Correct Instead of Pure English
Present Need Say Professrors
Article by Brander Matthews Causes Comment
Among Rhetoricians; Coined Words,
When Expressive, Are Favored.
University professors of English are
interested in an article. "A Campaign
for Pure English.” by Hrander Matthews,
published in a recent number of the New
York Times Book Ileview and Magazine.
They agree with hint in most respects,
but think what is needed is a campaign
for correct English rather than pure
English.
Matthews gives a short history of the
Society for Pure English, which began
in England in ]!)]”>.
“There is a peril,” he notes, “to the
proper development of the language in
offensive affectations.”
While opposing whatever is slipshod
and careless the society intends to op
pose also “the tyranny of schoolmasters
anif grammarians both in their pedantic
conservatism and in their ignorant en
forcement of new fangled ‘rules,’ based
not on principle but merely on what has
come to be considered correct usage.”
Foreign Words Approved.
Matthews holds that foreign words are
no menace to the purity of a language, if
they are completely naturalized. Im
. bedding of alien terms with a tongue
without the removal of foreign pronun
ciations is held as detrimental.
The principle which ought to govern,
he says, is simple. “Either a word is
English dr it isn’t. If it isn’t English,
the necessity for employing it is doubt
ful at best; when we are writing English
we had better write in English. And if
a word is English it ought to he wholly
English, aptly adapted and wholly as
similated. Ho regrets the use of media,
fora, stadia and curricula by Professor
Bliss Perry, Mr. Galsworthy, and Pro
fessor Abbott, instead of mediums
forums, stadiums and eurriculums, which
he says are surely citizens of our vo
cabulary.”
The Society for Pure English advo
cates not only the the complete assimila
tion of foreign words; it advocates also
the making of necessary new compounds
not from Latin and Greek, hut from Eng
liuli .'foil
Errors Too Common.
Dr. E. S. Dates, head of the depart
ment of rhetoric, on rending Brander
Matthews’ article, said. “Yes, I agree
with him. I think, however, that what
we need is a campaign for correct Eng
lish rather than pure English.” The lang
lish people, generally speaking, use bet
ter English than we do. in, the opinion
of Dr. Bates. They do not make the
grammatical errors which are so |fre
val'ent among us. not only on the street
but among university students. Such
mistakes as “I come to school this morn
ing”, “I been there before”, and many
others, Dr. Bates says, are not uncom
mon among seniors on the campus, to
say nothing of underclassmen.
Dr. Bates believes that a large part
of this incorrect usage is spread by our
foreign population. These people, lie
says, must not he too severely cen
sured for their use of incorrect English,
because of the difficulty of learning the
language, and the fact that they hear us
use English carelessly. They take up
our incorrect expressions as well as our
correct ones and pass them on. lie says.
He agrees, too, with Brainier Mat
thews on the use of foreign words, but
he says, “There is a period in Aim amal
gamation of foreign words, when they
are applicants for citizenship, during
which they must retain their foreign
spelling and pronunciation.”
Atlantic Is Criterion.
“Pure English”, lie says, “is a vague
term to define. General usage is the
ultimate tribune. I should say”, he con
tinued, “for a usage to appear in tile At
lantic, or to bo generally used by six or
seven of our best writers would .justify
its use h.v all of us.”
Dr. Bates, like Brander Mini thews,
thinks the greatest and best coinage of
words comes from the mass of people
rather than from men of letters and col
lege professors.
On being asked what he thought of
American membership in this society,
which Brander Matthews says is appar
ently solidly established in Great Britain.
I >r. Bates said. "In another twenty-five
years, I think, we’ll he ready for such a
campaign. At least 1 hope so."
Miss Mary Perkins, professor of Eng
lish. said on reading Matthews’ article:
“It is progressive.” She likes to have
students realize that language is demo
cratic and must change as a people pro
gresses, she says.
“A certain literary class always acts
as self appointed censors of the lan
guage of the great mass of people”, con
tinued Miss Perkins. This tends to act
against the flood of new coinage and new
usage and hold ii hack. The text hooks,
too”, she said, "have lagged behind the
growth of the language”.
