This And That

Press, Volume C, Issue 29466, 18 March 1961, Page 3

This And That

[A Fourth Leader In "The Times"} February 27. ‘‘This is self-evident, this must be,” said the subject of an interview on the wireless in reply to a question. His answer was neither poignant nor provocative, but it is fair evidence of the popularity which this indispensable but otherwise undistinguished little demonstrative pronoun is enjoying. Poor “that” is quite out of fashion. He has always had to play second fiddle to “this,” just as “tat” has had to for “tit.” but it is not natural for him to be so completely overshadowed. “That” might well complain that one of the (many) tasks allotted to him by the dictionary, that of denoting a thing that has just been mentioned or considered, is almost entirely carried out by “this” in certain quarters nowadays.

He can. of course, still keep going even in this sphere of activity. "Is that so?” may not be in the height of fashion at present, but at least it is never likely to surrender to “Is this so?” Nor is “Take that, you cad!” in any danger of giving way to “Take this!” with its suggestion that the blow has not yet been delivered and that the recipient may have time to avoid it. Even less likely is it that the finishing of a piece of work will diaw forth the comment: “Well, this is this!” The matter is not, in any case, one of the consequence. It might even be there is a certain liveliness about “this” that makes "that” and “it” look pallid beside it. To have a cherished belief greeted with the words “This is indisputable,” or “This sounds reasonable” is confirmation warmly underlined. Even when it is used in contradiction—“ This cannot be” or “But this is ridiculous”— the word may claim to introduce a note of earnest attention which is flattering to one's opinions. On one score, at least, the change is open to criticism, and it is criticism that can be levelled at all such tricks of speech. It is that the word comes as a surprise and therefore diverts the attention. in much the same way as the outmoded end to a remark “Don’t you know!” instantly made the person addressed forget what it was he was supposed to know. Mr Thurber has been expressing his distaste in the New Yorker for what he called the latest blight on American conversation. “You know.” which can attack both ends of a remark at once, and sometimes even the middle of it as well. But those who find themselves irritated by the frequent repetition of such meaningless phrases and little tricks can take comfort from this reminder that a good many other verbal fashions have come and gone since the first American said “Oh yeah!” We do not hear so much these days of “Believe you me!” and “You said it!” Mr Thurber can remember the day when the craze was “You know what” (shortened version of “You know what I mean”) instead of the present “You know.” That being so there is hope that the finest hour of “this” will not be too protracted. Next time it may even be the turn of "that.”