New-York tribune., 1901-02-12
4 REorESr 4ND 4 DIGESTION.
There comes 10 hand in the editors mail
letter which reads i'm part as follows:


There comes to hand in the editors mail
letter which reads in part follows:
That highly esteem The Tribune is proved by
the fact that I have taken it for many, very
many. years But there is one request l have TO
make which. II granted. would not only please
me- but would benefit many thousands Of your
readers. 1t is this: Banish from your columns
all words from foreign languages. Give your
readers plain English. which all can under
stand. and let us hear no more OF francs ana
marks. Of pesos and pesetas. of lire and drach-
mas. Of rubles and rupees, of taels and yens,
and many other words which not one person
in ten thousand can translate and which show
gross ignorance or silly pedantry on the part or
those who use them one ne thing more: Is It
fifty men Were killed and wounded:
In answer to the request we have TO say that
we think our correspondent overestmateS our
use of foreign words and underestimate the
intelligence of Our readers. II has always
been. as il is now. The Tribune's rule 10 avoid
the uSe Of foreign words and 10 use plain.
simple English far possible. When II
does make Of foreign words expressive of
sums of money. distances. weights and meas
ures etc. II uses only such perfectly
we'll understood by all intelligent peope-such
as pounds shillings and pence-or il adds 10
them their definitions equivalents in English
terms. That is. we believe. the proper plan.
II. for example. we have TO tell what salary a
/ ]
as well 10 say he gets 5000 francs as To say he
gets S9i5. For the average American with the
cOmmoncst common school education is sup
posed 10 know approximately how much
franc is. just as well as how much dollar is
And matter of fact the Frenchman does
receive francs and does not receive dollars. But
IL he were a IIaytian officer who got 1000
Gourdes should either translate the term
into English and say he got $3.50 or we should
add the explanation that gourie was equal
10 9G5 cents. II is pretty good rule and one
which we strive To follow. never To use a foreign
word when English word will serve the
purpose; but when for the sake OF accuracy or
congruty foreign word is necessary. then use
il, If needs be. with an explanation Of it's
meaning.
In answer 10 the question asked by our corre-
spondent We have To say that both of the ex-
presSions quoted by him are good English We
say "A thousand dollars was paid" because
while the subject thousand dollars" is tech
ncally and in form plural, il is in sense singu-
lar. The meaning is not that a thousand indi-
vdual dollars were paid one by one. in which
the plural verb would he used. but that
the lump sum of $1,000 was paid as n unit
Ii is also right Ia say that fifty men were
killed and wounded" The meaning is not. of
course. that each Of the fifty men was both
killed and wounded. hut that the killed and
wounded together numbered fifty men. Com
pare with this the expression. fifty men and
women were present" which means not that
fifty men and fifty women Were present, but
that there were fifty persons present. some of
them being men and some women. or that the
men and the women present. taken together
numbered fifty. In many grammatical construc-
tions. especially those of an idiomatic charac
ter, the obvious sense is more to be regarded
than any rule of strict and narrow liberalism
In the use Of words and phrases of number il is
n pretty safe rule To he guided 10y the sense
rather than the form in deciding whether they
are to be followed by singular or plural verbs
As for the correspondent whose letter we have
quoted. wo are confident that he. in common
with most Tribune readers. is seldom at a loss
10 determine the proper number of a verb or
To interpret the meaning of any of the few
foreign words and phrases which now and then
appear ia columns.