Many Laughable Errors.
In regard to foreign words. Miss Per
kins says she thinks our practice of an
glicizing is good. “However", she says,
“we <lo make many laughable errors,
such as adding an “s” and saying che
rubinis. when cherubim is the jtlui'al
form”. She mentioned, also, the words
alumnus and alumni. ”1 don’t suppose.”
she laughed, "that any of us would ever
say alumnuses. Those of us who have
occasion to use that word at all know
its forms.”
Miss Perkins thinks it is interesting to
meet people from different parts of the
United States and enjoy their sectional
usages. For instance the expression
"like I do”; Miss Perkins says nine
tenths of the people west of the Missis
sippi say “like I do”. As the usage is
so common she says she is not sure that
it is not a waste of time to try to eradi
cate that. She would rather let that and
similar things go, and devote the time to
increasing the vocabulary, adding new
words which are expressive and inli
vidual.
The work that is being done in this
country, Miss Perkins says, is along the
line of making speech correct and pleas
ing rather than pure in the sense of the
English organization. She called atten
tion to the efforts of the National Coun
cil of Teachers of English in their cam
paign last year. The first week in No
vember was designated as "Better Eng
lish Week”. The plan was not merely
to correct mistakes, but to cultivate a
(better speaking voice, and to gain a
wider vocabulary. The Council (dans to
carry out the same plan this year. Miss
Perkins is a member of this council.
Vocabulary Is Necessary.
(Miss .Titian Burgess, professor of Eng
lish, thinks in the acquirement of vocab
ulary we should seek the things which
make for vividness and clearness of
meaning, but in the matter of construc
tion of sentences we should be very con
servative about taking up the lax prac
tices of a few modern writers who some
times use a group of words as a sentence
when the predicate verb is lacking. Miss
Burgess is somewhat dubious about the
practice of some modern writers in tak
ing up certain apparently illiterate ex
pressions and giving them publicity
even though this is done in a humorous
way. She mentioner, "I could of gone”
in this connection. She thinks that if
such expressions as (his are allowed to
•become of common usage, it will be be
cause the teachers of English relax their
efforts to preserve correct and pleasing
English. She is not in favor of changes
which tend to lower the fine sense of
meaning.
As for foreign words with their for
eign spellings. Miss Burgess thinks that
retaining the foreign spelling preserves
the origin of the words. She would be
pleased if the average person knew
enough < Jrook and Latin to truce origins,
lml she says the majority of Americans
at present do not know or care much
about that.
Miss Burgess likes*'the coined words
such as “pussyfooted”. They are clever,
entertaining, and expressive, she says,
but ithei'e is danger of overusing them,
especially if wo make pets of certain
ones. She thinks every student should
be a sleuth about finding and bringing in
new words, but this should be done dis
criminatingly. She says we should be on
the alert to pick up words that will give
our speech greater richness and power
as well as greater flexibility and greater
exactness.
lexi hooks Are tyrannical.
(Miss Grace Edgington, assistnnt pro-1
fosser of rhetoric, says she tliinks the
makers of text hooks are very tryan
nieal.
She sees no reason, she says, why
foreign words should not he anglicized.
As for tin* coinages, she says some are
suitable for straight prose; they often
give strength and expression obtained in
no other way. They are not. she added,
all of equal standing, however.
Professor \Y. 1<\ G. Timelier of the de
partment of rhetoric, says schoolmasters
must he conservative. “If they are not”,
he continued, "who will be?”
lie went on to say that teachers are
bound to follow to a certain extent the
rules laid down in the texts that are
handed them, regardless of their per
sonal feelings in the matter.
“Much of the English teacher’s time",
says Professor Thacher. “is spent in
combating incorrect usages. The habit", |
he says, “is formed very early, and
seems all hut ineradicable”.
