1923 ENGLISH.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2777, 19 October 1923, Page 9

1923 ENGLISH.

At the age of 19 or 20 a modern boy or girl's vocabulary consists of three words, it was suggested by MiFrank Jones, of Birmingham, in a lecture to the teachers' vacation course in London. These words are "nice" and "top hole" (the only words of commendation), and "rotten" (for the opposite). This very nearly approached the limited vocabulary of the farm labourer, said Mr Jones. "Nice," as a description of a sunset, a sago pudding, and a sonata displayed a paucity of words. The lecturer said one of the saddest things ho ever saw was a class of girls being taught to gush about poetry they did hot understand; "It is contrary to the nature of ah Eng'-i lishman to gush, and you remember, the story of the boy who, impressed

■with a spectacle, burst into ecstacy with the words, 'My hat!' and was reproved by his brother with the words 'Don't gush!' " English was a bread and butter subject for children, and the gulf which separated classes of society was pronunciation. If they could level up pronunciation they woul have got over flve-jsixths of the social difficulties. Mr Jones suggested that a good plan was to get the boys to keep a word book and jot down every new word they found. "You will find it will give you a lively time, but you can always say, 'Well, my boy, look it up.' One boy looked up 'antediluvian,' found it was before the flood, and wrote 'Noah lived antediluvian.' "