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PURITY

An author's diction is pure when he uses such words only as belong to the idiom of the language. The only standard of purity is the practice of the best writers and speakers. A violation of purity is called a barbarism.

Unlike the Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, the English is a living language, and, like all living organisms, manifests its life by taking in new material and casting off old waste continually. Science, art, and philosophy give rise to new ideas which, in turn, demand new words for their expression. Of these, some gain a permanent foothold, while others float awhile upon the currents of conversation and newspaper literature and then disappear.

Good usage is the only real authority in the choice of reputable words; and to determine, in every case, what good usage dictates, is not an easy matter. Authors, like words, must be tested by time before their forms of expression may become a law for others. Pope, in his Essay on Criticism, laid down a rule which, for point and brevity, has never been excelled:

"In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new or old; Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."

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BARBARISMS

Campbell, in his Philosophy of Rhetoric, says that a word to be legitimate must have these three signs of authority: 1. It must be reputable, or that of educated people, as opposed to that of the ignorant or vulgar.

2. It must be national, as opposed to what is either local or technical.

3. It must be present, as opposed to what is obsolete.

Any word that does not have these three qualities may, in general, be styled a barbarism.

ANGLICIZED WORDS

Many foreign words, in process of time, become so thoroughly domesticated that their translation, or the use of an awkward equivalent, would be a greater mark of pedantry than the use of the foreign words. The proper use of such terms as fiat, palladium, cabal, quorum, omnibus, antique, artiste, coquette, ennui, physique, regime, tableau, amateur, cannot be censured on the ground of their foreign character.

OBSOLETE WORDS

Some writers affect an antiquated style by the introduction of such words as peradventure, perchance,

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anon, behest, quoth, erewhile. The use of such words gives a strange sound to the sentence, and generally indicates that the writer is not thoroughly in earnest. The expression is lowered in tone and is made to sound fantastic.

NEW WORDS

A word should not be condemned because it is new. If it is really needed it will be welcomed, and soon find a permanent place.

Shakespeare, Addison, and Johnson introduced many new words, to which their names afterward gave a sanction. Carlyle, Coleridge, Tennyson, and Browning have introduced or given currency to new words, and made strange ones familiar.

New words are objectionable when they are employed without proper authority. The chief sources of supply of the objectionable kind are the current slang of the street and the sensational newspaper. They are often the result of a desire to say things in such a manner as to reflect smartness upon the speaker, or to present things in a humorous or picturesque way. That they are frequently very effective cannot be gainsaid. Sometimes they are coined in the heat of political or social discussion, and, for a time, express what everybody is talking about; but it is impossible to tell whether they will live beyond

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the occasion that produced them. So long as their usage is doubtful it is safer not to employ them.

SLANG

Slang is somewhat like chicken-pox or measles, very catching, and just as inevitable in its run; and very few of us escape it. It is severest, too, where the sanitary conditions are most favorable to its development. Where there is least thought and culture to counteract its influence slang words crowd out those of a more serious character, until, in time, the young and inexperienced speaker or writer is unable to distinguish between the counterfeit and the genuine.

While most persons condemn slang, there are very few who are entirely free from its use. It varies greatly in its degrees of coarseness or refinement, and adapts itself to all classes and conditions. Many know no other language, and we are unwillingly compelled to admit that while their speech is often ungrammatical and unrhetorical, it is generally clear, concise, and forcible.

Strive to acquire a vocabulary so large and to cultivate a taste so fine that when a slang expression rises to your mind you can use it if you think it best fits the occasion, or substitute something better in its place. Purity of diction is a garden of slow growth even under the most favorable conditions, and the

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unrestrained indulgence in slang is like scattering seeds of the vilest plants among the choicest flowers.

SOCIETY SLANG

"This is an elegant day," "that is an elegant view," "Mary is awfully nice," "Jennie is dreadfully sweet," "Gertrude is delicious," and "Tom is perfectly splendid." The use of such extravagant phrases tends to weaken the significance of the words when legitimately employed.

COMMERCIAL SLANG

Commercial terms are employed in the common language of everyday life to such an extent as to constitute a form of commercial slang. The following will serve for illustration; "The balance of the journey"

for remainder, "he was well posted." for well informed, "I calculate he will come to-morrow" for believe or think, "I reckon he is your friend" for I suppose.

COMMON SLANG

To materialize, to burglarize, to enthuse, to suicide, to wire, to jump upon, to sit upon, to take in, are a few of the many examples of slang that should be avoided.

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PROVINCIALISMS

A word that is used only in a limited part of the country is called a provincialism. It must be known and recognized for what it is worth, but not obtruded where it does not belong.

Whatever may be said of the faults of speech of the American people, it is doubtful if any other nation, whether it covers a large territory or is limited in area, speaks the language native to the country with the uniformity that we do. Yet, there are peculiarities that mark the expression of most of our people, even among the best informed. The words calculate, reckon, and guess are not the only words that betray the locality of the speaker. Any person who has been five hundred miles from home cannot fail to have observed words that were used differently from the way in which he had been accustomed to use them, and he probably heard terms of expression that seemed strange to him. In like manner, his own expressions sounded strange to those who heard him. That which distinguished his speech from theirs and theirs from his would, in large part, be covered by the word "provincialism."

Not only do we have local and sectional peculiarities of speech, but we may be said to have national mannerisms. Mr. Alexander Melville Bell, the eminent

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elocutionist, relates that some years ago when residing in Edinburgh, a stranger called to make some inquiries in regard to professional matters.

"I have called on you, sir, for the purpose of," etc.

"When did you cross the Atlantic?" I asked.

The stranger looked up with surprise amounting almost to consternation.

"How do you know that I have crossed the Atlantic?"

"Your manner of using the little word 'sir' is not heard in England or Scotland."