Professor Thacher. like the others,
likes the vivid, expressive terms that fit
aptly into sueecli. “I do thslike", lie
added emphatically", in spoken English,
anything that savors of the literati or
predramntic.”
Written English is something that re-1
mains, he says, and most people have a,
“written vocabulary” that is different!
from the spoken vocabulary.
“Speech is so dramatic”, says Profes-'
Kiir Thacher. -‘that 1 doubt if such a so
ciety cun have any effect on the great
body of the English language.”
Action Is Urged.
Miss Ida Turney, professor of rhetoric
expressed herself as follows:
If tht1 society for pure English would
do something besides issuing tracts
phrased with conscious superiority, I’tl
tie 'strong for it'. 'Merely complaining
about the "‘comprehensive ignorance’ of
the history of the English language,,,even
though this ignorance is certainly the
cause of tht ‘peril to the proper develop
ment of the language’, will accomplish
little. If we are ever to acquire that
much-to-be-desired word sense, to say
nothing of sentence sense, we must be
gin to weave the simple and faeinating
story of our language into the word
building exercises in the primary school.
Some of the blessed might prepare a
manual explaining matters about the his
tory and growth of the language which
are essential to comprehensive under- ■
standing for the use of the teachers in
the. elementary schools. A year course,
at least, in Greek and Latin roots with
exercises in word analysis might be
planned for the junior high schools. Then
the Society for Pure English might un
dertake to see that colleges and normal
schools refuse to grant certificates to
teach (or A. B. degrees) to persons com
prehensively ignorant of their o>vn lan
guage. 1
If the S. P. E. will consider my re
commendations I will join it—or them,
provided I shall not lie asked to accept
‘juice’ (I particularly object to juice)
nor to split my infinitives. I approve
the judicious use of slang, and Brander
Matthews is my ‘favorite author’ on the
subject.
Nationalism Feared.
Mr. Andrew Fish, of the department
of rhetoric, after reading Matthews,
says: “The scheme might easily degen
erate into a mere narrow nationalism.
But. the promoters seem to have guarded
against that by providing for foreign
words and also, for new words coined by
ourselves”.
“I would say”, lie continued”, that it
would be altogether good if it serves to
inspire men to careful use and to guard
against falling too much into colloquial
isms”.
To stand too rigidly for what lias been
established would be bad. ami would not
admit of progress, said Mr. Fish.
He does not believe in discriminating
against foreign words, tint he does be
lieve in anglicizing them. The more
words taken over from other lan
guages the better, lie said, provided they
express our ideas. It is a matter of
utility, and if a word of foreign origin
is bettor than an English word, why not
use it?
J0UR1LISM OFFICE
TO MOVE NEXT WEEK
Remodeled Outdoor Gym to
Give Additional Room
The women’s outdoor gymnasium,
which is being remodeled for the use of
the department of physical education and
the school of journalism, will be ready
for occupancy next week, according to H.
M. Fishei*. superintendent of grounds.
The building is divided, the northern
part is to be used by John F. Ilovard,
dean of the college of physical education.
The remaining four rooms will be con
nected with the journalism annex by a
covered passageway and will be used for
the offices of Dean Eric W. Allen. Al
fred Powers, assistant director of the
extension department, and a general of
fice with desks for the secretary of the
school of journalism and the editor of
the Oregano. Another room will be used
for classes at present, though it is ulti
mately to be a bindery.
The entrance of the annex building is
ro be changed to the side, where the
passage-way will connect the two build
ings. forming a hall of the present copy
desk room, which in turn will be moved
to the large class room. Professor
George S. Turnbull and Professor W. E.
G. Timelier will exchange offices so that
Professor Turnbull's office may connect
with the copy-desk.
The hall is to be made into a room
which will be used for typewriters and
for the city desk of the Emerald. The I
newspaper file room will be unchanged. I
Y. M. HUT TO HAVE HEAT
Installation of Radiators Will Lend
Warmth to Study Rooms.
The chilly atmosphere of the “Y” hut
has been changed to one of cozy com
fort by the extension of the Fniversity
heating system to that building. Seven
teen radiators distributed about the hut
spread an abundance of heat.
