Evening star., 1925-10-16

Action Of the American Gladiolus
society recently in adopting an "offl-
car pronunciation for the name of
tnls beautiful flower came as a god
send to its thousands of admirers.
The writer Of this solumn Is happy
10 state that the pronunciation adopt
ed was that advanced in these col.
umns last Spring. "gladi-o.lus," the
accent on the third syllable, long "o,"
In American fashion.
The writer, last May, wrote: There
are two ways Of pronouncing the
name. II you prefer the Latin, you
say 'glad-eye- -olus.' with the accent
decidedly on the second syllable. If,
on the other hand, you are addicted
TO good old English, as I am, you say
sladi-o-lus,' with the accent on the o.
The matter resolves itself down to
the old one of which way one prefers
to regard Latin words in our Ian.
guage, whether 1t be better to treat
them as Latin still, and so give them
the Latin accents. or hold them to be
so much part of our language that
they shall be given the normal Eng
lish accents and vowel sounds"
Who. in the past. has not had the
Following experience: You started to
tell a friend about your latest glad"
purchase. 1T is wonderful gladi-
o'lus, you said. enthusiastically. II
would like to see your new glad-eye.
olus. replied the kind friend, with
freezing emphasis.
Official adoption of "gladi.o -lus" will
end this form of mental snobbery. and
give wonderful flower q real red
white-and- blue" name. 1t Is to be
hoped that glad" fans throughout
the United States will lay aside their
Latin proclivities and unite in the
common.sense, normal English pro-
nunciation.
The society also cut the Gordian
knot by fixing the same spelling and
pronunciation, ''gladiolus," for the
plural. Thus one says. II have one
gladi-olus," and 81 have two gladi-
o.lus."
Making the singular and plural
forms alike Is happy stroke, and one
that the average person will take to
| readily, after the strangeness Of 1t
wears off. 1t is the same as saying
II have one fish" and II have two
fish,
This matter OF pronunciation is a
greater one than it may seem. 1 am
convinced that hundreds of flower low
ers have been scared away from the
| cultivation of gladiolus on account of
! the confusion as to pronunciation.
In other words. one has to feel lat
home" with anything to enjoy 1t. The
inability of the average person TO
rightly call the name Of the flower
undoubtedly made many regard it as
something of an exotic bloom. These
small confusions often have far-reach-
ing effects.
1t is to be hoped that universal
adoption Of the standards set by the
American Gladiolus Society will lead
to more widespread paintings Of gladi-
! olus. for no flower now available to
the average home gardener pays larG-
er dividends of pleasure and beauty.
/ have no hesitancy in saying. at the
end of my first season with this glo-
rious flower, that it has completely
usurped the place in my affection the
rose, queen of flowers. once held.
The gladiolus possesses so many
! points of interest that to me it com
pletely outclasses the rose, wonderful
flower that 1t is. The cultivation of
the glad" is easier and surer, and the
resulting blooms more beautiful, in
many ways.
Perhaps I should not say more beau
tiful, but simply declare that the gladi-
olus is more beautiful to me. That is
a statement with which either gladi-
olus or rose lovers can agree.
To label one flower more beauti-
full than another is much the same as
calling one melody "more beautiful
than another. Let us all call both
beautiful and let it go at that. for