The mirror., 1923-11-22

So, too, encountering one instance after
another in which two nouns are hy-
phenated, we begin to be complacent to-
ward it as style for the book-until we
are confronted by "chintz-bag." A bag
made of chintz would be chintz bag;
two words, the noun "bag" and the word
"chintz, as brief-case is case for docu-
ments and the expression "a brief case,"
no hyphen, would convey an entirely diff
ferent meaning.
The present writer's father attempted to
formulate scientific system of compound
ing; and he came nearer to making
complete and wearproof classification than
any one else had ever done, and about as
near as any one ever will. He rejected all
bases and criteria except grammatical. He
stated three principles and seven rules and
then compiled his list of more than forty
thousand compound words.
Naturally, and no doubt Extensively to
no one, the patient toiler's son-and the
making of English Compound Words and
Phrases" was monumental labor-con-
siders the result of the patient toll worthy
of highest honor. Let no reader of these
pages think him, of all men in the world,
ready to say or hear word against that
book-as an achievement in the science of
language! But the father was a specialist,
scientist in language, photographer;
and the son is none of these-albeit an
appreciator of good usage, friend of
grammer (Which has not as many friends
among non-specialists as might be wished),
and fairly earnest seeker after ways and
means of encouraging among multitude
such appreciation, friendliness and seeking.
We can not all be specialists in Ian
guage! Some of us are so busy using it
for other specialties all the time that we
have all too little leisure for study of it,
even as a tool. Our knowledge of the
science is like our knowledge of the stars
in the sky, of the metals and minerals in
the earth, of the creatures that live on the
land or in the water. We can not all be
astronomers, geologists, biologists, but we
need them, they serve us, and even when
they are most scientific and least under
standable to the non-expert in their SCI
ences they are useful to the masses of man
kind. The results of their studies perco-
late through the common mind.
Scientific compounding of words is be-
yond most of us; even those of us who
write for living. We are glad that there
are men who devote professional study to
it; their work, like that of other scientists,
must constantly raise the level of common
knowledge. Perhaps the science of words
and grammer is less capable of exactness
than are the physical sciences; but the
spirit in which its devotees labor is the
same and their existence has the same
justification: the strengthening of mans
mastery of his world.
However discreditable and regrettable
the fact, it is fact that few persons are
Wiling tO give tlIlc u TIC ICdTNluS VI
rules for compounding, and not many
more are willing to take the trouble to 60
to the dictionary or special list to resolve
a momentary doubt. The line of least
resistance is the most travelled; we COM
promise, we trim and bluff and sidestep,
we blunder and muddle through, somehow.
Sometimes we pooh-pooh the language
specialists, call them cranks, refuse to lis
ten to them. Sometimes we "cover up"
by protesting superiority to the rules, pro-
claiming ourselves children of the living
hour, denying the past and the logic of
growth, and aver that we are past the
English language stage and are now
making language of our own, the Amer
ican language. A pitiful pretense; scant
covering for the e'nakedness of our minds!
The work of the scholar would be more
fruitful if there were more receptivity in
the public mind. People who use the