The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-05-07
Just Among Ourselves
p...ins Comment Considered or ,nsen.id.r.t.

everybody. And this thing is that legislators,
lawyers and men of high military rank are not
necessarily well acquainted with the English Ian
guage.
Surely, this is sad spectacle for young America
1t must make many youngster think What price
education?" Here we have leaders of the people,
graduates of notable universities experienced pub
lie speakers, stumbling and suffering through sent
ences that will not parse, and mispronouncing words
that every eighth-grsde schoolboy is expected to
know
Here have Harvard graduate, q lawyer ap-
parenty unable to make the shortest statement with
out at least dozen painful hesitances His "uh-uh-
uh-uh performance must suggest to the young hope
full who has been badgered about readiness of utter
ance and about ample and accurate vocabulary that
he need not concern himself after all. n man
scarcely able to talk and apparently unable to find
the commonest words to express his meaning, can
rise 10 high place in public office and high salary
too why bother to take speech courses and TO labor
at the reading which maketh full man?
Here have solemn senator, supposedly an
expert in forensic utterance, aSking-not once, but
at least three times-whether witness adduce
facts to "Substantuate" his statements Here have
another senator, of high brow and petulant profile
speaking of something being 'interduced" evi
dence.
Here we have seasoned counsellor. experienced
by years and years of service in the courts, appar
emily incapable Of framing question in less than
forty words. of making Interrogation without
involving il in a scr es Of subordinate clauses which
foe both question and witness. Here have pur-
portedly learned talking about pursuing rela-
tons when they mean establishing maintaining
relations Here have public figure talking
about someone taking umbrage to- when he
taking umbrage at"
Here We have veteran of the bar and forum de-
carng that parties TO the dispute have cooperated
with him "one thousand percent" That means If it
means anything, that when the field OF cooperation
is divided into one hundred parts or elements the
parties mentioned have been cooperative in one
thousand of them For literally "one thousand per
cent means "one thousand per hundred" And what
sort of is this for public display? 1t is
bad instruction Tor youth.
Here we have points of order" raised but sell
dom defined The youth whose High School English
courses include some instruction in parliamentary
procedure must be wholly at a loss about these
points of order. Naturally. he will not think that
eminent public al fault he will necessar-
lily suppose that his teacher is theoretical
fuddy-duddy for insisting upon drectness, clarity,
and order IN debate.
A point of order is badly named at least as
such point is exempfied in the Washington
hearings For point is supposed to have neither
length thickness. And the points speak of
= have both. One thing however, they do appear TO
lack; that is, depth.
And must il not be dsconcerting to say the
very least that man insistent upon point OF or
der, remote facsimile, is, when he gains the recog-
milton of the chair unable to state it but invariably
begins with ''uh?" This "uh-uh-uh' disease appears
to be almost universal at least in the world of uni
versity men III schools cannot cure ii (and educators
themselves are notable "uh' victims) maybe Emily
Post could do something about it. Maybe people
could be shown that il is impolite to begin speaking
to another by first bawling at him like cow.
The piddng nature of much of the questioning
added to The muddied and hardly y-tobeparsed sent
in which is expressed scarcely TO be aoned
for by strict logic OF procedure And there such
logic OF procedure witness is sworn, told that he
will be questioned on one point only: then almost
at he is questioned about something else. Nor
are the occasional attempts at heavy humor by
learned counsel likely to lend either dignity
significance to the proceedings
What are our schoolchildren to think of solemn
men repeating themselves in a SERIES and consum-
ing two to three minutes each in a needless decar
alton that they are determined to hurry the inveS-
tigation along. and not waste time? What they
TO think of notable public figures clashing away in
verbal free-for-all as though they had heard
Of Roberts Rules OF Order?
What are they to think Of senator with the
melodous and sympathetic voice of dear old
grandma explaining how kind and benevolent he
feels towards one and all and then assailing the
witness with the most pietcingly personal and Wild
ly irrelevant questions What are they to think of
solemn counsel asking witness the same question
over and over and again and then owlishly
inquring whether that witness who has consistently
given the answer is willing to stand by the
evidence he presents it?
What are our young people TO think OF investiga-
tors who will gravely administer oath, and then
BADGER the witness though he himself had
notion of the meaning of oath? In word
what our youth TO think of the whole proceed
ing They may surely be excused for thinking il a
dsordery mess incompetently handled, fooshly
prolonged, idly nconsequental, senselessy diverted
into meaningless sde-ssues and above all. conduct
ed throughout IN species of ostensihle English
Gnterspersed with endless 'uhs9 that DIP of SIX
months standing in America would be ashamed tc
employ?
Well as Harry Balogh would say May the bet
ter contestant emerge triumphantr