The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-07
MEN, WOMEN
AND THINGS

\ WELe others take occasion to call me
to task for something in it. Now 1 ap-
preciate any ones taking the trouble
( to express either their pleasure or their
censure.
The only kind of communications which
are taboo in newspaper office are the
unsigned ones. Now, it's bad habit
not to put ones name to letter or ar
ticle, for 1 have received some really
bright and charming appreciations or
criticisms that might have been used
if the authors had not forgotten to dis
close their identity.
| I am ready for brickbats, as 1 have
become an artfnl dodser through years
Of experience; and then I'll admit that
when bouquets are tossed to me / know
how to wear them gracefully in the
lapel of my coat. The only thing l dread
is to be thought unworthy to be tar
get for abuse or a candidate for praise.
Here is a sample letter: Dear Sir: The
orening paragraph in your article in
Sundays Age-Herald stated: T had just
sat down to write a Flea for the Red
Cross roll call, when a telegram came
from my friend, Lloyd Cooper OF Selma,
state chairman, asking me If I wouldn't
give my Sunday crusieries to it Please
kindly inform me what 'cruseries' mean.
and greatly oblige." Now, as he not only
signed his real name but inclosed a
stamp for reply I know him for
courteous and interested gentleman.
| He is entitled to some illumination on
the subject, for in these days when new
and foreign words are being born over
night and flyinfg with lightning speed
across the Atlantic to appear in the morn
ing paper it is really difficult matter
for the average man to know Just
where he is at" linguisticaliy speaking.
Take, for instance, the French word
| "camouf1age," and you will hunt for 1t
in vain in the standard dictionaries,
Though only yesterday 1 got proof sheets
OF new one in which t finds place
| Now, Henry James, the great Amer
lean stylist, who for more than a score
of years has lived abroad absorbing the
culture both of England and France,
and gaining for himself a reputation as
one of the most discriminating users of
words of any living writer, laments the
fact that the war has used up words;
they have weakened like motor car tires:
they have, like millions of other things,
been more overstrained and knocked
labcut and voided of the happy semblance
during the last six months than in all
the long ages before"
No wonder that he suffered acutely be-
cause, as he says, zone finds it in the
words as to endure ones thoughts" And
then he goes on to say in regard to the
debasement of words eve are now con-
fronted with a depreciation of all our
terms, or otherwise speaking, with a
loss of expression through increase of
limpness, that may we'll make US wonder
what ghosts win be left to walk with
Until 1 got in touch with his state of
mind about words I had no idea the
situation was so desperate.
|
make inquiry as to the meaning of
"cruseries," and to relieve his mind l
Twill state right here that there amt
any SIGH word. 1t was born of printer
license" and proofreader's myopia. 1t
is an Legitimate pure and simple, and
so far as I am concerned may be thrust
out of decent society in bar-sinister word
| bor n 70
having repudiated feel under no COM
Iulsion to champion it as a good and
proper term.
1t is so easy for an editor to shift the
|; bureau on printers and proofreaders. II
is true that l have suffered much al
their hands. but it is also equally true
that they have time and again given me
a lift in spelling and punctuation, for the
old adage in the composing room tc
follow copy out of the window" has
when the pressmen below are hollering to
the typeseNers above to throw her
down or we can't make the mails"
Having thus acknowledged my indebt-
ness to both the printers and the proof
readers, still I must mildly protest that
when 1 wrote in my article covering the
allied armys Red Cross dinner at the
Tutwiler hotel on Monday night Frank
Rushton had a pretty and ready wit, "
and then to pick up Wednesday morn
ings paper and read that The had a
petty and ready w.t." is cause sufficient
for me to raise kick and grounds enough
for him to challenge me for poking fur
he sees me.
Having digressed so far I will now
state for the benefit of my interrogation
, that L wrote the word "causeries." In
: itself it is very innocent affair. The
} trouble is that there are certain shades
: of meaning almost indescribable in Eng
; fish, and from time immemorial we have
: enriched our language at the expense
OF other tongues. I used the word with
out malice aforethought, and with no in
tention whatever of displaying any ia
miliarity with French but simply be-
/ cause it popped into my head at the time
as being the right one to best convey
my meaning.
t I often start out in this column say
2 ing l wish to have talk with my read
ers, for be it understood it Is by desire
, to keep it as close to cosy converse ior