Evening star., 1932-09-01
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Where did you drop from?" he
asked.
1t was rather an sb-urd way of put
ting it, for quite evidently the very
! heavy girl had merely walked to the
| corner on very large feet.
Who wants to know" asked she.
That. too. was absurd, seeing that the
gentleman who wanted to know stood
Immediately in front of her and she
had heard him ask the question.
This is the sort of thing, however
which passes for conversation in
America.
The faculty with which certain types
of people take to this line will ever
men and women. cold fogies," some
might say, or worse. Probably wcrse
or at least different, for "old fogy" is an
old-fashioned term, too)
Simple, honest greetings have gene
out of style. There is nothing smart
evidently. about "Good-morning How
do you do?" is silly.
One must be up to date and show
ones familiarity with catch phrases and
catch words.
One doesn't arrive: cne drops"
One never answers a question. no
matter how pertinent, but must counter
with another question.
Who wants to know?"
The extreme nasal tones of the girl
rang disagreeab.y.
Why couldn't she have been courteous?
Didn't she know any better, or was
she the victim Of modernity?
1t will be noted by the curious that
the airplane and police patterns are
dominant
The first speaker. instead of asking
Where did you come from?" insisted
on putting his own feelings right with
the modern world by showing all ano
sundry that he knew that in jumping
cut of plane one commonly used a
parachute.
The second speaker, subconscious,y
realizing the popularity of the police
pattern, in all its aspects, countered
with an evasion in a mock attempt to
trip up the other and arrive at the pre-
tended truth. We call this the police
pattern. because officers of the law must
be eternally suspicious and attempt to
find out the truth by indirection.
The fear of being serious is one which
besets the entire American scene
Especially does this fear attack young
people. Never for a second, at least in
public, will they approach any problem
or question, conversationally, in a
serious vein.
Certain persons have been delegated
to be serious. 1t is their job. The
remainder Of the populace, evidently
may be permitted to attack problems
With levity.
Banter is the national weapon.
There is this good to be said about it
that 1t keeps up a certain sort of false
good humor where otherwise cn.y a
certain SurlinesS probably would pre-
vail.
Badinage. small talk. kidding-these
are few of the many words and terms
used to describe this very informal
method of conversation.
Just why is it more satisfactory to sc
many persons than the more normal
formal way of carrying on talk?
Despite the fact that every one alive
has been subjected to waves and bill
lows of such froth, during school days
and later, not every one takes to it. OF
appreciates it. or likes it.
There are still thousands who have
not bowed the mental knee to it. and
who never will, although often enough
they realize the necessity for showing
no outward displeasure with such CUFF
1t is difficult to reconcile such chatter
with the ordinarily held opinion that
youth is not serious. anyway. and that
therefore no one should expect youth to
be serious in conversation.
The truth is, one may feel, that young
people are a great deal more serious. at
least by themselves, than many an old
Ster. There is no more seriously minded
young man in the world than the boy
of IL or II years.
He will have real opinions about every
topic under the sun He passes ideas on
politics with the best of them; he has a
real reason or two why one poet Is su-