THE LATEST REFERENDUM

Evening Star, Issue 15308, 7 October 1913, Page 7

THE LATEST REFERENDUM

Baseball, America's national game, is responsible for the growth of a form of slang which is not intelligible to English-speak-ing people outside the United Slates. Chicago, which has lately headed a national movefnent for moral'reform, has been -trying to ascertain whether baseball readers would prefer descriptions of the game in good dictionary words or the demoralising jargon employed by baseball writers of the present day. Here is a specimen of the jargon culled from a leading New York newspaper to-day Big George M'Quillan, the comeback pitcher, was the target the champions had to shoot at. Nine safe ckmts were registered off the» Brooklyn boy, but‘after ‘he first innings the champions failed to send one of their comrades across the plate. The Giants are slumping in their batting, and yesterday they again failed to bingie with runners on the paths. With one down in the sixth Tilly Shafer rammed a triple to right, but neither Art Fletcher nor Captain Larry Boyle had the necessary wallop to bring the" temperamental kid home. Snodgrass singled with two down in the next innings, then the famous pinchhitter, Bull Moose M'Cormick, was injected into the game. In the third the Flying Dutchman robbed Murray of a single by grabbing his sharp grounder with his glove hand near the second and throwing him out at the first.

Of a total of 3,930 votes recorded by a leading Chicago newspaper, 2,004 declared for the English prescribed by the dictionaries, and 1,926 in favor of the use of dang.