"MUM'S THE WORD."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12365, 2 December 1905, Page 9

"MUM'S THE WORD."

In ite account of -the Chrysanthemum Show hold in Loir 1 in recently, " The Times " cays:—" Tho popularity of flowers can nowadays be gauged not only by the number of shows and societies devoted to them, but by the familiar way in which they are referred to by gardeners. Judged by this standard, the chrysanthemum stands high. This sort of garden slang is becoming common enough to call for a protest from those who «t least endeavour to speak and write English. In tho spring wo hear of '■duff's,' end now the gardener boasts of his fine ' ohrysanths,' but this is harmless compared to actually printing tho heading of c paragraph, in a book devoted to chrysanthemums, ' 'Mums at the Paris Exhibition, , or talking of ' 'mum shows.' Yet this is done! If the lengthy Greek word takes too long to write, or pronounce, surely eorae English equivalent for the ' golden flower' could be found."