The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-26
ENGLISH as SIZE Is wsorE.

ENGLISH as SHE IS WROTE.
The British Roral society Fa3 been s.
cussing the project cf establishing an
English Academy OF Letters. modelled
after the famous French Immortals. The
object being to preserve the English Ian
guage in al. its pristine Iur,ty. Into this
charmed circle wi be admitte none but
British, rs-men Who speak ami write the
English language according to the rules
of British authority Tn literary lights
of the American branch OF the English
speaking race are to b. barred. and well
is it that they are. for a more iconoclas-
tic. sIang-bred community of verbicides
never were allowed within tie pale of
linguistic law If the penalty of death
were prescribed for the murder of their
mother tongue how many American
newspaper writers would escape WITH
their lives without bribing court g. jury?
The terse but comprehensive style of
Shakespeare is no more. Even. the di-
would seem strange and out of place in
a modern newspaper. There are words.
words, words plenty of them Nicely ar
ranged are these words, sometimes. but
there is little vitality in them The
paucity of ideas is made UP by an accu-
mutation of high-sounding but meaning
riodic sentences which bristle
with pointed truths or tarbed sarcasms-
have been superseded by the rhetorical
sentence of the diplomat 1t is smooth
hut it is meaningless. There is a striv-
ing after effect at the expense of pre-
cision and cIearness. Editorial writer's
find themselves without ideas and in or
der to fill space go word-hunting.
The worldwide is searched for fossils
which are brought out and made to do
duty as vital entities. When the fossil
ferrous strata of the English language
has been exhausted. these verbal geoIo-
gists go to foreign fields and bring back
uncouth specimens which they mount for
our admiration. One learned editor
speaks of the Grass" ignorance of a
certain politician upon whom he wishes
to be particularly severe. Another in
referring Of the landed estates of the
Philippine friars designated them as
'guerdons." Examples of this kind
might be multiplied indefinitely. The
fault is not universal, but is characters
tic of writer's who find themselves empty
headed, but with dictionaries at hand.
This style, though it make the unskill-
full laugh cannot but make the judicious
grieve," for it is making a linguistic pop
Inlay out of an honest, virile, sturdy Ian
guage.
This matter IS of vital Importance, be-
cause of the widespread influence of the
newspaper. People think as they read
and they act as they think Literary
polish Is a good thing An evidence of
great learning is also a good thing. but
a writer can no more counterfeit these
by an outward show Of obsolete or I'M
usual words, than can a boor by a
display Of jewels and fine dress counter
felt the born gentleman.
This fault is not confined to newspaper
dom. The ambitious writer for maya
zines and even the candidate for honors
in the broader field of bookmaking is
often the victim of this sham fever Who
has not been Disguised to the very soul
to find in a book or magazine article.
unused words and foreign phrases where
the pure and lucid English of good So
ciety would have better expressed the
meaning? This thing is infectious at
taclls the weak-minded An advertise
ment of business college not far away,
in describing the virtues of it's graduates.
said of Miss Blank: "She is exception
ally brilliant and possesses an AMENE
and AGGRANDIZED appearance" The
professor" who arranged, edited and pub
lished this paper, no doubt, spent many
hours word-hunting He Tit" on his
feet with ''amene" but fell down on
'aggrandized" The professor" had no
doubt been reading the editorials of some
of our metropolitan newspapers.
The ordinary Englisl. language is suf-
f1ciently rich in words to express clearly
any thought or combination of thoughts.
When it is abandoned or when the sick
and the lame, the halt ana the blind, the
infants and the aged, are impressed into
service it is evidence that the forces of
the writer are weak in the center Give
US clear, vigorous English which the
mass. of the people can comprehend with
out library at hand. 1t is time both
for the English and the Americans to
create come standard of literary morals
The literary highwayman, the literary
sot and the literary dude are equally OBJ
jectionabIe.