The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1908-12-25
Prof. Stands Up for Good Slang.

Prof. Stands Up for Good Slang.
You're up against It,
Freeze onto the ball.
I'll chop you up into mincemcat.
He blew onto the stage
He is up i'm the air
His trolley Is off
You are barking up the wrong tree.
Pull up stakes and make a bee-line.
He is daffy
He has bats in his befry
Madison, Dec. l9.-Do the foregoing
words, heard daily in the streets,
sound like the language of Milton or
Shakespeare? They are perfectly
proper, however.
In explaining the forcefulness of
language to class in pedagogy at the
University of Wisconsin, Professor NJ
V. OShea of the department of science
and education, declared that some OF
the unique expressions of those mas
ters of earlier literature were the rec
ognized slang of their day calculating
his idea by explaining that the best of
slang of today will be in the litera-
ture of tomorrow. He declared that
the children of Madison have the most
vivid and picturesque vocabulary
along these lines of any children he
knows Of and added that conserva-
tive mothers should not try to crush
these expressions of thought from
their youthful conversations-so long
as they are not obscene or improper
Why Slang Abides.
The incident of Professor OSheG
using the numerous slang phrases was
brought about when he explained to
his pupils the possibilities of the most
modern and "up-to-date" vocabulary.
He declared Our language is living
language and is constantly changing.
A man may know Milton, grammar
and rhetoric, but may miss the issue
and the effect which he wishes to pro-
duce by the use of staid, conventional
terms. Young people use slang
readily. Their minds are plastic and
the terms they use, even though they
be slang, are vigorous, picturesque,
filled with fire and color, and ought
not to be suppressed"
But Professor O'Shea believes there
is both good and bad" slang, and
on this point he declared:
"All slang that offends the moral
and ethical sense will die out of it's
own accord, and the best phrases will
survive, to be incorporated in the
literature of the next generation.
Phrases that would not use ten
years ago | am using constantly today
in conventional conversation. Such
expressions as You're up against it,
five times the vigor and effect of the
same idea expressed by ministers
and professors in the classical Ian
guage of Milton and Shakespeare.
Freedom for the Child.
For the average child the best
slang is far better than the conserva-
tive speech of adults. The adult lives
formal life. He dislikes innova-
lions; he is quiet and refined, and is
utterly incapable, as such, of telling
child how 20 talk. Give the child
freedom in his expressions and do not
limit him to the phrase and rhetoric
of olden days"
Professor O'Shea declared young
people, men in active life, college pro
fessors and students, who constantly
are gaining new ideas, are the men
who originate the so-called slang eX-
pressions. The expression 'fussing' is
original at the University of WiscOn-
sin, as explaining the counting pro
clivities of the youth. And what
term could be more applicable?" he
says.
"Out on the Pacific coast" he said,
THE language is undergoing a con-
slant change. New expressions from
the mountains, the mines, the seas,
the hardships of travel are rapidly
becoming incorporated in the vocabu-
larry making them living realities