Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-11-07
a CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO
COLLEGE GRADUATES.

Slang In the Mouths Of Men IL bad Enough,
but when Wen Bred Young Women Are
Addicted 20 the Habit IL Becomes AbsO-
lutsly IntoIcrable.
Dear girls, avoid slang. There are 80
many reasons why you should not use
Il, and only excuse In it's favor that
I have ever heard from any reliable au-
thorityi Here it Is;
Oliver Wendell Holmes, in one Of his
racy breakfast table talks, says. 'Don't
think I u~ndcrvalue the proper use and
application Of . cant word or phrase. Il
adds piquancy TO conversation as q
mushroom does TO q sauce" That this
h the idea most young people have
when they first begin 70 use Il all win
admit, but unfortunately It is like mod.
crate drinking in it's tendency, 80 insin-
uating In its growth as q habit, and they
become 90 addicted to II" Ito follow
out the simile), that It seems impossible
to make themselves ineligible without
1t. have heard young ladies O. talk
ing who seemed to have an entire vo-
cabulary composed Of slang which
would be as utterly unintelligible to o
well bred English or Scotch girl as
Chinese or Greek.
Toquote the veteran philosopher again:
"These expressions come 10 be algebraio
symbols Of minds which have grown too
weak OF indolent to discriminate. They
are the blank checks Of intellectual
bankruptcy. You may fill them mp with
whatever idea you like. Itmakes no diff.
ference, for there are no funds in tho
treasury upon which they are drawn"
That Of course is very severe, but ]
have often heard quite clever and well
educated young ladies using those odious
''blank checks" to such an extent that
any n not knowing them intimately
might readily have supposed their Gin
tellectual bank empty.
wonder what DR.. Holmes would have
thought of an actual conversation be.
tween two young ladies in good society,
80 called, who sat behind me in the grand
stand at q baseball match last summer.
I a give it almost verbatim:
'Say, Jen abbreviated form Of Jennie;
life is too short to use the whole Of q
persons name), who Is the fly looking
'snide' In the yellow striped get upT"
"Oh, come off the roofP To pretend
You don't know Cob. e. o. B. are the
young geutleman's initials wittily con.
verted into 'Cob.D After the way you
went for him at the ball last week.
You can't stuff me with that kind Of
gag, Miss Innocent"
"Oh, Is that Cobp He must be off his
nut to rig himself in such q 'swagger
way
ooh, Jen, look at Cob nowi He is hor.
rbly ratified Mabe (short for Mabel
'slung a glance at him, and he lost his
head as well as his base"
els she mashed on COBB"
"Ha, hal Pull down your vestP Do
you think Mabeis off her baser She likes
him to trot her round and stump up tbs
needfuP for ice cream, ETC., but she likes
ALI Jones better all the same-ee.' You
can bet your sweet life she won't marry
Cob"
"Look at him now. You bet he's hus.
tlingP"
"Get there, Ehr' oRuddigorer' "That
was a boss runP' and so on ad hnitum,
ad nauseum. All this in a perfectly audi
bic voice, and they were seemingly un.
aware that there was anything vulgar OF
out Of the usual in their conversation.
Probablythere was not, and yet those two
young ladies were college graduates and
were possessed Of more than average abil.
ity.
If you think this description exagger.
ated, listen critically to the next un.
restrained conversation between two
young ladies whom you know to be
guilty Of using slang freely. l fancy !
hear you say, but / never could talk
like that" Take carel Just as conf.
dent ones as you have begun by using q
few slang words-"they are so cute and
expressive, you knowT-and ended by
forming q vulgar and enslaving habit
which took great strength Of mind and
firm perseverance to break. The worst
stage Of q slang devotee is when she
grows utterly unconscious Of OF indif.
ferent to the habit. There is very httla
hope of improvement for her. The only
safe way is never to form the habit al
all. ar
Dear young girls, OF you tho '1an'
guage Of the future" in great measure
depends. You are the coming mothers
and teachers and will have an all pow.
erful influence in molding the language
Of the next generation to come and mum.
berless generations after that. See TO u
that it is "a language Of intelligence.
grace and puTity.-Miss Frank Davis in
Wives and Daughters.