Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-29
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

opinion was that we used Il" too much
IF we ID had been Lindbergh, or r.
G, Wells, or Mussolini, he might not
have minded it,
Since we % had begun to feel some
thing of the same way about it, we (I>
decided to suddenly change TO the old
style editorial I'VE" as it is called
After several years use we Cd can say
that it has its good points, While
slightly pedantic, it is unobtrusive.
unless, indeed, it happens to strike an
individual reader in the wrong way.
The pronoun II" carries with it con-
rotations of conceit which are equally
Objectionable to others. The writer
here would be very glad to hear from
readers upon this subject, as it Is 81
problem faced by all coumnistS. Some
of the most famous of the New York
daily essayists have alternated between
the two
As for the use of Henry Gearshift"
for mans name, We rather like it,.
Certainly Gearshift Is a manly sort of
name If there ever was one. What
could be more masculine than an
automobile?
Even the effort of advertising writer's
to make o car feminine with special
emphasis upon the body" feature.
which usage is obnoxious) has left the
automobile an intensely masculine
proposition.
One look inside the hood, and YOU
see what an automobile is.
Objections to names, however, are
as many as there are persons. This
applies not only to first names. but also
to last names, OF which there seem to
be millions One is always hearing a
new name
We ID got quite kick" in the news
recently through discovering the name
of Judge Hickenlooper. Repeating it
aloud, We ID fell in love with the
musical accents thereof. and went
around repeating it for days We u
managed to use it with deadly effect
against certain persons who had ex-
pressed derision of the name Dooden-
tiocker which we C) had used here
The. latter they said was an absurd
name. Truth. however, often is Stran-
ger than fiction.
X * X
There is an insistent demand for GER
tain new words to bridge over actual
difficulties in the everyday handling Of
the English language. One of these
Is SUBSTITUTE Tor the clumsy mis- and
her" "Hiser" has been suggested, but
1t is not very good Writers tacitly
have agreed to use them and their"
after preliminary This" and her"
In this connection one might be so
bold as to suggest the coming of wei"
to overcome the curious looking juxta-
position which has been used to this
point here today, We IL.
The difficulty of the verb form
might be overcome By using either the
singular or plural Only once has this
difficulty been encountered here, I'VE
IL were twas) led" etc.
Such coinages, however. are always
oddities. and have never found a vel
come. The peculiarities OF our Ian
guage form a part of its charm A
foreigner, they say. never knows how
to pronounce a word, OF course not
That is one of the joys of being Eng
disappearing.
After all Is said and done, the writer
has three choices, to use II" to use
we" or so to write as to avoid per-
Sonality II he believes in the personal
touch. he has but two choices-and
perhaps Christopher Morley had the
right idea, after all--he used II" some
times and I'VE" at others, but always
the same in any one essay, Of course.