THE KING'S ENGLISH.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12545, 14 July 1906, Page 7

THE KING'S ENGLISH.

(Review of "Tho King's English" in "Tho Times.") Mrs Nieldeby thanked Heaven that she was no grammarian, and Scstt maide the same confession, wir.hout. t'hn same acknowledgment of gratitude to Providence. The authors of "The Kin.zs English," cm tiho ether hand, are graramariane, and proud of the title. They exposo countless errors in English as it is written under Edward Vil. and I. (tlhis style avoids offence to Caledonian patriots), and they plaoo tho most illustrious offenders ,m the pillory, besLdo tlie inmoconts win wri.to letters to tho newspapers. Monjiw-hilrt cur grammarians opou with a period which lacks elegance and lucidity. 'Tho frequent appearance in' , the book 'of any unthor's or iKm-spaper's nanio docs net niea-n tha.t that author or newspaper otfends more ofton than others against rules of grammar cr stykx; it nieroly shows that t.hey nave boon among tho necessarily limited number of ohosDn to collect instances rrom. ;, A sontenco eud'ing in a preposition is an inelegawt sentence: nor do wo karn much not previously manifest w.hon we are. told that tho *freqcjit a.ppcarar.w of the name of an* aut-ucr or of a newspaper siiows that "they"' "havo been ohoson to collect instar.es fivim." That was obvious already. Wo ask why these- authors amid newspapers are m> prominent, and tho answer seoms to be that ;.hey art- the favoured sub-jiH-ts of t.ho grammarians' s.uciy. "Tlio Tunes'' is t3iwr favoiirit? newspaper; tiieir best loved novo'kts arc Mr Crocket. Miss Corolli, and Mr Ber.s«n, t.ho author of "I>o:!o" and '-The linage in the Sa'iid." In tho classic lTteraturo of the past they prt-for C. Bronte. Iα nnl'tors of style they do not ague wi;h Flaubert. Mr Henry James, an<l Mr Pater. '"Pref.T the fa.miliar word to t.ho fnr-fetcthtxT they say; it. is not they who would speak' of "a windless stricture of frost" with Mr Stevenson, nor, with Mr James, would irliey call tho trees round a man's house hi/"residential umbrage." "Prefer the con>cretn word to the abstract, tlio Saxon word to the Romajiw.' , Thus, prefer ■'spade" (whetier ; Saxon" or not) to "agriculturaJ implement"—tluat is, if you mean a spade. "We want, to wr'te English, not Snsbn," an-d, indeed, not one in a tihousand of us knows Saxriv, while volumes may Im> writteji en the question whether \ word : s cr is not En?flish. '"Tlie siimmor huts of jwst.Tal pooples" is English, but it is shorter to siiy "shielings." Is "shifliTigs" Englisa or is it not? Ts it "familiar" or is it rece α-lito? ' i Ar.*. k Tit v is declared to bo Saxon, but "anirt.iquariaii English.' , Like "ha'ppcßiiiigs ,, '"anoint" is dear to tbo less titan half educated. The authors appear to think that a. writer should kecj> in mind tlu» m-'tt escrueintungly mean capacity; frr example Mr Bejißoa "wikl-

