University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-05-20

The following article by DIR. Ray
mond Weeks of Columbia Universit.
New York, is reprinted from the En-
glish Journal for February. Docto
Weeks was formerly head of the Re
nance language department at tn
University of Missouri.
An article called "Guide-Posts t,
Good English" by Leila Spragu
Learned. was printed last year in ;
New York journal. This article con
tained censure of some words and ten
denotes, and, on the constructive sid
praise of clearness and of specif,
as opposed to general terms. w,
should all approve several sentence!
of the author, such as this: "As &
general rule, the higher the culture
the simpler the style and palmer the
speech" although, for my part,
should qualify somewhat the conclu-
sion: palmer the speech" When
however, she allows herself to intimate
that Anglo-Saxon words are prefera-
BILE to others in English, simple duty
requires one to protest.
ITO be sure" she says, I'VE have
adapted" (evidently a misprint for
adOpted) many words from the
French. such as avenue amateur
and 'Omelette," but We do not need to
call a railway station a depot nor a
masterpiece a chef d'ouvre' (mis-
print for chef d'oeuvre"D. Let us note
in passing several points in this SEN
tence. Do the words avenue" "ama-
teur," and "omelette" offer an adequate
picture of English adoptions of French
words? Would a person not a philol-
ogist-would an ordinary high school
pupil-obtain from these three words
a true picture of the tens of thousands
of words which the French language
has given English? Might the author
not have found list of nobler French
words in English, such as beauty"
literature" art? Again, Miss Learn
ed says that We do not call railway
station a depot. The French do not
call railway station a depot, hence in
every manner this word is objectiona-
BILE. But what would Miss Learned
have us call it? She tells us: "sta-
tion." She is aware, however, that
station" is French word-as is, for
hat matter, the first element of rail- |
way?" She adds that we should use |
not 'chef d'oeuvre."
But is not masterpiece" in both its
PARTS. from France?
Evidently etymology is not a strong
,oint with the author. We are pre-
Jared, then, to doubt some of her sub
equent statements: that "in the writ
ngs of about twenty good English
uthors, thirty-:wo words in forty are
# Saxon origin" She then says that
n parts of the Bible, written in purer
,nglish" Zone would like to know what
he means by "purer English"D than
ny other book which We have, there
re thirty-nine Saxon words in forty.
and Macaulay found a
efficient number of simple English
lords (what is meant by simple En-
lish words?'O to express their
nOughts, and We can do no better than
, follow their example"
Is it not clear that Miss Learned Cd +;
pposes words of French origin in En- ,
lish and (2) books on words of Anglo ,
axon as being the sole genuine En- I
lish words? Non-Anglo-Saxon words ,
ppear to her inferior. Perhaps she, :
Ike many critics, looks upon them r
) interlopers. How valuable it would 6
to know her thOught-process, the q
.asons for. her prejudices and opin- 7
ms! Do her sympathies run on geo :
raphical and historical lines? II so, +
by are not her sympathies with the =
elts. and why does she not execrate .
e Anglo-Saxons as barbarous invad- n
s? Or do they run on lines of sup a
'sed beauty and excellence? II so, r
Nv can she prefer a barbarous and n
lcouth language like Anglo-Saxon n
the other languages which, combin- II
with Anglo-Saxon, have formed q
1glish. these other languages, such I,
French, Latin, and Greek. being all II
stly more beautiful and adequate .,
an Anglo-saxon? G
1t would be interesting to know who h
e twenty good English authors are, "t
irty-two out of forty of whose words &c,
e Of Anglo-Saxon origin. Thirty 6,
o out Of forty is 80 per cent. 1t is C,
,ely that whoever made the calcu- e,
lion followed the erroneous manner q
counting e4ch word as many dif- e,
rent times as it recurred, instead q
counting each word only once. Or, q
may have examined too brief "t