Evening star., 1925-10-31
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

hibitions and corrections carried on
almost ad inf1nitum. dulling the dull
minds still more and boring the bright
est pupils, owing to the difficulty in
learning and using English. especial
ly its spelling, pronunciation and fr-
regular forms.
The movement for spelling reform,
the writer continues, failed because
"a language cannot be reformed a
little bit at time. The process is
too irritating. The plan of the Brit
ish Simplifed Spelling Society to go
from the present form of the Ian
guage to an entirely new one IS the
right plan
wish the writer OF the above
quoted article had gone more into
detail as to just what is proposed
to be done. Certainly our language
could stand some notifications. but
1 feel they must come about by nat
ural growth and decay rather than
by operations upon the living body
of the English language.
Truly we are prejudiced in favor
of English AS we know It. We are
prejudiced in favor OF forms en-
dowed by centuries with color. mean
ing, beauty If this be prejudice. then
we are prejudiced, and proud Of it.
Perhaps a greater change In forms,
etc. took place from the twelfth cen
tury on than any that would be con
templated by the reformers, but those
changes were the result of slow op-
GRAFTON of cause and effect. They
were not put on with II putty knife.
or cut away They were growths,
lusty amplitudes, or else natural with
erings away.
It seems to me that our 400 900.
word vocabulary, and our incom-
parable literature, are perhaps the
two greatest reasons why We should
proceed with the greatest care in
"remaking" our language.
Only recently. in this column, |
wrote: I've need these little slips
of tongue and pen in order that we
shall never forget that our glorious
mother tongue is a growth. and not
an achievement: a going forward and
not a standing still, an outgoing tide,
not an incoming.
I'VE ought to mispronounce words
at times and to slip up in our gram
mar in order to realize more and
more that the English language is
essentially human. not scientific; Iowa
BILE. not efficient (as the so-called
efficiency expert knows the mea n
ing Of the word. although IL is ire
mendously efficient in the better mean-
ings of the world"
English was not made in the lab
oratory. and ! am not sure that it
can be ''remade" there. 1t was made
in the open air. in many Il rude hall
of the BritonS, the Danes, the Celts.
Teutonic races had a hand in it,
and the Romans, and the Greeks. 1t
was hammered out OF theWs and
sinews. from brains and beauty, over
d stretch of centuries.
1t grew UP from darkness and
shadows. TO be strange, interest
compelling flower, with manifold
petals whose rarity enchants the
hearts of men today.
The Pole who took the name Of
Joseph Conrad learned TO look under
meath those petals, to get at the very
heart of words. to spread them with
loving care on the pages of his great
novels.
Shakespeare. with his purple
page"-what would he think of a
"remade" English?
Milton, Tennyson. Wordsworth.
Addison, Coleridge. Dickens. Thack-
cray. Johnson, Pope-What would
they think?
English las Is" presents no "incu-
bus in education and life. It's diff
ficulties are something to love and
WreStle with. its beauty something 10
love and treasure.
Let us not be too hasty with this
old thing, our incompatible English
language. With all its faults, we
love il still.