Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-09
The LEADING LANGUAGE.
A Plea for New Words, or the Recog-
milton of Slang.

From the 81. Lonis Globe Democrat
Language is a solemn thing" DR.. Holmes
once declared; lit grows out OF life-out Of its
agonies and ecstasies, its wants and its weari-
ness" That was good many years ago, and
he spoke particularly of the English language,
which then contained only about 100 900 words.
or, with the derivations excluded, 10000.
Since that time our vocabulary has been
practically doubled. The new century
dictionary, upon which Prof. Whitney
has been engaged for the past seven
years, with fifty experts to assist him,
will embrace about 200 words, without
counting any useless compounds. This re-
markable addition to what the same gracious
writer has called 1.-The blood of the soul, into
which our thoughts run and out of which they
grow" surpasses all precedent in the history of
languages. and may be said to represent q
measure Of enterprise and progress never be-
fore known on earth. The accumulation
OF new words at such a rapid rate is not
mere matter Of accident or caprice; it is
the result Of certain laws of demand and
supply, OF insistence and necessity. So
many new things have been done and discov-
cred by the English-speaking portion Of the
race since their last dictionary was put forth
that new terms have been steadily called for to
define and illustrate them. The increasing
triumphs of civilization have carried the cause
materials OF thought and experience have been
amplifed, there has the arsenal of expression
been duly enlarged to meet the emergency.
1t does not follow, OF course, that any one is
bound to have all this vast aggregation of
words at his tongues end. Many Of them are
merely technical, and many others are more
or less provincial. We do not really require
the hftieth part OF them, perhaps, for ordinary
social and business purposes. 1t is worth re-
membering that Shakespeare produced all his
VnTfl rfr,l ~ - n nnn
words; that Milton found 5000 sufficient
for his lofty and impressive purposes; and that
the whole of the Old Testament comprises less
than 5, 500. As general rule, people of the
educated class do not use more than 5000 or
1000 words in conversation. while the unedu-
Gated often get along, even in the halls of
Congress, with few hundreds. The fact re-
mains, however, that all of these zoe, 600 words
which Prof Whitney has collected are def
nitely born into the language and devoted to
sound and profitable uses II they had
not been needed, they could not have gained
recognition; within given limits they are inds-
pensable. They stand for things which would
otherwise have no distinct names, and no vital
connection with the forces that shape and con-
troll the intellectual interests of the world. We
do not owe them welcome simply because
they are new, but because they come to
us stamped with a clear significance of
their own, which is the best right of existence.
The causes of their origin and application are
ultimately aSsOcldteu WIN the successive steps
OF progress in politics, science and morals; and
that entities them to our profound respect
though We may not feel constrained to make
ourselves personally familiar with the con-
struction and meaning of the entire list.
The point of most interest lies in the idea
that language which has double its capacity
In third OF century must be regarded as the
most vigorous, aggressive and influential one
that is now spoken anywhere in the universe.
Nearly. II not quite, all other existing Languages
are either stationary or decaying; they survive
rather by curtailment than by expansion. But
the English is infused with splendid and
resistless energy. 1t is pre-eminently the
language Of conquest. To employ one
idioms, there are mo flies on
it," or, to choose another equally graphic say
ing, it is not found ''in the soup" under any
circumstances. 1t possesses those qualities of
alacrity, Of vigilance, of elasticity, which make
1t gamer at every opportunity. Just as the
people who speak 1t are accustomed to turn
every advantage to the best account. Much of
it is strictly American, smacking of the
robust and independent life, the benefi-
cent institutions, and the great achieve
ments for which our country is justly cele-
see it become more and more so as time passes
and our national glory is extended. The COM
ing new dictionary is the work of our scholars,
exclusively; large proportion of the new
words and Of the new definitions of old words
have been evolved on this side of the Atlantic
We may fairly sssert, therefore, that the honor
and the welfare of the language are as much in
our custody as in that of our kin across the sea,
and that the future is likely to strengthen this
claim on our part, let the cynics and skeptics
say what they may to the cont1er