Evening star., 1925-10-26

"Ux.trah! All-about-the big moi
| derr'
To me-and l am sure to most peo-
ple-that was more fitting than If the
little fellow had beloved out:
Here is the latest edition Of the
| paper, ladies' and gentlemen, fresh
! from the press. In it you will find a
complete and detailed account Of the
| latest domestic tragedy, replete with
human interest, heart thrills and
gore"'
Let the people mispronounce their
| words in peace. say l!
| Utility, picturesqueness, force
these are some Of the qualities we
want in our language, and we usually
succeed in getting them. even at the
risk of being called ungrammatical or
| ignorant.
There are many pedants today sol
emnly pronouncing-and with great
personal satisfaction, too-words that
| once upon a time were only used by
the peasants. / believe that right in
that sentence just ended have split"
something or other by placing the
word "only" between the two verb
forms were" and used"
/ should worry! If 1t interests any
Of the readers of this column, l can
give you an array of similar construc-
tionS from the master writer's of our
language who use precisely the same
split form. / believe no less a master
of English than the late Woodrow
Wilson was among them.
No, our language Is not a little
thing. 1t is decidedly more than a
grammarian's toy. 1t Is true that
child ought to be given the correct
forms. Perhaps he ought to be Wig
orously frowned upon for indulging in
wrong" ones.
But when he grows up, If he has
seriously attended to his studies, he
is in a position to use his mother
tongue, not worship 1t. After all, our
speech and our writing are instru-
ments. not tin gods.
Certainly ordinary. everyday folks
have more trouble with the pronun-
Citations of flower names than almost
any other words.
I do not believe there is one person
out Of 100 who properly pronounces
the following:
Clematis
l have heard scores of flower grow
ers, amateur and professional, speak
of that charming vine. and every one
put the accent on the "a" as in cat"
Webster's Dictionary. however, gives
the accent on the first syllable
thus. "klem-atis
''Peony" is another stumbling block.
One will hear everything from
pea-ony, "piney, "pay-ony" to
''pe-own.y." The latter pronunciation
fS.
their fifties. The third is probably
due to the fact that once q common
spelling was ''paeony," from the Latin
pa aeonia."
Many of the old-timers insist on
calling this wonder shrub 'piney."
and maybe that is as good a way to
pronounce it as any. 1t at least has
the merit of being the affectionate
name of the glorious friend that
frightened the dooryards of many
colorless and bare.
So with "gladiola." Certainly Il is
incorrect, being neither Latin nor
English. Now that the American
Gladiolus Society has Officially"
adopted "gladi-o-lus" as the best form
for both singular and plural, we can
oiiis iiope tnal every oile' everywhere,
will adopt it.
While having the heartiest syrnpa-
thy with all those who believe in the
purity. Of our speech. / do not feel
that we should let few mispronounc-
inss, one way or another, worry US
very much.
Remember, that often what is
called ignorant today will be regarded
as learned tomorrow. So cheer up-it
amt goin' to rain no MOI