Evening star., 1929-01-02
The
Cosnopolite
English Replacing French
Words in Paris Commerce.
BY ROSE PATTERSON.

English phrases has gone far in com
| naerce in Paris Even in tbs smallest
shops "tailor" is replacing the French
! 'tailleur" "hairdresser" has superseded
"coifeur" in fashionable quarters, grill
room" is favored rather than "restau-
rant" and American bar" has COM
pletely ousted cafe"
In Sacha Guitry's new play, Lind
bergh," English and French are spoken
indiscriminately, American and English
actors often Speaking French while
Frenchmen struggle with their English!
Lindbergh, asked "Do you speak
French?" replies "Non, pas un mot"
With these American and English In
f1uences it is perhaps As well that the
French Academy is coming along with
its new dictionary. No one can say
when the immortal forty will have
finished their task, but such potent
factors as Lindbergh's historic per
formance and now King Georges ILL.,
ness ought certainly to have hustled
them up in their solemn SittingS.
Meanwhile, Abel Hermant most pro-
life OF writer's and most precise OF
French grammarians, has persuaded the
Academy to publish grammar, also,
to simplify the rules and bring out the
purity of the French language"
Both dictionary and grammar are
about two centuries overdue, articles
"a and 26 of the institutions statutes
laying down that "the principal ftlnc-
tion Of the French Academy Is to
produce dictionary, a grammar. a
handbook of rhetoric and another of
poetry"
It was Fenelon who proposed the
making of the grammer, over two
hundred years ago. Shade of Fenelon! |!
Into what category win they put things
like American bar?"
The French are not the only people
to toy with the delights and dangers
of the foreign vernacular. What per1ls
may lurk therein may be seen from
what follows.
To give a distinctive air to the vari-
Gus styles in shoes that 1t buys from
England, a Berlin firm gives them
names such as "Cityman" and West
end" One wonders what significance
the firm attaches to an expression
which is well understood In England,
the new styles is to be called THE
Speakeasy!"
Nothing has been said about new
German dictionary and grammar, but
"a little better knowledge Of American
phrases seem to be indicated.
Or is there some hidden Subtlety in
the speakeasye shoe?
A writer in Venetian paper has dis
covered that it was the Princess Teo-
dora, daughter of Alessio, Byzantine
Emperor, and wife Of the Doge Domen-
leo Selvo, who introduced the fork into
Venice in the eleventh century. The
princess never touched food with her
Yafc
conveyed it to her mouth with golden
fork.
The Venetians looked upon this extra
refinement as Scandalous, and when
poor fedora died of gangrene they
considered it Heavens judgment on her
for her luxurious tastes. Nevertheless,
the custom persisted, and several centu-
ries later the fork was in common use
by the Venetians as regular and nee
essary article.
Dogs must not bark In Vienna. A
police commissioner had decided that
the owner Of barking dog is punish
able. The thousands Of dog owners in
the city have both spoken and printed
their sarcasm at the expense of the po-
lice hereupon and the Society for Pro-
lection Of Animals Is considerably ex-
cited.
The decision of the police, they say,
gives a handle to enemies of dogs to
persecute and malign them, while any
unscrupulous neighbor can annoy an
adjoining dog owner and make himself
obnoxious.
'It is impossible to forbid dog to
bark" complains the society. "for It is
the only speech he has and his only
means Of warning his master"
d khAA
bowling of motor horns at night is far
more trying to the nerves than any
noise dog can make and many mo-
torists seem to find joy in annoying
sleepers by prolonged hooting and
screeching.
A curious conflict has arisen between
the Swedish crown and the city of
Stockholm because the state wants the
city to pay rent for two large parks In
the heart of Stockholm, the Kings
Garden" and the Hop Garden"
Considerable tension existed until re-
Gently, when an antiquarian unearthed
from the city archives letter written
by the crown in 1896, making grant of
the parks, together with other privi-
leges, to the city as a reward for all the
faithfulness, courage and patience
shown by the Stockholm citizens toward
the crown in times of danger, rebellion
and war.
No parks could be more beautifully
kept than those in the Swede capital
A quaint feature Is the woman sweepers,
who keep the lawns and pathways free
from fallen leaves and the like, and an
odd discovery for the visitor is the fact
gardens or statues. The smart and
martial-looking policeman soon bids
him put his camera away.
For the first time in history, famous
Mel Shan Park in Peking, China, has
been thrown open to the public. OF Pc
culiar historical importance is this park
to the Chinese. In the pagoda on top
of the hill, in its center. the last en-
peror of the King dynasty hanged him.
self while the Manchus were storming
the southern gates of the Tartar wall
Ever after that imperial suicide three
centuries ago the Manchus ruled China
until their overthrow In 1911.
The Mel Shan hill, highest point in
the fiat city of Peking, is artificial
Many centuries ago @ King emperor
| thought well to enrich his capital with
those two essentials for beauty in a
Chinese landscape-a hill and water.
| Employing thousands of coolies, he had
o great winding lake dug, and the earth
removed to make the lake was piled up
| to make Mel Shan hill
Coal HILL" it is called by foreigners
In China, and many Chinese themselves
now use that name. Shan" in Chi
nese, means hill or mountain, but the
character for 1t Is similar to the char
acter pronounced Mel" which means
| coal.
| Copyright, 1929, by North American News
| paper Alliance)
| Tn~sac~ n.~>~oI n.nn L