THE USE OF “NICE.”

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 15, 19 April 1923, Page 23

THE USE OF “NICE.”

TO THE" EDITOR. Sir, —Said I to a Fair Young Tiling the other day, "You are nice girl." And the F. V. T. knocked me galleywest when she asked "Where did you learn your grammar; don't you know it is not correct to use the word "nice" in connection with things you cannot eat?" I didn't know, and told her soj'l also told her she was nice enough to eat, but that cut no ice with this Fair Voting .Highbrow. So I said no more but went home and gathered up Annandale to see what he had to say about "nice," * "Pleasing to the senses" —not merely the sense of taste alonewas some of what the learned Doctor had to say on the point. Then I reached me down Old Man Webster, and he spread himself over nearly half a column in telling us all about "nice." I copied the lot and took it off to my nice girl, fully convinced that she would be convinced, but she didn't convince worth a cent. "I was taught at college that it was not right to use "nice" except in reference to eatables, and I don't care what Webster or anyone else says about it." So now, Sir, I am referring the matter to you as the final Court of Appeal, and if you will kindly consent to give judgment in the case, your -petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray. — I am, etc., J.H.M. P.S.—Whichever way the decision goes, she is a NICE J.H.M. [No matter what she was taught at college, no matter if she was taught by Parr himself, you are right and your nice friend is wrong. Some time ago an inspector wrote on the blackboard: "Them tarts are nice," and asked a boy to correct it. He answered like a flash: "Them girls are nice." In both senses the adjective is rightly used. One of our old classical writers of English speaks of "the nice conduct of a clouded cane."—Ed. Tablet] '