Birmingham state herald., 1895-10-30
PATHOLOGICAL DISCOURSE.

That was a very entertaining letter from Professor Meek in Sundays State Herald as to the question whether 1t IS correct to say "The house is building, rather than "The house is being built The Mobile Register sticks to the for
 mer expression and the State Herald to
 the latter The professor shows that the
 former was in use in old times, and that
 the latter has been adopted in modern
 times as conveying a more definite mean
 ing. In old times the expression was
 ',The house is in building" which later
 was modified with "The house is a-build-
 ing" At present the proposition being eliminated, it was necessary to use new form of expression, and so the lan- guage worked around to the form, 'The house is being built The professor says. quoting from the Century diction ary:
 Tn modern use the proposition is omit ted; as the house is building. But none of these forms of expression have become thoroughly popular, the popular instinct being shown in recent development Of the desired progressive passive partl- ciple:' as the house is being built. This
 construction, though condemned by logi- clans and purists, is well established in popular speech, and will probably pass into current literary usage Has not the time come to change, in this sentence
 from the Century, will probably pass into,' to has passed into? The new dic- tionary of the Pathological society cer- tainly so thinks"
 And the Pathological society is right
 The people know what they want, and they manufacture the language to suit Our forefathers used to say He clomb the tree" which, no doubt, the Tennessee editors of the Register are accustomed to. when they say "He clumb the tree" That may pass muster in Tennessee but in Virginia and here in Alabama we say He climbed the tree" The psalmist says "I.earn me wisdom" If man were
 to use that expression now he would be set down as one who eats pie with a knife or wears a stove-pipe hat with a
 sack coat The good men in King James time makes the gospel speak of Going up to Jerusalem for to worship" That might be tolerated in Tennessee, but not in Mobile. This Is progressive age, and we modify our views as to language just
 as our politicians modify their views as to currency.
 The professor. in his letter. says. as will be observed in the above quotation: NSSACAA has become thoroughly popular" Now in Tennessee they would say None have | become" But when we understand that the word none" is in fact two words
 mo one"-we see that the professor was correct in using the singular verb in- stead of the plural. The antiquated Reg ister would no doubt relegate our Amer ican language back to the days of Shake speare and even to those of Spencer. or Chaucer, or Dryden; but if reader of poetry should give an audience a selec- ton from the Fairy Queen" the small
 boy in the gallery would very properly exclaim, What are you giving us?" That same small boy would understand what is meant when he is told that "the
 railroad is being run by a receiver" but when the Register informs him that "the
 railroad is running by a receiver" he
 would naturally wish to know whether,
 in going by, it ran over the receiver.
 It is the small boy who Is building up the American language. and the editor
 and the professor had better catch on. or they will get left.