THE CHINA MAIL, SEPTEMBER 25, 1940.
Page
CHINA MAIL Verbs And Verbiage
-WINDSON HOUSE-
By-
IVOR BROWN
past.
The ob-
Many words which, were scold- ed on their first appearance have since lived on to acquire à good character as well as to perform a good function. Mr. Mencken quotes belittle" first used by Thomas Jefferson in 1787 and vio- lently derided in London, and mentions as others once tabu in orthodox quarters but now ac- and cepted, freely employed, and al-
tial, handy, mileage, dutlable,
UNDER DURESS
Among arms the laws are pro-into the common talk "unbe-points out that Shakespeare and instead of "to write." Japanese have moved verbially somewhat silent, but the knownst," as they used to say. Ben Jonson enriched English freject here is to have a Latin word into Indo-China by mil-official is not. He and his kind The ancient Greeks had a nice quently by their use of nouns as of two gyllables instead of a Saxon itary and diplomatic coer- become known as "expert autho-phrase about the man who "es-verbs, What an excellent word, word of one, the notion being that [rities" by themselves and as "they" caped his own notice becoming for example, is the Shakespearean the simpleton to whom the films cion.
by the general. "Expert authori- drunk" So nowadays we escape "to spantel" that is, to follow in appeal will be vastly impressed Under directly applied ties pronounce the necessity of our own notice becoming pompous, a flattering, fawning way, as the by reading that the super-glam- officers undor. Antony “spaniel's orgus, super-masterpiece "Dream pressure and on orders attaching to the Government." says officialdom. They are going
The war, through the power it
him at heels' But such a trick of Desire" has been "authored" from Vichy, the French to take," say the rest of us. On gives to bureaucracy and to the is quite different from the abo- instead of being just written, like colonial authorities have the whole, this "rest of us" spenks Industrialist turned administrator, minable malpractice of taking that the Bible or any more book of the
and writes the more seemly Eng-will certainly add to our language surrendered, and signed lish. But it is odd to notice how or rather inflate it. The ten- through even dency of such people is always to an agreement with the "officialese" Alters
into the pleasant simplicities of prefer a new and heavy, word to Japanese representatives
rustic speech. Not long ago there an old and short one. Instead of at Hanoi which is almost was a broadcast about war-time bidding us meet their Mr. Smith on the farm which was delivered in Birmingham, they would have unprecedented in interna-
by Wiltshire cowmen, shepherds,
us "contact" him. In doing that! tional relations.
and labourers in a natural way they are following a habit parti- No glossing over of the with an agreeable burr to their cularly dear to the American abstract noun from a verb fact of outright surrender speech and a sensible reliance up-that is, to take the noun belong- then using that as a verb-eglotted dictionary status "Influen
on the vocabulary of the village. Ing to a verb and then ́turn that "to decision." Mr. Mencken does lengthy, to advocate, to legislate, of the French diplomatic But suddenly, in the midst of it, noun into another and longer dismiss as silly such a usage as to progress, and to locate." "To resistance is possible. An one cowman said, "We, with ou verb. The most absurd and offen- that, but he notes with satisfac-progress" is, perhaps, the most agreement was signed and depleted staff. "Instead
o1 sive example of this is the use of tion the official usage of 16 con-verb formed from a nour, but it
interesting of this list. It is immediately applied giv-"we, with many away."
the word "to decision.". Decide is tact" in his country and the is at least not long or clumsy. One ing the Japanese air base Depleted staff! It is the very not nearly swollen, enough for the American Navy's acceptance of may suspect that in a short time
hallmark of officialese, with its swollen-headed Napoleon of the verb "to message."
an eminent Film "Executive". will rights, with significant
dismiss it as paltry and insufficient Latinity and its use of a formal Film Corporation. "Have you de-
for the trumpeting of his forward- license for the mainten-
and imposing word, staff, instead cisioned this?" he inquires with a
He gently dismisses "to signa-looking purposes and proceed to ance of troops to police of the simpler "hands" or "men" happy illusion of appearing the ture" as "redundant." It is, in invent the noun "progression" and the air bases. In other we need not suppose that the Educated Man.
