Evening star., 1901-12-14
ENGLISH OF COMMERCE
THE WAYS IN WHICH TRADE HAS
MODIFIED OUR LANGUAGE.
Curious Combinations of Words
Which Irritate the Gramma-
rfan and Purist.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
Commercial English contains some of the
curfositfes of the language. 1t Is strange
ly varied mixture-partly technical, partly
vulgar, and, to the purist, wholly unpleas-
ing. 1t does not always hold grammar In
due respect, but breaks Priscian's head In
calmly irritating manner. What can be
more offensive than the legend now to be
seen over so many shop windows and on so
many advertising circulars, of Bespoke
Tailor or Bespoke Bootmaker?' Another
irritating modern term, the invention OF
northern commercial hotel keepers, is
smoke ROOM 1t may be considered Pc
dantic to cayil at name which is so much
used, and which has been heard within the
walls of the house of commons. once sacred
to pure English and classical quotation,
but as we do not visit the read room.'
nor use sit room,'' nor eat in dine
room," it is not unreasonable to ask why
we should take our tobacco In a "smoke
room" This is, however, by the way. The
choicest specimens of ungrammatical COM
mercial English usually to be found In
those circulars, familiar to dweliers in the
suburbs, issued when a business changes
hands, and patrons are thanked for their
"esteened orders by the retiring trades
man, while the newcomer solicits 'con.
tinuance of the same"
Economy in Letters.
Orthogrophy fares no better at the hands
of few enterprising tradesmen than gram
mar. There is at least one firm which per-
sistently advertises it's dealings in "soX.'
This is supposed to be q conveniently short
ened version of Socks In America it is
said to be customary. in making out bills of
ladng, to use sax for sacks the idea
being that the saving of two letters in each
entry becomes very large economy of
ink and time when the entries into
thousands. But if such soIecisms are to be
allowed, why should not the hardware sell
er deal in tax or the builder in 'briX:'
Another word in universal use among
traders wholesale and retail and among
commercial travellers, is Zine This seems
to hover on the borderland between the
technical and slang vocabulary 1t is diff
fcult to say to which category 1t belongs.
The traveller offers the tradesman, and
line in parasolS, or a cheap line in blan-
kets, or a good lne-that is, a bargain-in
linens; or attention is drawn to new lines
in this or that commodity. The proprietor
of some novelty advertises that he "wants
two or three gentlemen calling upon dra-
pers,' or grocers, or fancy dealers, or what
not, to take up line which is selling
WELL Again, the word is used in another
way. A traveller, disappointed in getting
an order. remarks to the shopkeeper whom
he has been interviewing, We'll. perhaps
you'll be able to give me line some other
day" while the successful traveller chuc-
kles as he books "a good line" So that the
same word serves both as a synonym for
an order and as a general name for a par
ticular class or quality Of goods.
Origin of Cline"
The Zine is supposed to have been Or
iginally simply the line in a commercial
travellers notebook booking an order. From
the notebook the word has spread to the
shop window, the advertising circular and
the sale list. Another use of the same
word is as a synonym for trade or occupa-
ton. Dickens long ago described in
Sketches by Boz''-in the paper on 1.-The
Dials"-how 'the man in shop perhaps, is
in the baked Jenny line, or the firewood
and hearthstone line, or any other line
which requires floating capital of eight
eenpence or thereabouts." The present
writer well remembers how once, years
ago, toward the end of pedestrian eXcur-
sion prolonged through several weeks of
glorious summer weather. he was asked by
tramp as he sat resting under a roadside
tree, what Zine" he was in. Appearances
We're certainly against him, for the sun
had blazed fiercely for many days, his cos
tune was unconventional, a good many
miles of dusty road had been covered on
that particular day, and, moreover, he car
ried knapsack-which the tramp probably
took for peddlers pack. Altogether, the
line" fills tolerably large page in the vo-
cabulary of trade.
But perhaps the most curious examples
of commercial English are to be found in
its adjectives. Trade price lists especially
of one or two particular kinds of commodi-
ties are quite curious reading Tea lists
abound in curious adjectfves and quantity
phrased descriptions, which seem to need
considerable technical knowledge for their
due appreciation. "Fuli-favored" "chuice
cup and the like need no explanation; but
'brlsk liquoring, STRONG and liquoring"
seem little cryptic, and 'strong grippy
character sounds alarming "Musky'' does
not sound complimentary, and when ap-
piled to tea means soft and flavorless;
'minty' describes a flavor which can hard
iy be regarded as desirable. "Maltv,"
thick soft" and very fine tippy'' require
technical knowledge for due appreciation
of their meaning