ALBATROSS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23205, 1 June 1937, Page 5

ALBATROSS

10 IHX EDITOR ; Sir,—lt is natural that " Civisa professional journalist, is impressed by the length of a contribution and. when directed against himself and charged with smokeless powder, it may assume proportions that prompt the thought, “ On! will it never end? ” Never content with bald statements, even if supnorted by a questionable authority, and with an ability to condense, I appreciate just sufficient space to elaborate an argument, thus avoiding “Civis's” recourse to a barrage of words to confuse the issue. His introduction in Saturday's “ Passing Notes ” of such phrases as “ momentous cause ” and “ impulsive Intolerance ” sheets home the source of “hysteria” introduced into this exchange of opinions. If, as he states, he detected signs of “ impulsive intolerance,” let me assure him it would be occasioned by spurious knowledge more than argument, as I am not at all averse to one when selecting my own subject and, like “Civis,” the other fellow “bites.” As “open confession is good for the soul” I was gratified to note “ Civis’s ” admission that, knowing as little about the albatross as he does about the auk or moa, he is just as addicted to a try-on as the rest of us are, and, when bowled out, his only refuge is bluster. Now, as “ Civis ” is such a stickler for grammatical niceties, may I ask him—and of course he won’t answer—why, when composing that admission, quite obvious, he discriminates between the three birds? If the albatross and the auk, why not “ the moa? ” I am induced to persevere with him as I notice he is unconsciously receptive m that he has already learned to discard the terminal “es ” in albatrosses, the use of which he so vehemently championed before. He somewhat spoils his confession, though, by clinging so tenaciously to that superfluous “ the.” From earliest infancy I have had an aversion to that “ the ” as a prefix to—take two of “ Civis's ” own particulars—the measles or the chickenpox as being a mode of expression one would not expect to encounter, nowadays, even in—where shall we say?—“ lowbrow South Dunedin.” at which “Civis” affects to sneer. In fact, to express a thought just occurred to me in his favoured style, I wonder if “ Civis ” has had “ the influenza? ” The successive moods he passes through in half a column become apparent when we discover this penitent note, “ I merely mentioned the use of the plural ‘ albatrosses ’ by Chambers Encyclopaedia.” Perfectly innocent, had it not been to support an uninvited butt-in and, when succeeded by “ all the world loves a sailor, tempestuous though he be,” he almost disarms one were it not an obvious symptom when an opponent drops his hands and wants to shake. This I should really like to do if he did not immediately disclose the belligerency of his mind by stating “ that linguistic usage these days may be a more justifiable cause of quarrel than even religion.” Is this the real bellicose trait that precipitated him, quite unprepared, into the arena fairly frothing for a fight? . The readiness with which ‘ Civis throws his cards on the table by discrediting a further source of reference, Cassels, classifies him amongst the blustering and noisy rather than the grim and determined fighters and accounts for the apprehension he expressed at the prospect of another three-quarter column reply. Nervous tension of this sort must in the end prove detrimental to even a more rugged constitution than that of “ Civis.” Therefore, why not subscribe to an authority above suspicion and avoid situations envisaged by the proverb ending, “. . where angels fear to tread?” His original cocksure statement that “sailors (lid not give the bird its name, so their opinion carries no weight ” contrasts noticeably with his latest: “The verbose sailor claims that sailors coined (he word albatross. So be it.” It indicalcs, I believe, that he wil| soon eat out of my hand. The six inches of nautical phrases, and their alleged origins, lifted bodilv out of some thumbnail source of reference of the Tit Bit variety, I ignore, as they sound, to a seaman, as realistic as a sea “ shantie ” emanating from a wireless station. Regretting his refusal to supply an accurate definition, as requested, of a Dunedin sailor. I conclude this unsought educative effort, and, in passing on, leave “Civis,” behind his fence, like a noisy Pom overtaken by a clod at its bolt hole. —I am, etc.. L. R. Tosswill.