Evening star., 1943-11-01

{
Being something OF a slow witted
fellow, I can't drop things as fast
as my brighter friends. MY brain
is just like A sheet of f1ypaper.
Once a piece of information gets
caught there, it buZzes around con-
.tinuouSly until either It gets away
or collapSes on its face with It's
pathetic little rear up in the air,
at which time it is reverertly re-
moved and room made for another
fact.
Well, that's the way it was with
Basic English. I learned 1t con-
sisted of only $50 Words-or was 1t
850?-(the radio choked slightly at
that point)-and it seemed to me
that Mr.. Churchill's suggestion
made sense-that Basic English
could very we'll be the universal
language which many people believe
would make for world peace.
I have my own private doubts
on this subject because when you
don't understand what people are
saying, you can't argue with them
but as soon as you understand them,
YOU begin to contradict, quarrel,
and the first thing you know the
nelghbors are calling the police.
Point Pretty Devastating.
Anyway, it was only few DAYS
later-Basic English was still buzz
ing around in my brain, bit feebly
by this time, to be sure-When along
comes Chinese gentleman who
differed with Mr. Churchill You
see what I mean? If the Chinese
didn't understand English he
wouldn't have understood what Mr..
Churchill was saying and there
wouldn't have been any argument.
But his point was pretty devastat-
ing.
/ Why start with Basic Englishl
he said in effect. More people speak
Chinese than English, so why not
make Basic Chinese the globaI lang
uage? I asked my friend Jimmy
Yen, who started the Mass Edu-
cation Movement in China, what
he thought about that, for Jimmy
had worked out a Basic Chinese
years ago and taught millions Of
Chinese how to read and write it.
Jimmy bowed. within the four
seas all men are brothers, he re-
piled with Confuclan calm. Which
: seemed to take care Of that.
And there it stands. The ire
sistible Mr.. Churchill versus the i'm
movable Confucius. Can the Chi
nese, in their immemorial way,
eventually assimilate Winston, stale
cigar and all? After centuries of
success with Mongols, Manchus and
missionaries, it would be the su-
preme test
His Idea Is Born.
Fortunately. one basic language
for all the world needn't wait for
this finish fight between Mr..
Churchill and Confucius. have
attended to the matter myself, as
my personal contribution to post
war planning. Like many great dis
coveries, this, too, was happy
accident-an inspired merger of
English and Chinese thought fused
in the white heat OF Oriental pas
sion.
And here it is, just as it was born
that day. in the main waiting room
Of the Grand Central Station.
A Chinese was trying to catch
his train and at the same time an
attendant was vainly trying to find
his baggage. The Chinese was
jumping up and down in a parox-
ysm Of anxiety and rage. Finally,
as the gates were closing, he ham,
mered on the counter with his fists
and shouted: Pretty damn seldom
where my bag go. She no fly. You
no more fit run station than Gods
sake. That's all I hope
There you have it. folksI Crisp,
musical, eloquent-the new tongue
for the new world-Basic Shinglishl
Distributed by McNaught Syndicate, Incl