Evening star., 1933-06-06

ITn0lLlOQS OF long SC8not08 are 1e-
called as Admiral Leigh, commander Of
the United States feet, issues orders
that executive officers on naval vessels
take immediate steps to eradicate pro-
fame language from the vocabularies of
men aboard the ships. Lurid talk.
has been expected from those who fol-
low the sea and their picturesque words
have been recorded in many ways. Emo
tional strain Is predicted among those
who obey these orders, and 1t Is sug-
gested that the sailors may be encour-
aged to produce new words which come
within the rules Of the service.
Swearing Is not to be condoned, Of
course" says the Boise Idaho States
man, but what man Of good red blood
lives who, upon hitting his finger with
q hammer, will think to say, oh, poshi'
just to avoid 10 days in the brig? We
wonder II Admiral Leigh wouldl Imag-
Inc. under this new DEAL a husky, blue
clad COB saying, Dear mel when he
pinches his hand in closing the breech
Of six-inch gun. Imagine another say
ing, 'Fiddlesticks!' when he slips on q
wet deck during a heavy sea and skins
all joints as he smashes up against a
bulwark. Or consider one of the offi-
GERS enforcing the rule when he has to
change the ships course in Oriental
waters to keep from running down q
bunch Of fishing junks manned by stub
born Chinese. Twill be some
thing to try mems souls"
1T Is dtfncult," thinks the Boston
Transcript, "to picture Farragut on an
August morning In Mobile Bay remark
ing from his place In the shrouds, Please
ignore the torpedoes and kindly 60
ahead Still, the old Navy could give
hints to the new. It had its express
sions, forceful but not profane. 'Shiver
my timbersP comes to mind. It would
have the added advantage in the twen-
tieth century Of being entirely rhetorical.
There are no timbers in q steel vessel.
Our modern sailors, living under an
edict against swear words, probably will
not hesitate to live up to q much
quoted injunction. II they perforce
speak softly, they may still, figuratively
speaking, carry big stick for use when
occasion warrants" The Transcript also
suggests that under the rules the sailors
might use the current expressions, "Oh,
yeah!" and You're telling me?" as they
are not profane, but feels that they are
worse than the robust language" which
Is now forbidden.
1.-THE typical salt Of windjammer
days" Is remembered by the Dayton
Daily News as one with an unuuench-
able thirst for hard liquor and vocab-
ulary unequaled in any other profess
Sion," and that paper believes that "in
fiction, at least, only such a colorful
or Debbil Sea-" That paper. how
ever. comedies that "the, sailor has un-
dergone a transformation" and con-
cludeS: ut is a long while since we
read Treasure Island but there re-
mains memory of Long John Silver
and others relieving emotion with epi-
thets more strongly expressive than
profanity could have been. In the
case Of the captain of the Pinafore,
when asked If he swore, his habit of
occasionally indulging q big big D
made his answer 'well-hardly ever
nearer the truth than never The
lingo of the sea itself seems to the
landlubber expressive enough without
in the stress Of trying moments, spite
of the admirars order. Evidence will
be hard to obtain. Even If the willy
ships parrot makes indiscreet revela-
tions, to trace them to the source will
be next to impossible"
y y \ 4
I'VE will have to be shown" declares
the New York Herald Tribune, before
we will believe Sailor Bill can satisfy
his outraged emotions with oh, fudge
or Bother it. or Gracious goodness
me-" That paper suggests: 1T Is
possible that In the near future tattoo
ing may be prescribed and the horn
pipe be one with the cat-o'-nine tails.
The holystone has vanished, and so
must now presumably the emphatic