The sun., 1916-11-28

Technical Air Words Prevail?" under
which appears Mr.. woodhouse's elabo-
rate and penetrating article in The
Sun Of November 20. states the prob
lem aptly. A very simple general
answer to the question might be
formulated as follows: Popular forms
will prevail in colloquial use, tech
meal forms in scientific use.
The two classes OF words, popular
and technical. overlap and merge into
each other freely. Popular forms tend
to prevail In scientific use In as far as
they prove to be adequate and dis
ti%nctive; technical terms tend to pre-
vail in popular use In as far as they
strike favorably the keen and vigor-
Gus fancy Of the people. 1t may be con-
venient to speak Of these two classes
as folk words and book words.
Subjected to this test, a far more
useful and scientific one than that OF
apparent linguistic consistency. which
is apt to appeal strongly to the ANA
teur, most OF Mr.. Woodhouse's embar-
easements promptly disappear.
He asks:
II tairplane' should be adopted. should
"aerohautics." 'aerodynamics' and aero
foii'' remain? And what about hydro
aeroplane." 'aerostatics'' and aero squad
ron?
The answer is. the use in popular
speech of "airplane" would not in the
slightest degree invalidate the reten-
ton OF the technical terms above men,
toned. except that the learned hydro.
aeroplane." as l have previously
pointed out, would pretty certainly
give way to the hybrid "hydroair-
plane" and aero squadron" would al
most surely yield to lair squadron"
The predestined fate Of DR.. Lang
ley's 'aerodrome" for "aeroplane" Is a
counterpart OF the story Of the pro-
posed "autodrome'' for Automobile"
I am indebted to Mr.. woodhouse for
the interesting information that the
word "aerodromc'' has been used for
acronautic fields OF late years"
This Is a welcome confirmation Of
my surmise that the failure Of the cor
rectly constructed word "autodrome"
was due to the ~pervasive influence OF
the element ''drome'' In the sense Of
'arena for driving in the universally
popular word "hippodrome."
Several more OF Mr.. W~oodhouse's
points invite comment. but I shall
limit myself TO the single case OF
hangar for she'd believe
hangar" will prevail. but 1t is so diff
cult for the speaker OF English either
to initiate successfully or to adapt APP
proximately the true French pronunci-
ation hat the word will probably in
time be frankly transformed I'm both
spelling and sound into the homely
English hanger"
In any case. though discussion and
concerted action may help to determine
the curse Of the language. the Anal
decision in such matters undoubtedly
rests with the imperious will Of the
general public. IL. A. TODD.
The chief function OF a compiler is
to record words as they are used and
not as he. or IN especially appointed
body. thinks they ought to Le used. In
! my judgment the lack OF knowledge
of a%eronautic tradition" had very little
to do with the fact that the diction-
aries Of a~eronautical terms issued be-
tween 1910 and 1912 proved far from
practical" All efforts made to regulate
and restrict the Technology OF any art
or science allied to or associated with
the English language are doomed Ia
failure. The genius OF the language
brooks no restrictions. for the language
Itself has pursued the uneven tenor of
-. asa tFaa A. 4, fs. ct. 80 -, t,At uEttl