Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-12-13
aRAMMAR.s BROKEN W.
Foibles of speech In Refined Social Cir
cIes-A Brief List.

Foibles OF Speech In keuneu SOCIAL Cb~
cIes-A Brief List.
The strangest Of all the curious cir
cumstances attendant upon the habitual
disregard of grammatical laws is the I'M
consciousness Of the offender. Our self
made man and the wife he has tinkered
into "a match article" court, as orna-
ments TO their drawing room, eminent
scholars and literary lights, domestic and
foreign; admire intensely in them the
facile propriety of expression in which
they are themselves deficient, and never
suspect the effect Of the contrast they
offer. Does the inability to discern the
difference lie in the ear or the il <ellect?
l have called this insensibility the most
singular Of the paradoxes connected with
our subject. May / retract the state
ment and substitute the anomaly Of
people, born well and bred well, educated
according to the most approved methods,
and moving in refined social circles,
whose foibles Of speech approach in num-
Der and rival in Nervousness the direct
lingual faults of illiteracy2
People who drop the final & from par.
ticiples, and other words ending in ling"
with the consistency the oockney exhibits
in ~misplacing b.
People who say she don't like it,"
without a suspicion that the c~onioined
abbreviation stands for ''he do not
like it,"
People who inquire ''you readyH'' "you
going?" and sometimes 'where you
beenf'
People who never by any chance say
between you and me-" but with the
steadfastness of a holy purpose, ''between
you and IT,
People who pride themselves upon the
elegant accuracy of every sentence
formed by their lips, and tell you in cul-
tivated euphoniousness Of accent, II have
travelled some in" England, Russia, Tur-
key, or Australia, and Il have not
coughed any all night"
Peopls who have been on intimate
terms with Lindley Murray and his col
leagues for forty years, and not learned
hat amt Is not tolerated by any of them,
being an un-parsable word.
People who consider the fact that they
were born south of Mason's and Dixson's
line warrant for ignoring the dictum,
'After the words like and unlike, the
| proposition TO or unto is understood"
and cruelty our ears by telling us on all
| possible occasions Il feel like / should
do" so-and-so, and ''He looked like he
meant it, Who as unsteady and
a~udaciously say, ~ am a heao better" or
"a heap worse"
/ heard a DID,. F. F. v. say 10 a SER
mon, at does seem like the Lord has
some great and gracious purpose to
! fulfill IT." etc. And a few minutes
thereafter, II expect that this is the
proper Interpretation Of this passage"
There are people, on the other hand.
who, born and brought up in the shadow
of Yale, roll the phrase: IL want that
you should" like a savory and insoluble
morsel under their tongues, and no q
few, who, as Mr.. Howells' Minister Sewell
regrets, will-albeit they are Harvard
graduates-say. to the close Of well spent
lives, Il don't know as"
People-this final count IS written with
groanings unutterable who, with the
best intentions conceivable benevolent
and syntaxicaD, never let Zip an oppor-
tunity Of using the pronour ''they" when
the antecedent noun is in Me singular
number. IF a person thinks they can
10 that" IF anybody has lost any
thing, they can apply at the desk" 81
was talking with some one the other day,
and they said, Z" etc, etc.
None Of the phrases cited as foibles Of
speech trench upon the debatable ground
Of language. One and all, they are
glaring defects, flaws in gems which
lessen their value irretrievably. The
critical inspector instantly discounts the
intelligence or conscientiousness Of him
who tenders them.
That those who are guilty Of lapses Of
this sort know better, does not eXculpate
them or relieve the listener who respects
his noble vernacular too truly 10 condone
the unseemly familiarities that approx
mate insult. When the delinquents are
those who assume to instruct Others, the
foille becomes guilt.
II hlaluHulaucu dllilDI' " u lSCeDllul
given in honor Of her visit to a certain
town, pressed the hand of a sister writer
who was introduced to her, with the cor
dial-"You and had ought 10 have met
before"
An eminent lecturer upon scientific
subjects remarked at a dinner party,
The hall wa not sufficiently het to-
day."
The principal Of n collegiate institute
announced during the commencement
exercises that the presestation to himself
Of a memorial from the pupils was q
''change in the programme made en-.
tirely unbeknownest 10 himself"
lie was taken by surprise 10y the ties.
timonial, and the luckless phrase escaped
him when off his guard. 1t should have
been impossible for him to make use OF
It in any circumstances. II he had never
said it before he would not have said il
LIBERALIZATION lIarland in Once a Week,
NloodbOuDa,.