OUR CHANGING LANGUAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 158, 5 July 1921, Page 6

OUR CHANGING LANGUAGE.

WHEN SLANG BECOMES GOOD 1 t ENGLISH. When is "slang" good English? So much interest has been created by recent cases in the courts where men ana women have used language which to some appeared "shocking," to others vigorous and to learned judges as "unintelligible,'' that a "Daily Chronicle" representative got the opinion of Mr. D. Jones (Director of Phonetics at London University College) upon the subject. As he was one of the committee appointed to consider what was good and bad English, his point of view is interesting. "You cannot draw a line clearly as to what is a good English word and what is slang," he said. "A slang word does not simply mean that it is not in the dictionary. I take It that 'slang 5 largely means, or stands tor, those words which are newly invented. One used to be told that you could not find the word 'can't' in the dictionary. You 'can't' (meanin" unable to) is colloquial and in general use as an English word."

i "The word 'umpteen,' meaning 'many times,' is newly invented. 'Topping' is another such word. There is no reason why these words should not become literary, as it is called. One man invents a word. There is a snowball process, and after a time the word gets into the newspapers. Afterwards it is used possibly in inverted commas by well-known literary men, and ultimately it becomes a good recognised English word. "A distinction must be made in the case of borrowed words such as 'camouflage,' from- the French, 'movies' from the American, but it is possible the word 'stunt' could now be regarded as a sound English word.

The English language is always changing by addition and subtraction." Chaucer, walking down the Strand to-day, from the English he heard spoken, would think he was in a foreign country; and if we could step back into old English times, our language of that day would be incomprehensible to the modem man."