The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-01
Criticising American Language.

America and of England He says:
had not been three hours on Ameri-
can soil before 1 heard a charming young
lady remark 20, it was bullyi'' 1 gath
cred that this expression is considered
admissible, in the conversation of
grown-up people. only in New York. I
aften heard il there, and never anywhere
else. A very distinguished officer, who
served as volunteer in Cuba. was ask
ed TO relate his impressions of war.
War" he said. lis a terrible thing. You
can't exaggerate its horrors. When you
sit in your tent the night before a bat
tie, and think of home and your wife and
children. you feel pretty sick and down
hearted. But" he added, next day.
when you're in IT, on, it is buliy!''
A curious American colloouiaIism, of
which l certainly cannot see the advant-
age is the substitution of yep or
''yup," for yes and of nope" for no
No doubt we have in England the coster's
''yuss;" but one hears even educated
Americans now and then using yep" or
some other corruption of yes" scarcely
to be indicated by the ordinary alphabet
zeal symbols. 1t seems TO me a pity.
Educated Americans, too. will often say
''somewheres.' and "a long ways" 1
have little doubt that this - has
ably it is an old case ending; just as he
goes out nights" on which Mr.. Andrew
Lang is so severe. as a survival OF the
"o'nfghts" which Shakespeare puts in the
mouth of Julius Caesar C'Sleek- headed
men. and such as sleep o'nights). At
the same time as somewhere" has be-
come irremediably a vulgarism in Eng
land. it would. think. be a graceful con-
cession on the part Of educated AmeTi-
cans to drop the 50 After all, some
where does not jar in America, and
''somewheres" very distinctly jars IN
England.
| Mere slovenlfness of pronunciation IS
| a totally different matter. For instance,
| the use of most for almost is dis
| tinctly. if not a vulgarism. al least
| colloquiaism. 1t may be of ancient or
| igin: 1t may have crossed in the May
! flower for aught We know; but the over
whelming preponderance of ancient and
modern usage is certainly in favor of
prefxing the 'al'' and there is clear
! advantage in having a special word for
this special idea If American writer's
| tried to make most" supplant almost
! in the literary language we should have
a right to demonstrate; the two forms
would fight it out and the fittest would
/ survive. But as a matter of fact, | am
not aware that anyone has attempted TO
! introduce most in this sense into liter
| ature It is perfectly recognized as a
colloquialism, and as such it keeps Its
place Again. such pronunciatons as
! ''mebbe" for maybe" and I'D ruther'
or II druther'' for I'D rather" are OBJ
vious slovenliness No American would
defend them as being correct, any more
than an EngIshman would defend l
dunno" for Il don't know or "atome"
for at home" If an actor. for instance
were to say,
u druther be dog and bay the moon
Than such Roman"
American and English critics alike could
not but protest against the solecism; for
in poetry absolute precision OF utterance
is indispensable. But in everyday speech
a certain amount of colloquialism is in
evftable. Let him whose own enuncia-
ton is chemically free from localism or
slovenliness, cast the first stone even al
"mebbe" or "ruther.'
It is not to be expected that an ex-
tremely English intona ton should ever be
agreeable to Americans. or an extremely
American information to Englishmen We
ourselves laugh "haw-haw'' intona ton
in English why, then. should we forbid
a banjo is recognized as undesira bic in
America land assuredly il Isl, there is no
reason why we in England should pre-
tend to admire it. But a vulgar or ar
fected information Is clearly distinguish
able. from the national habit in the pro-
uunciation of a given letter. or accentua-
ton of a given word. or class of words
For instance. take the pronunciation Of
the indefinite article. The American
habituany says "a man a as ir
@'game'O; the Englishman, unless he
wants to be emphatic. says "a man
Neither is right. neither Is wrong-it Is
purely a matter of habit: and To con
slider either habit ridiculous is merely L
exhibit that childishness of provincialisn
of mind which is moved TO laughter BY
whatever is unfamiliar. Again. when
first read the works of the sagacious Mr.
Dooey. I thought 1t curiously far
fetched idea on the part of that philoso
pher to talk Of Admiral Dewey as hi
cousin George" and assert that Dew
ey' and "Dooley" were practically tn
same name. I had not then noticed tina
the American pronunciation Of Dewey
is DOGGY and that the liquid 700 &
very seldom heard in America In IN
course Of the five minutes I spent in tn
supreme court at Washington, I hear
the chief justice OF the United state
make this one remark: THAT. sir. is no
constitutional" To our ears this 90
has an old-fashioned ring. like that O
the zee" in "obleeged;' but 10 call
wrong is absurd. and TO find It ridiculou
is provincial
In the way Of soothing we Engis
have doubtless land inevitably been III
worst offenders. We have haoiiuall
J used ."Americanism as term Of Re
= proach. implying. II not saving in 8
many words that America was the grea
source OF pollution. and Of nothing bu
pollution. 70 the otherwise Iimid currer
Of our speech Dean Afford wrote Of
fensively TO this effect; Archbisho
Trench. on the other hand. discussed IN
relations between the English Of Americ
. and the English Of England with coul
fesy and good sense. he proteste
against certain trausstlatiC neoloEisrn
including In his list that excellent 81
word TO berate." and a word 50 useft
ard 50 eminently cousonsnt WITH On
spirit ~ the language as 80 5edtt'e'
hut whether wise or uuwise. his prOtet
vas q: least civil other writers. both
books and periodicals. have been apt
take their tone from the Dean frot1'
than from the Archbishop II may eve
| be said that the instinct 't me major i
OF FngIfshmen. wnich finds heeciess q
2 1~ession in the newspapers ana IN con
mon talk. Is 70 regard AnericaEl-m
necessarily vulgar and tconYersfifb VI
earfsrn az probably American. II cha
-. IerEea and brought % book they "a
generality realize tne uarrowueEz and +
4 fustice 81 this way n thinking get the
: relapse into II the next moment. j.
time ws should % or our guard again
, 50 insldious habit
Il IS very easy % prove That there o.
q bad speakers and bad writers iu 30
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