The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-18
AND SLANG.

AND SLANG.
Some time ago a New York publishing
house invited the signatures of authors,
editors and publishers, as well as of other
professional and business men, to a list
Of eleven rules proposed in connection
with a system of reformed spelling which
it was hoped to establish. If three hundred
signatures of prominent persons willing to
adopt the reform were secured the New
York firm would at once put it into
effect in it's establishment. This number
has been obtained, and a circular an
nounces that rule one, which involves
changing ed" to 't' in such words as
wished will soon be adopted. 1t is not
probable that the revised spelling as prac-
ticed even by three hundred people
will have any immediate influence upon
the methods now in vogue. Until the
changes are given the general sanction of
philologists and are incorporated in the
dictionaries and school textbooks the
most noticeable result of the acceptance Of
one or all of the eleven reform rules will
be that of increased labor and annoyance
to the editors ard proof readers who ham
die the manuscripts of the three hundred
authors. 1t is known to all editors of ex-
perience that correct spelling is not an
invariab,e accomplishment of the people
who write for publication, and that their
copy frequently needs careful correction
before it goes to the printer. By adopting
the proposed rules they merely give them
selves license to make eleven new kinds of
errors for the unhappy editor to change
For, however the three hundred reformers
may look upon the changes. they will be
errors wherever the old and time-honored
standard is retained, and will be treated as
such. 1t would be much more to the point
if a society for improvement in spelling
were organized among authors, for it is
reasonably certain that those among them
who cannot master the present orthogra-
ply will do no better with a new style,
but will take the reform as authority for
any vagaries and eccentricities In the or
biographical line that they may fancy.
A matter of much more practical impor-
lance is the Improvement of speech, the
American society for which has just been
holding a meeting in New York. Careless
use of language, ungrammaticai express
SlOliS dlo LAC ~ 40
which persons accustomed only to Guilt
waited English could not understand, pre-
vail even among intelligent and educated
people to an extent hard to believe until
special attention is given the matter Chill
dren show a propensity to use improp-
err forms of speech, which their parents
and teachers are sometimes inclined to as
cribe to inherent depravity. The boy who
hears nothing but correct language at
home almost surely develops a fondness
for double negatives, the colloquial vari-
ations of the verb ito be-" and a DISPOSE
ton to drop his final ''g's,'' II hain't got
the like being features of his. vocabulary
the distressed parent of cultured taste finds
it hard to account for and as difficult
to eliminate. Older people are commonly
aware of their departure from correct
forms in themselves, but they find slangy
terms convenient, fairly expressive-some-
times remarkably so-and are too. careless
or too indoIent to think out a better and
equally expressive style of dlction. The
English language has unlimited riches, and
it need not involve much care or study
for even the half-educated person to ac-
quire a vocabulary which would make his
use Of slang unnecessary and relieve him
of the suspicion of iiliteracy- When really
well-educated people indulge in the habit
ual use of current slang there is no eX-
cuse for them. A clever series of sketches
written by George Ade, who is, by the way,
an Indiana man. and published in a vol
,oJar tho title Of "A rite a Story
of the Streets and Town." is a good ex-
emplification of the prevalence of slang,
for, while comparatively few cultivated
people murder the English tongue as does
the irrepressible "Artie," the same per-
sons-those, at least, who associate with
the young man of the period to any ex-
tent-will find, perhaps to their surprise,
that they have no difficulty whatever in
understanding all his terms. He speaks the
jargon which is current in the street, Is
comprehended and used more or less
by boys and young men everywhere,
and so becomes familiar in every house.
hold. 1t is not the "Chimmie Fadden"
slang, which was for the most part a glib
berish peculiar to the half-foreign gamins
of the New York streets. That book
added various words to the vocabulary
Of the s'rp-to-date' young man. but every
thing is acceptable to him which comes
from other source than the dictionary. As
a study in slang Mr.. AIDES work is thor
ough, and if it shall serve as a warning OF
the direction in which colloquial English
is tending it will have been worth while.