Editorials Americanese-jumbled jargon
A Midwestern newspaper reports the organizing of a committee of indignant mothers who are urging their local druggist to ban comic books containing the word neurotic. The mothers claim that frequent use of the word has continuously upset and frustrated their children, who are unable to comprehend the word or its meaning.
There is a popular myth that the Frenchman is fluent in French, the Spaniard in Spanish and Americans in English. While there may be more truth than poetry to this delusion in other countries, its validity in America is certainly in doubt.
WHEN AMERICA DIVORCED herself from Mother England, she apparently severed her tie with the English language in favor of jumbled patois called "Americanese."
Americanese employs only the simplest words spelled with a minimum of letters. Our language is almost literally compiled of four letter words. The average sentence contains eight to ten words and avoids complex structure. Sub-dordinate clauses, participial phrases and other atrocities are carefully circumvented.
THROUGH THE YEARS Americans have been careful to avoid words with silent letters. Such words could hinder a writer's capacity and obstruct his efforts in getting his point across. However, even with the use of the simple sentence structure and three letter words the "points" are still failing to reach the reader.
The validity of the preceding paragraphs may be illustrated in the flesh as one strolls down a shady boulevard. Two mop-haired characters communicating, (talking would be a misnomer), closely resemble two sows discussing their latest litters. Intermingled with the grunts and monosyllables emerges a half-hearted "Yea, man."
There have been rumors that NAFE (National Association for a Faster Education) has appropriated several million dollars toward the development of a "talking" dictionary. The new dictionary would not require anyone to have even the slightest knowledge of spelling. The dictionary project was proposed after recent surveys proved the standard dictionary was suffering from non-use and to be more of a detriment to the student than an aid.
IN 1957 THE Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
As a result, American science programs were
stepped up from kindergarten to college levels. Students are graduating from high school with a scientific—and Americanese—knowledge far superior to that of the high school graduate of 10 years ago.
Our society is begging for more scientists, even though the scientist may ask his colleague how to spell the word, the old fashioned, traditional word, "excellent" (with an "a" or "e"). With our nation advancing at such a pace, a worrisome thought rears its head. The progeny of tomorrow may have a bit of difficulty interpreting some of the present finds transmitted by today's Americanese, for in the period of a few decades the tongue may have further developed, making the old, traditional Americanese of today obsolete.
Truly, Americananese has ingrained itself in the American character. Without America's concentration upon its fine and rapid development it could never have reached the peak it presently occupies. If the present rate continues, within a decade the school systems may be offering credit hours for the study of the dead, archaic language art, English.
Jane Larson
Maurice Breidenthal
A university, if it is to achieve and maintain a proud name, must be served and befriended by distinguished alumni. Alumni, through their achievements and bequests, provide in large measure the right of a university to claim distinction.
MAURICE BREIDENTHAL stood as a symbol of the alumnus that every university would value. Described by Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe as KU's number one alumnus, Mr. Breidenthal served his university and his state unselfishly for 55 years. He was proud of his university and he demonstrated his pride through effective action.
His example is one every present and future KU graduate should follow—a quiet but strong affirmation of the greatness of our university.
Mr. Breidenthal was a self-effacing man who would have been embarrassed by a flowery eulogy. Therefore, in kind, we say a quiet but most sincere "thank you" for his efforts in nurturing the university's growth.
— The Editors
- The People Say...
TO THE EDITOR:
During the past few weeks letters have come in from all quarters in response to the rash of peace demonstrations over Viet Nam. Our larger newspapers carry accounts of draft card burnings and student protest marches. Inflamed legislators denounce these activities as "bordering on treason" while the FBI continues to investigate Communist influence in them. The nation is aroused and counter-demonstrations are planned. In this spirit, some of our own students have begun an ambitious project to send letters and signatures to the Marines in Viet Nam expressing support for the war.
