OUR MOTHER TONGUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22949, 29 January 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

OUR MOTHER TONGUE

Random Notes and Little Problems

By PROFESSOR ARNOLD WALL

I AM nsked whether there is any difference in meaning or value between "educationist" and "educationalist." There is no difference in meaning, and as both are malformed I see no difference between them in value either. Personally, I hate them both, but would prefer the shorter form as I would prefer a little dose of nasty medicine to a big one. Fowler observes that in tho case of this word and "agriculturalist," etc., "tho shorter form, besides being less cumbersome, usually corresponds moro naturally to the sense." More or Less French The same correspondent asks about the difference, if any, in pronunciation, between "moral" and "morale." The answer is that when "moral" is used in the sense of "moral condition, especially of troops, etc.," the dictionary definition of "morale," the two are pronounced alike, as "morahl" with stress on "aid."

It is a puzzle to decide why we formed the word "morale" at all, or "locale," or "forte," or "chorale," in all of which the e has been added in Knglish. Those who are interested will do well to read the very useful and enlightening note on the subject in Fowler's Dictionary of Knglish Usage. The addition of the e to "typist ' and "pianist," fondly imagined by some to indicate the feminine, has been sufficiently discussed already in these notes. It would be a' good thing if we all knew a great deal more or a great deal less French than most of us do. Petty Snobbery A puzzled and rather indignant correspondent asks whether people are in order in pronouncing "clientele" as if it were English, witli the i as in "lie" and the "ele" as "eel." 1 should say without hesitation that this word is as yet not Anglicised and is pronounced as French, but the authorities are sharply divided on the point. Fowler and the Oxford Dictionary prescribe the Anglicised pronunciation of which my correspondent complains, but Daniel Jones, recording six variants, ignores the Anglicised form altogether, implying that it is never heard, and L certainly have never beard "clienteel" myself. Under these circumstances one can only say that both the

French and English pronunciations are permissible. Anyhow 1 regard tke use of this word as a piece of petty snobbery, for jt only means "customers" or "clients" and since our guides are not agreed we had better drop it. Justified by Economy "And/or." This phrase is submitted to me for criticism, the inquirer thinking the use of "and/or" to be unjustified: "the development and/or maintenance of the strain." To me it seems that the "and/or" is here justified by its extreme economy. Jt hns saved the writer many words for Ills meaning, if fully expressed, would require: "the development, if that is desired (or if that is possible), or the maintenance, if further development is undesirable or impossible." Jt was for cases of this kind that the useful "and/or" was devised, and 1 think it a very clever device though I never have occasion to tisu it myself. It is not, of course, to be recommended in "literary" English; "a cow," as J)r. Johnson once observed, "is a useful animal in a held, but we turn her out of a garden." "Enseen" or "Ensine"?

I have already dealt with this word in my notes but return to it at the request of a listener who has heard "ensign" on the air as, he says, "ensoon," which ho supposes to be wrong. The traditional pronunciation in the army, where it is now disused, and in the navy, was "ensin," but otherwise "ensine." The modern authorities give "ensine" only but those who wish to show that they know tho naval usage may be heard to say "ensin." "Enseen," however, is wrong anyhow. "Quadruplets" and "quintuplets." The same inquirer asks about this pair, in which he observes a difference in respect of the pronunciation of the u. That there i.s a difference is obvious since u after r is normally pronounced as 00, not ew, but after t is ew, as in "tube." His suggestion is that in "quadruplets" the u is sounded as au o, but ii as in "put" properly represents it. Ju both words the is on the first syllable as my correspondent has maintained against the opinion of some of his friends. "Genus." Js this "jeenus" or "gavnils?" That depends on the language you are supposed to be speaking. It has long ago been perfectly Anglicised ns "jeenus." plural "jeiinern," and it is only in Latin that it i.s to be pronounced, approximately, "gaynus."