ESPERANTO.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20919, 28 July 1933, Page 17

ESPERANTO.

TO THE EDITOR OT THE J?MSS. I Sir, —I am distressed- Mr Bell's lat- j est letter has made the proposed Es-peranto-Hirsuto combination go phut, j Look again at his second paragraph in which he gives a learned exegisis of his own phrase "Bonega propono Kaj," which I thought in my innocence was of the same derivation as the Aberdeenshire Gaelic to which I referred. Now I learn it is—what? Kaj is Greek for "and"—but common garden folk Jlike me know as little about Greek as about Sanscrit —or Esperanto; and confidentially we do not intend to know while there are other less fearsome exercises remaining to us. "Propono," we are told, is Latin; "bonega" is partly French and partly something else that is no language at all. The sample is enough, more than enough, for me. I could not dream of allaying my superb invention Hirsuto to such cacophonies as these. Fancy me opening an interview with a prospective * customer with such a phrase. He would probably faint or I would probably be maltreated. It would damn the chances of Hirsuto and that, for the salvation of the world, must not be. The disappointment has had one good result. My brains have ceased creaking. To show that I part with Mr Bell on the most cordial terms I make him an offer. For his sake I shall be willing to treat 100 baldheaded Esperantists with my Hirsuto free of all cost—on condition they do not jabber Esperanto while they are being treated- But are there 100 Esperantists, bald-headed or otherwise, in the city? Perhaps that is a nasty question, but I mean no offence. I am only an anxious enquirer. Perhaps, too, in some other place, I shall speak Esperanto, but I hope not, for when I have tried to pronounce Mr Bell's specimens they sounded like bagpipes in hysterics, and that would be unseemly discord in the Elysian fields. To show that I can use strange tongues, too, I give my good wishes thus —"Siubhal reid dhuit." Why bother with Esperanto when we have still Gaelic, the language of Eden? Has Mr Bell forgotten the immortal lines:— When Eve, all fresh from beauty's charms, First met fond Adam's view, The first words he spoke to her Were "Cia mar tha sibh n'diugh?" And music first on earth was heard In rolling accents deep When Tubal in his oxter sneezed, The blether of a sheep. With which friendly words I bid my one-time potential partner farewelL But I would wager Hirsuto will realise my dreams several centuries before Esperanto will realise Mr Bell's. — Your,, etc., H Amu July 27, 1933.