The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-01
SAY WHAYnYoU MEAN.
hut II often Happens That the Language
Is Esmhollialed.

sNA "
Is Embolliahed
ssThere should be a rule in every nevis
paper ofice prohibiting the uae OF certain
phrases and expressions, !" said an old wal
correspondent to New York reporter "a
he threw down q i paper in an elevated car.
ut distresses me to SEQ poor, old, hack-
neyed expressions kept at work daily whom
they should have been retired long 8
Why should a reporter always. REFER 70 .
mans Immaculate linen whom no meansto
say that the man wore . clean sn.s., ana
why in heavens name should a man or
woman be described as well groomeos,
Here they are both in IL paragraph, n
lust beside them 10 the man who. according
to the reporter, il always saying soMeSnlAS
real devilish with a twinkle in his owe, ana
the other fellow who made tins or that re-
mark as he lit a fresh cigar
There should be q cemetery for senile and
used up words and phrases that have out
lived their usefulness. il they ever We're
useful, and about 1000 OF them should %
laid away in quioklime at once and never
rosurrected. 4
"Spenkinr Of cemeteries, why should q
man as soon as he is dead be referred to as
poor? Here l read of q railroad
who was killed in a railroad collision. Yes,
terday he was the genial Conductor Brown;r
to-day he is poor Brown. The WORD seemeu
to DO applied especially to men who IN IRE
were good fellows, and also to those Whose
death was caused by violence. 1t Is not
in connection with great men. You neve.
hear ofspoor Napoleon. poor Shakespeare
or poor Frederick the Great. do you!
81 do not expect the reporters TO reform
as long as their employers allows the use OF
suoh idiotie words and phrases. When l
was younger than l am to-day ana thoueht
I knew about as much MS an ordinary man
could be expected to know this side OF the
grave I was a reporter on the Herald under
the elder Bennett. Mir. Bennett sent Tor
me one day. He said:
s'Younc man, Inotice that inyour efforts
to find men who you have been instructed
to interview you never enter a hotel
"'Never enter a hotel. Mr.. Bennett! l
said.
"'No, sir; you Invariably write that you
t'drifted' in, and when you do drift IN you
never meet the man.
Never meet him?'
"'No, I observe that in every case after
drifting in you either run against" or
Stumble across'' the object of your pur-
suit. I wish that in the future you would
simply walk into the hotel and meet these
people. That's all, sir 8
II was angry, for / prided myself on my
English and on my literary style. ! said:
a.Mr. Bennett, I have been writing now
nine or ten years and have worked on a
aid. l flatter myself that l know some
thing about the English language and L
"'Young man. Interrupted Mr.. Bennett,
did you ever read of how a man once
boosted to Sidney Smith that the stick he
carried had been twice around the world,
and how Smith took the stick. and after
carefully examining it. said: And yet
and vet it is only a stick after all'?'
"What did you say to that?" / asked my
friend. the war correspondent.
"I maintained 4 tumultuous silence, and
no I did not drift out-I went out of the
roor, - % " %*.." "3. "".H'