"ABSOLUTELY AWFUL.”

Otago Witness, Issue 3517, 9 August 1921, Page 55

"ABSOLUTELY AWFUL.”

THE NEED FOR CAREFUL SPEECH

H. T. Giusox. Bold inded is the man who claims to be educated. Foolish is he who lays claim to complete education in even one subject, for only a presumptuous man says, "I know all about this, or’ that, matter, and all presumptuous men are foolish. Hence, the man that is satisfied that his speech or his writings are all that they should be, and who thus lays claim to complete education in his mother tongue, cannot be called a wise man, much less a modest man. Although perhaps few would claim to have reached a state of perfection in speaking or writing, yet most of us fail to realise our imperfections, and therefore da not even make an attempt to remedy our faults or to improve our style. \\ e are apt to forget that words are instruments, or tools, by which we express our thoughts.. Tools improperly used cannot produce such good results as can tools properly used. If we wish to keep oui garden in good order, we try to use the various tools as they should he used. When a carpenter wishes to make a good article, sound and true, not only does he use good material, but he uses his tools in the right manner. So, then, when speaking or writing, if we wish to make our meaning clear, if we wish our language to be as good as we can make it, should we not use our tools, or words, correctly? Language is “perhaps the supreme instrument of culture.” To him who does r.ot aspire to a state of culture nothing more need be said, but few there are who do not possess ambition enough to improve themselves not only from the materialistic side, but also from the aesthetic. Modern ideas of art, as expressed in furniture, in pictures, and in decorations generally, are distinctly an improvement upon those of our forefathers of the Victorian era ; anyway, we think they are, or we should not have changed them. I am referring to the average homes of the great bulk of the people. I ormei Iv the typical home of the artisan and of the shopkeeper displayed much veneer and varnish, much carving of sorts, much gilding and gaudy colours. To-day all that is changed. A glance at the goods displayed in furniture shops, in picture and china shops, will show the improved taste of the great bulk of purchasers. Are we improving in our style of speaking? I fear not. Speech, and the manner of speech, often f: rm an .ndex to a person’s character. I am not alluding to the speech of illiterate people, who perhaps have net seized the opportunities, so readily offered nowadays, of acquiring some knowledge of the mother tongue. t allude to the average man and womai who has been through our public schools and who should know better than to speal of any peculiarity in person, pace, o thing as “absolutely awful.” This, alas is only one of very many expressions use: far too often by people who, through care lessness or indifference, are tempted t descend to such inanities. Even suppos ing a person, place, or thing may inspir awe. can awe be absolute? We do not use a knife to cat peas with, we would nc 1 ; pi ear in the street unshaven, nor would our wives wear a green hat with a yellow frock, vet now many of us display similar bad taste, not to say gross ignorance, by using words or terms that are absurdly extravagant or : ‘rhaps quit* wr mg in their application? Niceties in grammar are not demanded by any, save pedants, but loose construction, irrational statements, and preposterous superlatives should be shunned bv all who pretend to speak the King’s English, j *erage speaker is to be forgiven if 1 he says “None of us arc perfect,’ instead I of the correct “None of us. is perfect,” but 1 no one who appreciates the beauty of our language, or who tries to use that language correctly, can tolerate “He is positively the limit,” “It is horribly cold,” “I am terribly hungry,” and similar jargon. Wild exaggeration is surely a sign of lack of mental balance and <of clear thought; possibly it denotes a limited vocabulary, or even vulgarity. I)o we pav much attention to t!;e ideas of the man who, never having travelled more than a few score miles from his paris pump, tells us that he knows the “mof marvellous and brainiest man in th country,” that yesterday be “caught thov Rands of fish ’ on his line, and that “th absolute rot of such-and-such a thnologia is tne rottenest trash on earth ? Th man wl !uu loosely and iookshl betrays bit lack of culture. He is usually the man who gids hold of “catchy” terms, and uses them, either correctly or incorrectly, at ever*.- ovportuuitv. Ac an amusing instance of the misconception of terms, the story is told that a bucolic ; individual, of the tvpe th.-t has been de- i scribed as the “educated ignorant.” referred to a recent arrival from Home, a narrow-minded immigrant, as a “little unaware not onlv of the absurd or-prediction, inasmuch that j" 1 h tie T-liiglim’cr” could tolerate the iy a ' ' e:- rat' n. but n'so unaware of 1 came obsolete ■ r it usi died out ' t “f the simple t, book of 1" - v r];]_ of com e sey that th refer* must line oh e i to a living mhnhd or opiniomt- d perso • v. ns • Such misuse of term is bad enough hot. the use of evl • avagant words, of superlatii - heaped on super lath cs. is a I woi .error. Ti form* r d, n ‘ = b, n ,.v. I mice, whirl in m r-c en es mac readily hr 1 ti ejbher 1 ’ * ■' publi speak* giv t the subject. Onr vr ,v C !

j speaker, and note the tendency to broaden | or to shorten the vowels unduly and to ! slur the consonants. Are we in roo much of a hurry nowadays to speak correctly.' Do we wash our bodies, brush our hair, but neglect to clean our teeth? Let us hope not, yet we too often leave unfinished, or,” worst still, we maltreat, the words of the finest language in existence. Let us beware of “perfectly delightful,” “a fearful fright '' “it is literally horrible,'’ “a miracle,’’ “a lovely house,' “a decent meal,” and of the host of absurdities and exaggerations so often heard in ordinary speech. Let ns beware of pitfalls in the use of terms with which we are not thoroughly familiar, such as “astounding, “perfect,” “ absolute,” “ capital, “ unique,” and counties? others. Let us shun, too, those objectionable ahlsrevia- j tions such as “gent,'’ “bike,” “an invite,” j “buy it on appro,” and let our tradesmen | avoid writing advertisements about people who “sailer with rheumatism," about i “carpet squares, ten by twelve,” and j about “the delineation of the demented , female character of the immortal hard's gieatest tragedy, featurised on the film bv absolutely the greatest living exponent of the dramatic art.” Y'.’hv cannot a man s(iv instead that a good actress will take the part of Ophelia in “Hamlet”? Of all the clumsiness in English perhaps the most indicative of vulgarity is that which consists of statements in supposedly "big” words, where simple and precise words can be used. However, this class of offence is net so common as that against which this article would warn young and thoughtless speakers, the error of carelessness and of using the wrong term or the extravagant word when it would be unite as easy to use a term at once milder in expression, narrower in meaning. and hence far more forceful, dignified, and what is mere to the point, correct and truthful. Habit rules our lives. Tf we do not fight against the habit of sneaking carelessly'. cur speech will surely degenerate into the jargon one hears on excursion steamers and at the doors of picture “palaces.” Worse still, we will begin to take for granted the alleged English we see on the American films, and our language can hardly sink lower than that!