flowers," -which puzxtes persons who think tiiat tihey know what an "a-ne-mcGie' , is. To go "tihicher" is to go in an "trofamiLiar" direction; we must say "go thero.' . On the other ha.r>.d, when an author caL's a man 'the outcome of an tosthotie standpoint," ti'::c phrase is only too familiar, but is no less obscure than the tiicfxm of tJie Chicken was according to Mr Toats. All verbal cliches (if the term may be alhnvcd; are "familiar,'' but all "art , odioiis: however they aro •'under-* stando-'J of (or understood by) the people, which lakes them. If we avoid t:h<?:n wo are lost in "tho unfamiliar." For example, if you say, as the •■Guernsey Advertiser"' doos, that "Mr has K-ou mad;? the recipient rf a nKxla.!."' tho pc-oplo of Cu-ernsvy what you mean. If you say that he "'has received a iiK-<!al" Tl-.oy may un-'W-s'l.'ind. but if-r-l th.at t;h«\v have neon do.fraudod; they miss tho cliche, or they n;av Titrt u;:'lr>rKtaii'l. Tii'-y prefer "unfavo'irablo climatic cotiditiors" to "bad we-.ithor." Tho l-i!'.~or pliraso is to them tho more familiar; tnon- ,- ovor. it s:/imds scientific. Mr Herbert SpnnctT"s long words o.r.'.ioar:;l him to his peculiar j)iiblic; tJioy woro tak:-n as "sigrvs of a mind." The ''nialnprorV' hero given 10-k lik-o lriis]>r:!its. Mr Moriey wTitcs when ho niiiN* , have , iiica.Tit "Lp.-.la- %- tio::,'- and DiC'ki'ns. '•coir.]ilnisa.:-.rc'' when he meant "ofHnp!::<vr.oe,' J and "orphaiv.!;.'(•" \vlii-!i li<> nir-nnt "oqihan-Ihi-'kl." ThiriTi hsivo f~T>:n< ; to ihi* ]>tss. thait if ,i ira.n writrs simply -and <'ircf 1\ lio sr\.«nis tr. ]io h:.!i;s«'lf the airs of a MliX'iior in;?.r>:i. ji::r as Hr;-i;or woul I iiavo f.iTir.ed nrrc. , r.\ , ; I ly sujvr'or to his aiidionc? if ho had n< , .t ua' , "v hito-armorl' or "'cx-"yod. : ' J h.> Pnss has returned to t.ho usarie oi' n\r,o, formivhc. The public like ti'vni. ani' t.hi-y F.paro- tho. authors tr.'mbio. At'hillrs must "swifi-footed'; it would never do to «iJI 'Ivm any 11 * i n;/; • •iso, and peopltx who ni'>ii<ct to ob:this or that must !>f "■oblivions to" it, in popular nnvcls. Yon must write i>.\ tho appalling stylo dear to the pu'ilic, or you must ho un.p~pular. Ca'.ly!<' anil George Kliot thoujrht that "«'iipli' !in>n;s'' and "euphuisms'' an , th<» sa.nio •>hiriigs, a.iul our pooplo l'»vc to liiivo it. s<>; and Mr Gladst-cnr. , thou'iiit tliat "irreparable"'' and "irn'jtlacr-.iiijh , " wore synonyms, ns Mr K. V. thinks thjit '"'prediKi.f ; <>n" is synonymous with '"predirtion," probably a neo|f:iti>.i misprrnt. "A re-cniflrscence- cf AV.i.'liam Lamb, his wife, and Lor.i Byron' , is certainly an ill phrase; these peirons wero not. wounds or epidemics—T3yrrnism. not TJymn, was epidemic. As for neologisms, ffspt.'cially compounds of Greek and Latin into a sLnjrlo bastnifl word, we owe tiheni to popular scienro and ]iiibHc ljniorance. Wo havo "nmnipamous," '"acsthnpiiysicloK}-" (Spencer), '•Panmixia" (Panwnixi'a), ''Asomrogaiiny." with ether examples nva'nly coineid in America and unfit for r>nl>licaition in any but scientific periodicals. As to Americantisms, .«-M>nio of them are , old (t!iat is lfith opntury) but they are not gavl in modern Kn.alish; they n.ro vulga-rised nrcTiniKins. Others are terms like ''antagonist.'' "doti'-ite," "back off." "belf>n,<T wath." "belong there," '"l>o]on<i about," and. so forth. They attract tho popular novelist of tho baser sort, an "iro.n cf liims'lf drawß a m«n: to him.' , French phrnsos beconio stale, and instead of rirux jou, a self-respecting writer will say vieille escrimo, and substitute retombons cur nos cochce for Mie a<::«:! "reiuriii of our sihopp." If to "Orient* , is a what is "a tour of Orientation in. tho West"? It. pounds liko "leg break Tyith off theory." Soono translate their French, as in 'The Spirit of the Sbairoaso" (the lion John Morley, M.P.). "Tho Spirit of the Staircase" is familiar the Soc'e- , v for Psychical Rcs'Mirob. It is iisirl'y, fema:le, and nttired in green; ';Whc-ro are yon gr-ing, Greon Jean, Green J<Mn ?" flsks ! tho poet. Novelists take in seai<^lum magnatum, to bo an, adj-ctivo. \\'e have met "his hom-a fici's aro unini-peiacha-ble." Borrow tiliought that phaoitasmaeoria required a verb in tlio plura.l. Perhaps t]ie most woirr'ly wron<? of all new words is "amoral," for non-n-onil. You cannot we 1 a Or-ek alalia primitive to a, word of origin.; lingu : st : o exogaray forbids tho banns. Of cours?, tho erienMfic poorj-ld bo<ran it with "asoxual" nr?d er> forth. Wlien spicn.ee is ignorant she is ignorant wi(-h « vengp-ano?, o.nd she is nnBppiakr>.;bly ipmorant when she demon's n:id from her detested foe, GrceJc. Then tlio author who would be popular bedaubs hiimsolf with the colours that science htie ipni-orantly mixed. "Coastal" is wrong, of course, but is dear to nin.tlirorpokxry; «nd "racial" is past praying apainst. All th.nt. w-> oin do is to" bow tiho kroo to such As to slaiw. it is ricrt so "perish".b!e'' as our authors thir.k. IMnch of our si-ing is common, in tho Ifttcra of tho lGt'hi century, m.nd the terms drar to tlho nnd tho bargee were no less oilieris'h'-d 'by J-r>hn Knox in lv : s historical a.nd past-rral works. The evil n&D of nn "intliviVlual" fn-r a person i« sn.rrt.ioi'.p-rl by the practice of Srot.t (wlio ca-llrd Joaii of Arc "an. unfortirn-nt-o fomnle'"), of Mifs Cnrolli, of C°-r----lyle, Chnr-otf« Brcnte, Mr A. J. T>-\----fo-ir, and other eminnnt individunls. Miss Brer.to, in fict. "m.nde more mist/ikes t'vnn t.ho wor's of"; "rd tb.fi most unoxprctofl authors use. "iiggrnvate-" -.vhen- tiliey n'crin, "irritnt"." So inuoli for vocabulary and phrnses. Wo cannot fo , low our fliithors into svnt.ix flivl st'O>ck humoiiir. II- re Go v -c 17/'vt suff'Ts; klio "jcvkod wi' <L eficiilty. ,. One of the o-Mcnt V<luir:: rs wOiirlh our autli'-rs quote w : thout observinrr on it is Mr Lowrll's confusion of "f«\tlo?l.- v wit,h "fe-tterlock.' . We aro all niiscrablo sinners.