TO MY MIND, most sides of the war controversy are playing a political game. Wider, and, in my opinion, more fundamental issues have been ignored. The problem of war has,
The editors welcome letters of opinion from all Kansan readers. We reserve the right to edit all letters for style, content and unreasonable length. All letters must be signed. Opinions expressed in letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors.
--ironically, rarely been attacked by the dissidents. I turn my attention to that problem. As an absolute pacifist, my favor extends neither to the marching protestors or to the supporters of war. I am just as opposed to the war against Hitler as to the war in Viet Nam. My position is "idealistic"—the rational interest of society rejects war. I denounce man for what he is; I conceive of man as he could be, resocialized and rejoiced in a new order.
But the upholders of "just wars" retort, "Let's be practical." To be practical is to be barbarian. While social units slaughter one another, the slow and laberious process of education and science continues. Barring mutual annihilation, the thought processes of society might be rechanneled within a century. I am committed to the peaceful overthrow of the existing order through education and intellectual evolution.
WE LIVE TODAY in a terrible age. Conscription, a cynical crime against humanity, thrives as never before. The worth of man today is as fodder for cannons; the subject of an Oriental despotism might be more secure. How safe e any of us with the threat of nuclear war? Both the Communist and capitalist camps have swindled
Let us rise above this by a renewed determination to eradicate the old, the feudal, the decadent. Trusting to man and to our efforts as men, under the aegis of scientific democracy—we may still do our part to bring about peace by bringing men to re-examine their former beliefs and values. Among other things, we must forget about our own countries and the petty struggles they are waging and join in the truly cosmopolitan search for what is rational. A true pacifist is an internationalist.
WE HAVE A task before us that will not be aided either by pseudo-pacifists or by soldiers.
Gordon Sites
KU senior
their peoples and have denied human rights by the preparation for war.
Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
We were thinking...
— william james
2 Daily Kansas Wednesday, November 3. 1965
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"OUR SORORITY WAS ONLY ONE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENT, ELSE MOTT."
Book reviews
Humor, myth, poetry please literary tastes
You have quite a choice available in the "literary" paperback this fall. The scope: a prose version of "The Canterbury Tales" down to the latest romantic thriller by Mary Stewart.
There's poetry in a new paperback, too—Robinson Jeffers' Selected Poems (Vintage, $1.45). Jeffers had one of the stormiest careers in American literary history. He was vigorous and magnificent and big. The major work "Roan Stallion" is here, along with many others. Something of near poetry also is available this fall—Mary Renault's The King Must Die (Vintage, $1.95), which previously has appeared in a more expensive volume. This is a beautiful tale, that of the great Theseus and the Minotaur. Miss Renault takes the reader into the age of ancient Greece and the transition is much simpler and more believable than that to Peyton Place.
Surely if The Canterbury Tales are going to be read it will have to be in a version like that provided by David Wright (Vintage, $1.65). Wright's idea obviously is that the famous tales can be offered in contemporary language as well as (or much easier than) in that Middle English which to many is like a foreign tongue. If we assume that the tales are worth reading then we can accept this interesting new volume.
A work that will be of special interest to many readers is the satirical collection by Mikhail Zoschenko called *Nervous People and Other Stories* (Vintage Russian Library, $1.95). The writer is known to few American readers; there are humor and subtlety in this group of stories by a comparatively recent Russian writer.
It Used to Be...
By Dorothy Elliott
Nov. 3,1940
Rev. E. F. Price will speak Tuesday afternoon at a YM-YW assembly on "Christian Pacifism as It Applies to World War II." Nov. 3, 1915
Nov. 3, 1915
Robert M. Ogden, professor of psychology, said he believes that individualistic ideals and the collective ideals are real factors behind the war. (World War 1) The Germans are distinctly collectivistic while the English and French are like Americans, decidedly individualistic, he said.
Dr. Winfield Scott Hall, dean of Medical School at Northwestern University and lecturer on hygiene, will speak to the men Sunday on "A Young Man's Problems."
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