Fp to the present time, the only com
fortable place to study in the lint was
around the fireplace in the lounging
room: and with the phonograph play
ing, and two or three exciting chocker
games in progress.
The installation of heat has made pos
sible tie use of several small rooms,
each provided with several desks
DRIVE ON THIS WEEK
FOR GIRL GMSTS
Women’s Athletic Association
Increasing Roster
MEETING FOR TUESDAY
University Gives No Letters to
Women Not Members
AH girls who are at all interested in
athletics are invited to join the Women’s
Athletic Association this week. A mem
bership drive is being carried on in the
various organizations at the present
time.
“We are going to have a bigger and
better organization this year.” said Mar
garet Russell. vice president, of the as
sociation. “Everyone who is at all in
terested in sports should join.”
A girl who achieves distinction in any
athletics must be a member of the or
ganization before she can receive her
letter. During the past years numbers
of girls have forfeited their rights to the
trophies and letters offered as prizes
for winners, because they were not mem
bers of the association. For this rea
son, girls who are at all interested in
any branch of athletics are urged to join
the association this week. Dues for the
entire year are fifty cents.
The girls in charge of the membership
drive are: Georgia Benson, Margaret
Smith, Carolyn Cannon, Marion Dunham.
Vivian Chandler. Winifred Hopson, Au
drey Roberts, Florence .Tagger, Echo
Baldarree, Victoria Case, .Naomi Rob
bins. Ruth Tuck,Charlotte Howells', Jean
McEaehern, Muriel Myers, Emily Perry
and Doris Parker.
The first, meeting of the association
will be held in Guild hall next Tuesday
afternoon at 4 o’clock. Plans for the
year will be discussed and the purpose of
the organization explained to the new
memhers.
EXTENSION SPEAKERS TRAVEL.
John C. Almack, director of the ex
tension division, and F. L. Stetson, pro
fessor of secondary education, left Tues
day noon for Medford, where they are
scheduled to speak at the Jackson
county teachers’ institute which is in ses
sion Wednesday. Thursday and Friday
They are expected to return Saturday.
MICHIGAN HAS CRICKET.
Criekel has I ecu introduced at Mich
igan as the outdoor sport for freshman
and si piiomore women.
Homecoming Plans
To Be Presented
(Continued from page 1.)
to miss their lunch. This is in accor
dance with the custom this year.
The student body officers have been
very much pleased with the attendance
so far this year and as this is the most
important assembly of the fall term, a
good program has been arranged and no
one is expected to cut.
■ The assembly will be presided over by
Carlton Savage.
Immediately following there will be a
meeting of the freshmen class.
Phone 141
City Messenger Service
Messengers
39 E. 7th ,T. C. GRANT, Mgr.
Dry Goods DTIDCIf P^^G Men’s
Notions 1 VlVJuLl I l) Furnishings
and Shoes 115 Eighth Ave. W. Shoes
Everything In
WEARING NECESSITIES FOR
STUDENTS.
Special discounts given to Students who ask for it.
Give Your Child a Chance
It might make school work much easier now
and prove a great blessing later in life, if you
would have your child’s eyes thoroughly exam
ined right now to make sure that he is capable
of doing his school work without the aid of glas
ses.
I am well equipped to perform this service
for von. I shall not advise glasses unless they
are absolutely * necessary.
Make an appointment now.
Sherman W. Moody
881 Wilamette Street.
Eugene, Oregon.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Prices Drop
We have been informed by the headquarters that
the price of instruction books has been cut 50 per cent.
This enables us to reduce the price of our course. 12
lessons and instruction books may now be had for the
low price of $32.00. This may be paid $10.00 down and
$2.00 each lesson taken. You have 12 weeks to pav on
ly $32.00.
REMEMBER
We teach popular’ music and ragtime piano play
ing with full harmony bass in 12 lesspns. Beginners
and students accepted. Pianos to practice on. EN
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