfeit speech,
a mim!cal look or gesture passelh for
it; sometimes an affected simplicity,
sometimes a presumptuous bluntness
glfeth it being; sometimes it ariseti
only from a lucky hitting upon what is
strange; sometimes from a crafty
wrest of obvious matter to the pur-
pose; often it consists in one knows
not what, and springeth up one Car
hardly know how"
This is an itemized description Of
VIII: It is the most comn]nta doini.