The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1953-10-02
Just Among Ourselves

Nicholas Murray Butler once wrote First among
evidences OF an education / name correctness and
precision IN the use of the mother tongue" Few
will quarrel with this opinion. A man is hardly TO
be called educated if he have not an adequate mas.
terry of his native language That language is nstrlI-
ment and medium; he il constantly in acquir-
ing learning. A man who cannot handle his own
language fuently and understandingly faces diff
cutes lnsuperable when he adventures into what is
called the higher learning.
Or into learning that is not very high How,
for example viii youth learn the Latin language
II he IS not acquainted with the Stru -ture of his
own tongue? lad who does not recognize the
parts OF speech in English if that be his mother
tongue, will not be able 10 make the comparisons
or note the similarities and differences which he
must make and note TO learn Latin. If he does not
know what noun is, and how to run it through
its various cases in English how shall he take benefit
from instruction in the decension Of Latin nouns?
An educated man must know his own language
Yet how often do we hear persons who are accepted
as educated men,-senatols statesmen even profeS-
sorss-mangle their native language numerically in
public utteranees Only last week. during TV dis
cusson OF matters social ard political senator
said IT is essential for we Americans :" A third,
grade pupil would be penaneed for such bunder
He would be told, again and again. that 1--WE Amer
leans" Is correct nominative but that the prepo.
S1tlon Tor throws il into the objective case and
tDe expression Bt on Tor Americans
Not only schoolboys but most potent grave and
reverend sgnors, show too frequently an inability
to shitt gears and to move gracefully and correctly
from the nominative into the objective case How
often have you heard people OF college training or
even holders OF university degrees, say between
you and H.? These simple minded folk appear to
think that there is but one form and that il must
ayays be used. II you show them that YOU and
me" is incorrect a nominatye they will consider
II incorrect even when proposition, such be
tween controls 1t objective.
And how often do YOU hear the presumably
educated lad who interviews the great and the near
great saying some such thing this: Now as
mayor OF your city, sir, ! am sure you have had
many problems to solve - The interviewer. de-
spite the diploma which assures all and several
of his competence does not realize that his remark
has made himself the mayor OF the city in question
Such awkward or dangling phrases pockmark
the speech of public men; yes the speech that
has been prepared and is read from manuscript
Certainly this is not the maniiestng of correct.
ness and precision in the OF the mother tongue"
Certainly, then, this is not evidence of education
IN the speaker Shall we conclude that our VIPs
whose bunders in language are so frequent and
constant, are not educated men? There seems
no way out OF such conclusion. if we agree with
Nicholas Murray Butler AT least we must conclude
that the offending speakers show no evidence of
their education, since they fail to manifest the
very first of such evidences.
The constant use of the inane "er's abs uh'sp
and other meaningless sounds which speakers use
as connectves, is surely another instance of lack
OF correctness and precision in speech. And so is
the unconscionable sreSsing of tos OFFS and forS in
sentences that involve contrast OF propositions.
HE said that while ne was IN Washington !"
we are pleased TO present this trophy 10 the Midget
Leaguers :" And Milton Goof will speak for
the Hatehetmakers Association"
II precision and correctness in the use Of the
mother tongue the first of the evidences of an ed
ucation, il follows that must be educated if
he is to speak with precision and correctness In a
word. precise and correct speech is not the Gift
of nature. II Is the product of art And art is long
To speak with correctness and precision, a person
must labor, and labor for long and earnest years.
Those men OF position whose speech is not what
should be, have evidently not given 10 the matter
Of learning to speak properly the effort il demands.
And, by this fact, they are not educated matter
how long they have been sehooIed.
For education itself is a matter of great and sus-
tanned effort II cannot be measured in credits and
units, and degrees; these are but the crude and
inadequate inventions OF schools which have TO
emplov some sort of standard for statistics. Nor is
education measured (aS might reasonably sup
pose il could bel bv the number and touehness of
hard school olbenches Education Is measured by eli
fort and requirement; and the first ineligible read
inc of that inner measuring rod is available in
what The educated man says and how he says it.
Abraham Lincoln did not have the advantage
Of college education. He had not the services OF
university examiner" he was not directed 10
English-4 or TO Poetry.7. Yet he could sit down at
his desk and write letter which British univer-
sity exhibits in a frame upon its walls model of
correct precise and graceful English. The same
Lincoln could compose on scraps OF paper or the
backs OF envelopes he carried with him on train
journey from Washington TO Gettysburg. an ad.
dress thai the world recognizes as masterpiece
of precision and correctness IN the of the
mother tongue
Evidently Abraham Lincoln was an educated
man; just as evidently many modern Ph.D. is
uneducated This i a thing to think about as you
listen to your statesmen, neWscasters, and proles
sors filling in between bouts of pugsts and with
ings Of wrestlcrs.