The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-04-17
By JOHN sTAHLBERG

Last week was a week of crisis In
Missoula. EARLY on Monday the edi-
tor Of the Missoulian-Sentinel got to
thinking about other peoples ungen-
teel ways of expressing themselves.
Suddenly he realized that OF all the
once starry-eyed and dewy-souled
members of the human race, only he
remains virtuously elegant. The awe
some knowledge shook his noble
frame from stem to stern. Waves OF
pure and holy shudders swept through
him at frequencies ranging up to 1000
kilocycles per second. People say 1t
was a pitiful thing to see. For days
he trembled so violently that he was
unable to sign a letter maneuvering
for the removal from Missoula Of a
bright young employee who might
some day be rival.
What most upset his valuable equa-
nimity was apparently memory OF
his childhood, a period when even he
was not the Petronius Arbiter he has
since become. 1t seems that the
charming little fellow was in the habit
of calling names when he found him
self ION the short end of an argument
with another child" Dear, dear! He
intimates, however, that he outgrew
the habit He doesn't say when he
outgrew it, but 1t was probably last
week. Anyway he announces his
maturity, and says he now thinks
roy,,o no 1loro ONO odo1ocoopt q q wall O q
inelegant. From now on, when he
finds himself on the short end of an
argument, he will stick to a method
more in keeping with his heroic
grown-up status: anonymous behind
the-door sneering. Besides being ma
ture, it's safer.
Funny about these dignified fellows
who are so quick to discern adde's
cence" in others! All their lives
they have a curious need to go about |
pointing out the nascent down of
virility upon their souls, crying eager
ly, like boy ostentatiously preparing |
to shave for the first time: "Seei |
got whiskers! Real ones! You amt
got none, l betcha!" If one didn't |
have their own persuasive assurances
to the contrary, one might be led to
suspect that they are victims Of arrest
at puberty themselves.
Funny, too, the Nightmares they
suffer at the use of name. If there
is anything rational in that phobia, it
eludes research Did you ever see a
or mechanic who cringed
before his tools? Who nibbled at a
timber or a steel bar with strip of
sandpaper because he feared the
harsh sound of saw? Well, words
are tools. Our language like every
language developed and used by men
Of free and realistic mind, wisely pro-
vides rugged words for rugged uses
To declare arbitrarily that some of
the indispensable parts of speech are
more reprehensible than others, Is to
subject literate human communication
to set of witch-doctors taboos.
Language was made for mans use,
not for his superstitious worship. It's
purpose is the clear expression of CO.
lerent meanings = unless, of course,
he user is an inmate Of the house of /
II fame known as the daily press, or |
l Main Street arbiter of elegance who !
'eels that everything which is not
inane, and murderously {
lull must be crude. {
If any reader of this gentle but I'M {
,quivocal column should wander so {
ar from the path of rectitude as to {
all anyone name, let him be as {
ured that he will by no means be c
n bad company. Most of the great
masters of language knew the value
# name aptly applied. Shakespeare q
bought up some honeys. Jesus of |
Nazareth was an expert. If anyone c