The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-19
"X'"; THE NEW PARIS LANGUAGE.
Its Professor, Whose Strange Tongue
 None Understand.

It's ProfeSsor, Whose Strange Tongue
 None Understand
 All the philologists of Paris are con- cerned with the case of the young man who speaketh in a strange tongue that none can understand. Learned persons write to the papers to point out that the man must be 'dago," and speaks low kind of Portuguese in usage in certain ports of South America, or a Wild West Indian escaped from the tutelage of Colonel Cody, who has been travelling France with his show, or, again, a PolyneGian. The examining magistrate spends linguistic afternoons struggling with the unknown tongue. It is said that a person learned in Esperanto es- saved, but vainly, to unlock the my stery. The language of "X' defies the Esperanto key. But since the worthy ''juge d'instruction" has opened a spe- cies of kindergarten, matters have be- come much more interesting. The mag istrate draws tree, or a house, or bishop, and the "detenue' "gives it a pane,'' as the phrase Is in other and less educational quarters. He has elu- cidated the fact that our wandering youngster lives in the midst of forest a forest where the tiger roams-by the side of river. Two days march brought him and his parents to the city of Lispian; thence they travelled to place that might be Boston, and on the morrow they embarked at New York, on a boat, with two tunnels. Thence they crossed the sea, coming, perhaps, to Havre, After that the way of this youth is a mystery-darker than the forest where the tiger lives,
 Ritard, as the youth is called, has been giving some, specimens of his vo- cabulary to M. 1e Juge, A bull is "ochse'; a cowy,s" s"ochsa"; coal, "sar- ban'';. a boat, ''batez"; harbor, ''ra- der" "Odir' appears to be the equiv alent for God, and "Odoir" for the sun. Naturally, our professor of "X'' has be- come the hero of the day The Palais de Justice has already its own special language compounded of seventeenth and eighteenth century words, but it has been so attracted by the sonorous qualities of "x' that members of the bdf now duufeSS OIlG dIlOluGT Ill d JdE- gon that bears some resemblance to the unknown tongue. For instance, a "dossier,'' has become a "dossiar,'' a 'plaideur," 'plaidiar" The hussiers have fallen victims to the "X'' microbe, and manufacture words to their turn and even the municipal guards charged with the policing. of the courts murmur "cabrioletor' for the common or gard en "cambrioleur.' I am waiting ito hear that the judges have become af- fected with this new disease which plays such havoc with healthy French.
 The prisoner has not yet been able to express his opinion on his entertainers. Delivered in full and round phrases, 1t should sound very well-something like the language of the pantomime demon in the midst of blue flames. To cheer him in his solitude the magistrate has sent him sweets and change of linen It is satisfaction to know that the pro- lessor of K" realized that the sweets are for internal use, and not the linen.
 There is surely Providence who watches OCT the press. A Journalist once predicted to me that Mme' Hum- bert would be caught in the slack sea- son; indeed, that she was being kept