fact, as odious a waster of breath then to use it as a verb. "The
fact that we have decisioned words the Japanese have cowman wished to be imposing
and space as "to decision," since create, an All-Star Motion-Picture It adds two more syllables to gin Glorious Stereoscopic Techni-. forced open the doors, en- and to seem a fine, book-learned There is, of course, a good.cuse
colour to run for eight hours tered under the cloak of speaker at the "mike." He might for keeping the language fluid and perfectly good word of one. That with only two intermissions Indi- have used the phrase any day at receptive. Mr. H. L. Mereken. ridiculous habit of making addicates the rate of progressioning legal authority, obtained his own fireside, because words of some of whose observations on this tions, in order to seem important, envisaged by Paragon Pictures, an invitation that smells this kind come pouring over the matter were recently quoted in is to be seen again in the film Incidentally, Britain seems now of gunpowder and bears air and are inserting themselves the "Reader's Digest," the appearance of some- thing superimposed on a military map.
The French surrender is a part of the collapse that started on the battle-| fields of France. Admiral De Coux gave in after weeks of negotiating, showing numerous bursts of firmness against odds too great for him and pos- sibly the defence forces at his command.
is no de-
So far there finite indication of what Hanoi expects next. Sure- ly there could have been no assumption that the surrender settles the case, that Japan will stop on an entering wedge. It is im- possible to imagine a sit- uation much more unsat- isfactory and much more certain of further develop- ments.
Japan has established a new front, at virtually no cost has made a material advance. But the advance is one that requires a follow-up before it pays dividends, in either a mil- itary or an economic way. The Japanese now are in a position to strike at China from another side, or rather from an exten- sion of a side that already existed. But it is a virtual certainty that China will strike back and that the war will move into Indo- China, and this may fur- ther force the hand of the French colonial authorit- ies, may bring further de- velopments in the direc- tion that already has been set or may effect a rever- sal, depending on
the
A
to
to have swallowed and, as well as justly trade's use of the word "to author" may be, digested the American use of "executive” as a noun. Be- ing long and Latin, it is a natural favourite with those who so learnedly call a lift an "elevator" and bid you "operate" instead of work it.
SEA VIEW
PROPRIETRESS; MRS.J. BULL
FOR
TARIFF
APPLY ORDERLY
CLERK
Mr. Mencken mentions several other cases of turning a long noun into a verb. American business, and possibly English business too by now, uses "to questionnaire" when it means "to ask.” There is some excuse for the curt and expressive verb to net-work" as applied to the "hook-ups" of the American radio systems, and Sales Talk may surely have "to gift- price" if it insists, as it has al- ready had "to style" for its tal- loring departments.It would be priggish and futile to deny the their various crafts and trades own especial lingo. What is de- sirable is to keep those crafts and trades from employing the heavy, monotonous jargon dear to officials and the big commér cial “executives.” When farm lab- ourers talk about "depleted staff” it is as much time to cry for mercy as when we read on the screen of a new picture about Shakespeare or Chaucer that it' lias. been "authored and signatur ed" by Sol P. Schmalzheimer,.
Nobody in his senses wants to pin a language down. Indeed, amid the chances and changes of our time. It would be as hard so to do as for one man to tack down a carpet in a gale of wind We shall welcome the new verb whenever it is effective and attractive, as "to spaniel" certainly was and we might very well revive many simple and significant verbs that have fallen into disuse, presum- . ably because they were too sim- ple for a pretentious age-"to" cog," for example, meaning "to Jeheat" or "to deceive”. But` “we' shall, I hope, draw the strictest line at the more classical formid- ables like to signature" and "to decision."
How far America has been overwhelmed by this passion for (classicism is revealed in another farticle in the same "Reader's Dig- est." -This concerns the follow- ers, of the holy man of Harlem, who has called himself in turn The Messenger, 'Major J. Devine, Father Divine, and finally God. This celestial, who has an im-. Įmense..following, bids the flook
and: contact me hormoniously” assures them that he is "visibilat- ing and tangibilating" their fond- est imagination. The gentleman muy act as a very good influence on the ethics and happiness of
Sike Harlem, but he is plainly doing
grinding of the stones be- SHALL WE CHANCE A WEEK-END, MUSSO, OR WOULD tween which the French
colony is caught.
YOU PREFER TO
O WINTER IN EGYPT?
the American language, no servico whatsoever. The Negroes who once mado, their spirituals out of Bible English were fortunate to avoid this dreadful jargon of the new evangelism.
འདུན་