New-York tribune., 1890-08-30
ENGLISH As SHE rs.
AND AS SHE MIGHT, COULD WOULD AND
SHOULD BE.
TO the Editor Of Tho Tribune.

O cynic's bitterest enthusiasm. In this land Of III
used language, must lave yet another tongue ior
yet blundering7 Are not satisfied with peihg
ungrammatical In one language Is the queens Eng
lsh or the Presidents American not rlch enough III
potency OF error1 Our mother tongue IS by nature
preemnenty fitted and by progress evidently destined
to universal Can not content ourselves "iti
cOrruptng 1t and degrading II? Or must we concoct
another whose etymology and syntax may aliou hcre
ample scope for the glory Of anltgrammariahsf
1t is not my purpose. however, TO utter urdde
against volapuk, but rather TO make plea ior
English Let the volapuk convention be held, for the
pleasure Of those
"Philologists who chase
A painting syllable through time and space,
Start it at home, and hunt II in the dark
To Gaul, 10 Greece, and into Neall's Ark"
But is it not possible to do something also for the
preservation and perpeuation of the English language
in its purity and power The question is asked ID
good faith, and is prompted by sense OF urgent
need Various conditions have contributed during
the last few years to decentralization OF language
both written and spoken, that is actually starting
Never probably, has the tendency TO current speech
been so strong toward slovenliness and error; yet
almost nothing is being done to counteract it.
noted teacher of Latin has said that exceptions 10
rules in Latin grammar chiefly indicate MISTAKES
that were made by classic writers The English gram
mar OF ten centuries hence is likely, on that theory
to be a mere compendium OF exceptions.
When senior Pedro Caroline, d few years back
published his now famous English As She is Spoken
we all laughed at his srocsque bunders; aud then
went right making equally bad blunders Oh our
own. Look, for example, at the showing made Ill inc
letters to the Editor" grammatical topics which
The Tribune has recently been printing These nave
come from all parts Of the country and from all sorts
OF people, but chiefly, far can Judge from their
published form. from correspondents Of more than
average education. some ash for Information, ana
some call attention to the errors OF Others ana all
give indication of really shocking general unfami
arity with the primary principles of the language,
and make one If English grammar be no longer
taught in schools. Nor is more hopeful impress
sion gained by critical observation OF the character OF
current conversation pondence and public prints
IL has recently been my lot to examine a vast ana
varied mass of letters principally from professional
and business men and college students some OF them
were correct in every detail; correct as school
boys work should be. But most of them were faulty
in some important respect apd altogether bad In de-
tails OF paragaphng, punctuation and capital letters
Not than 10 per cent Of them If offered for pub
Ecaton would leave the copy py-edttors desk without
much emendation.
This complaint is not directed against the irregu
larites speech which have been introduced in our
style negre," and which the hurry and rush OF
life force us in measure, though protestingE' to
sanction. We shall never suppose have leisure
enough TO call an asylum for the insane anything else
than insane asylum and when seller Of creckery
pays much per word for his advertisement, no
thrifty son of Jonathan expect him to ask for an
assistant in earthenware when earthenware assistant
will do as we'll The fondness for titles which is an
essential characteristic of republican simplicity VIII
probably constran always to speak of eXThrd As
sstant United States Inspector and Sealer Of Weights
and Measures Smith, of Mrs. Thirteenth secre-
tary of Legation at Timbuctoo Jones. These arc
minor eccentrctes of dicton, which must, sup |
pose, accept phlOsophicaly; in the speech and writ
ings of Others But there are other brutaltes which
cannot easily be pardoned, and with which con
vcrsatlon and correspondence literally teen: that
high "those kind" largest Of any," the man whom
he thought was dead quietly goa TO look badly
"a man by the of Blank who did you see ?" |
quote only few at random OF the great and growing
host instead of correcting, the newspaper press
(which Is the popular grammar and leXcon-n many
cases cultivates these 1 find them in print
daily, in news items, in headlines, and even In
editorials. Many an esteemed contemporary Of The
Tribune keeps before its readers the statement that 1t
has "the largest circulation of any paper in squedunk
or whatever place it may be. one far as / have
observed ventures TO say that II ." has the largest
circulation in the United States" and has often been
criticised for the grammatical form of the statement.
although il IS. Of course, really a hawless model Of
speech absolutely correct comprehensive and explicit
take up the burden Of prophecy. also against the
incursion Of slang words and phrases. few years
ago an teratc criminal testifyng in court, through
sheer ignorance used, the verb combine" as noun,
was taken into general use; at first with quotation
marks or an accent of contempt, but afterward as
now in good faith and with nothing to indicate its
illegtmate origin. Scores of similar Instances might
readily be cited. Almost every sensational law
suit political campaign athletic contest or other not
able event, furnishes additions. False words are
coined, words perverted from their proper
functions and the Slang Dictionary is merged into the
standard vocabulary Of the language The jargon of
yesterday is sound speech today and will be classic TO-
morrow. / will not dispute the fact that many OF
these slang expressions useful and even neces-
eary in the circumstances of their origin "Trumped,
"euchred7 and played out may be permitted at the
card-table, riding for falr and coming crOpper'
in the hunting field, flied OUT and lining three
baggers or homer" on the baseball ground, "l0b
bying' in Congress- "boycotting" in Ireland or other
scenes of social revolt and "bOttc-hOldcr' and
"throwing up the SPONGE in the prize-ring. But Is
there any possible for using them elsewhere
And il they be used elsewhere what becomes Of the
rule-whch we taught imperatve-that the
of art must not be used to describe another
If be wrong to speak Of ALTERATION In sculpture or
of chiar-OcurO in poetry. IL scarcely be right TO
say that politician is riding for fall, or that an as
plrant social distinction has thrown up the sponge
II is no justification of this practice to urge that many
words whose standing is now unchallengcd had their
origin in slang. That very Indeed this very
word slang Itself had such an origin. But because
the Merry Monarch filled the British Peerage with the
credtuJcs d@lu thc oHsPiIib vi N"N" '"N
ceeding monarch follow his example? Because there
arc already words Of base origin in our vocabulary
shall henccforth welcome to it all applicants with
out regard to their legitimacy Of birth
That there must he creations is not to be
denied The thoughts Of men widened with the
process of the suns, and the expression of those
thoughts requires ampler vocabulary year by year
But such creations should not be made By frcalsh
chance but by established law, and above all by the
laws of need of merit Words should not he made
for nothing. A vocabulary rich in synonyms may well
be the pride of literary people but when one has
reached the size of today II is time TO halt ana
TO decree that there shall be words made unless
10 do work that cannot possibly be done By tile Old
snes. Then let the words that are called FOR
by the law of need be formed and adopted under the
law of merit. How fagrantly this law is violated