South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-03-02


said that the newspapers. through
stressing this or that incident. had"
etc.
There is no sufficient excuse for
thus disfguring the language that
we all speak and write. Already
there exists an abundance of sy-
nonymous words with which 10 con-
vey, and that with far greater eX-
actness, the meaning intended by
this malformed changing which
words and phrases as urge, press,
emphasize. enforce, require. insist
upon, prescribe, lay stress on, main
tain, demand. and many others,
which have long been in use, and
are perfectly understood.
AS ] encounter the new verb
here and there always with a
shudder of disgus), find that il is
employed indifferently TO take the
place of all the expressions just
cited with a consequent loss of
that l have read a sentence equiva-
lent TO the following: Here is
probably the best way TO do the
thing, but / do not stress it," mean
ing Il do not require il, or pre-
scribe it," or again: He express
ed such or such an opinion, bit he
did not stress II" meaning "he did
not emphasize, or enforce. it," or.
once more. Il should be pleased
il you would do that, but l do not
stress it," meaning L do not urge
it," or i do not insist upon it,"
No doubt the modern tendency 70
ciseness. of speech is responsible for
the attempt-which has been but
too successfuI-to introduce this
and many other Objectionable
neologisms into the language.
Many young writer's Of novels and
short stories (and the writer's of
such things seem to be seriously
taken nowadays for historians,
philosophers, psychologists and
teachers of the public lard. their
pages with lamentable twistings,
substitutons and transformations
of words merely for the sake OF
novelty In these environments a
young lady always smiles" or
"purls" her yes, instead of saying
it; or else, in the opposite case. the
old-fashioned commonplace of Ian
guage are avoided in the manner
following:
"He fell on his knees at her feet.
and suspired. can you not pity
me- MOI she rebuffed, your
treachery has stoned my heart"
There is another word. not so
new as stress" used for a verb,
which 1 personally would like to
see tabooed, and that is the adjec-
tive human" pluralized, ana then
employed as noun 10 describe
men and women. Humans" is a
very weak word, with too many con-
sonants at the end Of il which get
up into the nose. There is some
thing disrespectful about it, too,
both in look and sound. and our re-
cent performances require that we
should at least speak well of our
selves. lest higher intelligences take
US at our apparent face value
One thing may be said for this
whole class of words, that is, words
used in an unusual or forced sense.
which IS that unless they are utterly
inadmissable they often have an ex-
cellent temporary effect when en-
ployed under the spur of a sudden
impulse by a writer. and still better
by a speaker, but they ought 10 be
dropped with the occasion.
L spared him with a jest" the
single line by which a once popular
Scottish poet is now remembered.
offers a classic example of what l
mean. But nobody can use that
phrase now, except as a quotation,
although. so far from being in itself
Objectionable. il is a literary gem of
rare brilliance. Shakespeare is full
of similar things, which will no
more stand handling than the pat
terms on a butterfiy's wing.
The great trouble lies in the vul-
gar habit of initiating. which is the
Inainstay of all fashions and fads
If some college professor, with his
mind full Of mathematical cOncep-
tions OF force, should impatiently
speak of "stressing" an idea into a
stupid students head. we might ap-
plaud him for his unconscious poet
~. but to see such a word displac-
ing its betters in the field of com
mon language is altogether too dis
tressful