The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-04

Chicago III, AUG. The ha'ss
q ChfcAgs are out % save our
,anxaase. English In America, It
appears. Is degenerAtfns fright
YrIly We are in danger or becom-
inr absolutely inAfticulnte. But mot
n those storm centers q milisant
ru,tNre. the WomeAt ciues. can
help Il. The Illinols Federation OF
Wosnen's club already has an Amer
ican speech committee, ana II Aas
launched Z movement, or perhaps
we should say initiated IA en0eevof'
TO purge our national speech OF the
horrors Of slang. bad granmAr, and
slurred pronunciation.
There are many Who hope that
the ladies will deal mercifully with
slang. 1t il BY slang that our
| Language grows and becomes our
! own. Nv III slang you may surely
| know that It 10 . live language AZ
for grammar, II the ladies can 90
anything to drive it into the acede.
mic-confines where It 10 supposed
to stay. they deserve applause.
Some OF the popular changes IN the
school book grammar are logical
and effective, to be sure. but many
are merely slipshod. And a Ger
tain amount Of agreement in gram
mar is undoubtedly help to human
intercourse.
| As to pronunciation, all 100 pei
cent Americans are back Of the
I club women. Let us BY oil means
learn to open our mouths and
speak out. Let US park our chew.
ing gum before we begin to con-
verse. Let us give our great Ian.
guage the full melody Of its sonor.
Gus cadences.
Comprehensive Train AAReuncers
1 Think Of having . bell hop page
you, a train announcer call trains
an elevated guard ask yop to steI
. lively, all in dulcet and understand
able tones. The morale of tht
whole nation would move up sew
eral degrees, nerves would relax
smiles would appear, courtes!
would, be sweet and lovely.
The better speech movement ha!
already accomplished much in thu
:, one year in which it has had thu
help of the Illinois Women's clubs
The idea is to get the schools
churches and big stores to cooper
ate with the clubs in a well-organ
lied campaign against slangy ant
,slovenly diction. The campaign il
usually introduced by holding
Better Speech Week. During thi
week posters made by the artist
and school children of the tow
appear in prominent places, bear
ing such slogans as Good Englisl
Can Never Die. Don't Try to Muir
der it," Better Speech for Bette
J Americans Poor Speech Mean
Poor Wages" Ministers aid tn
. campaign by making addresses OF
|. the subject. Shop keepers urg
their employees to respect thei
mother tongue And of course tn
!. schools are most active. The chill
dren sign pledges promising t
speak the language beautiful, the.
give allegorical plays showing tn
awful fete of slang singers, the,
: organize do Without Clubs il
which each member agrees to d.
5 without some such pet expression
4 as Say, listen," or Some KID o
Jaw, cut it out" In one tow
5 where the school children were al
: lowed to fine all offenders agains
a grammar their activities nette'
S them $50 in one day.
4 Children Prefer Bad Grammar.
Mrs. Katherine Knowles Robin
;. says that wonders can be done b
r approaching children in the RICH
way. But one must be very care
full not to approach them in tn
wrong way. 1t is strange but tru
. fact that correct speech is locke
upon as sort of a disgrace anon
the young. The boy who eschew