Detroit evening times., 1946-01-21
FAIR
ENOUGH
BY Westbrookl
Pegler

~ journalists, including
among the latter me, have
made loose and inaccurate use
of the term "double-talk" that
the following exception de-
serves notice in the record:
There Is not one person In
our national government who
has the gift OF this rare
tongue and this sweeping eX-
clusiOn does not except even
Felix Frankfurter Of the
Supreme Court, whose writ
ing. vague and soapy though
II Is to be sure, In crude and
lumpish by comparison with
that ingen ious and mar
velously n imble language
which often, and always be-
yond his just deserving, has
been attributed 10 him.
Nor MOlotov nor Mrs. X. nor
Henry Wallace either, II ID
comes To that, can speak true
dOuble-talk nor even a dis
tant resemblance thereto and
the same would say OF
Thomas r. Dewey and any
deep South, New Deal Jim
Crow liberal whom you might
care to nominate.
nOUBLE talk is language far
~ more subtle than the maud
lin foaming of the camp meet
ing hySterfc- who falls out into
the bushes blathering gibberish
and blowing his tongue like a
bull camel under certain provo
cation and for about the same
reason. 4
1t is meaningless words mean.'
ing SpratuS of the traits
which / would be glad 10 in
terpret If l could. and Lewis
Carroll. were he about today,
would be quick 10 admit, / am
sure, that his jabber-wocky was
fundamental and logical Eng
lish after a half-hour of listen
ing 10 double-talk.
Now double-talk is not pig
Latin. that juvenile prattle
which essays 10 disguise the
meaning of the verb to scram'
by the form "amScray" nor is
il that stupid abomination i'm
ported from the Australian
docks about 30 years ago which
called suit fiddle-and-fute
and a girl a twlSt-and-twirl.
THERE is not man or
woman living who can write
true double-talk beyond a few
blurtS of Is or 20 words set in
A conventional American con-
text.
/ know. for 7 chad occasion
a few years ago 10 seek au-
thorIties with a view TO taking
lessons.
Once I thought I had found
a professor but, after an hour
at his studio, | learned that he
was only a comedian with a
repertoire of dialects, including
something which he said was
Hungarian and very amusing,
AT that, but only sounds, after
all, like those which American
children sometimes alb ber,
mocking foreigners.
Double-talk came into very
vague being about Is years
ago in Hollywood and New
York and was heard only in
few OF the more expensive
saloons.
The only one ! ever met who
could carry on IN double-talkl
was either Songwriter orr
Scenarist, on 10 New York for
the opening OF a picture, and
exploiting a chance 10 confuse
and confound a pompous pundlt
by addressing him earnestly
with questions which had the
sound of intelligence but didn't
parse and weren't even COM
posed of recognizable words.
The pundit would agitate his
cauliflowered brow and begin TO
offer a reply, only TO be inter-
rupted with something like
but, doctor, if the sprattis
OF the traits
TELL you, IL hasn't been
Il done and il can't be done on
paper and the only two who
have given us even clue 10
the text of doublc-talk are Dan
Parker, the sports columnist of
the New York Mirror. who
sometimes represented, perhaps
facetiously. that he was quoting
Gen. Phelan. the chairman Of
the box ng commission. in
double-talk. and John OHara,
the novelist, who has an ear
for the fncoherencieS of drunks
and boreS and wits. and cap
tured a few passages of double
talk in short essays for little
magazines.
But neither Parker nor
OHara has ever gone further
and. yes. we have not a single
writing in all the literature Of
our time done wholly in double
talk.
The song writer or scenarist
OF whom ! speak | would gladly
name by name could | remem-
Nber who he was.
But he was just a fellow al
a table merrily and bloodlessly
peellng of hide with a quick
ness of mind and tongue that 4