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The Use of Foreign Words,
Clara Sterling Doolittlc, in the Chicago Rec
ord, writes an interesting article relating to the
lose of foreign words in English Literature as
follows:
The use of foreign, especially French, expressions
In English writings has heon carried to such an ox
.tremo in the last century that there is now a reaction
against it. No good novelist of today sprinkles his
jpago with French, as did the estimable writers fifty
years ago. Only heroines of third-class writers c er
fwaved their "mouchoirs" and made "moues," to bo
nre, and thoy do it still almost as much as over, but
Charlotte Bronto and Thackeray used many more
(French expressions than writers of their class would
se now.
1 "Jano Eyre" was published in 1847. It contains
nbetween twenty and thirty French phrases, besides
whole specchos in French. Of course there is the
oxcuso that the child Adelo is learning the language
And has a governess to speak it to her, but that seems
bardly more than a pretext for bringing in the for
eign tongue. The author lots the other characters be
sides Adcle dabble in it, and she dabbles in it herself.
To mention a few instances, she says "faux air,"
"joune encore,' "tant pis," "par parcnthese," and so
n. The climax is roached when she uses "croquant"
for devouring and in a parenthesis asks the reader to
pardon it as a barbarism. Unlike most of the other
expressions it is not commonly hoard, and instead of
begging pardon for it she would better have trans
lated it. Besides the many French phrases there are
five Latin and three Italian ones, all of them coin
won, but no better than their English equivalents.
ooo
Thackeray in "Vanity Fair," published in 1840-48,
scs nearly 200 French expressions. Over half of theso
he puts in the mouths of his characters. The others
ThnpfrArnv, no usos when speaking in his own per-
ri.i son. Much of the French he puts in
Centeel
Jargon.
because he is writing of society, and
the society people of that time used
it. Much of it he makes intentionally bad in order
to bo true to life. Part of it is given an English and
part of it a Gorman pronunciation and flavor. The
author himself says in regard to Becky's ability to
peak French well: "It is a fact, that in a fortnight,
and after three dinners in general society, this young
woman had got up the genteel jargon so well, that a
native could not speak it better; and it was only from
her French being so good that you could know she
was not a born woman of fashion." As part of the
satire of the novel, then, that could be indicated in no
other way, much of the French in "Vanity Fair" is
permissible. Unless one understands Pr6nch, how
ever, the satire is lost upon him. Not all of the
French can be excused even in this way. Every one
must feel that there is too much of it when ho reads
4n this English book, the scene of which is laid
mainly in England, "en garcon," "engoument,"
"eclaircissoment," "locataires," "tartines,""comite,"
"frcdaines," "Que vouloz-vous?" and so forth, almost
indefinitely. Besides the French, Thackeray uses
eleven Latin expressions some of them whole sen
tencesthree German and one Italian. One must
needs bo a polyglot, indeed, to understand every word
jin "Vanity Fair.M
ooo
No writer of Thackeray's high rank would think
nowadays of putting so much that was not English
Jnto. a supposedly English book. The only book of
much prominence of late years that
Common has been heavily interlarded with
iSense French is "Trilby." Here the
Opinion. scone is laid in France and the
introduction of the French phrases
and songs may be regarded as a legitimate device to
ive local color. Even if this is not granted the
expressions may be defended on the ground that
many of them are practically untranslatable. No
English words could express just what they express.
n any case, idiomatic and connected as they are
they stand i quite a different category from the
prdinary French axpraaalpn In th ordinary EnglUh
The Commonef.
aovel. But the objection can be made against thea
even that they stand in an English book made for
English readers, half of whom in all probability can
understand none of them. If this objection had
been made to Du Maurior probably ho would have
said that he preferred to produce exactly the right
effect even if tho number of those who could
thoroughly appreciate it wore small.
The common-sense opinion that voices tho ten
dency of today is that foreign expressions should bo
rarely used. Thoy should never be used to impress
and mystify any one else or to show off one's own
knowledge. Now and then, if one is sure of being
understood, and especially, if one is speaking of
foreign things, pointed and characteristic foreign
expressions give pleasure to both speaker and lis
tener They are like familiar quotatians or references.
They arouse associations that belong with them and
set old memories vibrating.
ooo
It need hardly be added that they should never
be used unless they are thoroughly understood. Mis
takes are frequently made by persons who misuse
foreign expressions because 'of not
The La Grippe knowing the literal meaning of
IS " The them. Every one has heard such
The Grip." expressions as' "She has tho la
grippe." "La" is of course "the"
in French, so that the English "the" is unnecessary,
the expression being as it stands, " She has tho the
grippe." Adams Sherman Hill, in his " Foundations
of Rhetoric" quotes a number of ridiculous instances
of such mistakes. "Nee" of course means "born,"
being the past participle of the French verb "naitre,"
"to be born." It is frequently used for "born" in
adding a woman's maiden name after mentioning her
married name; for example, "Mrs. Brown nee Jones."
Some one, not understanding the meaning of the
word and evidently thinking that it meant "for
merly" or "before," wrote "Mrs. Parnell, nee Mrs.
O'Sliea is still confined to the house." Another per
son having heard "pro and con" used to mean "for
and against" thought that they might as well mean
"in both directions" literally, and wrote, "The horse
cars run pro and con on my street." '
Almost as objectionable is the use of "nom de
plume" for "pseudonym." "Nom de plume," though
it is literally "name of pen," does not mean in France
a writer's assumed name. The proper words to
express that are "nom de guerre," or, more commonly,
"pseudonymo," which our "pseudonym" so closely
resembles. In America the French word "depot" is
frequently used for "railway station." The French
word for "station" is "gare," "depot" never being
used in this particular sense. There seems in this
case and in many others of which it is typical every
reason for using the English word and no reason for
using the French.
English Politics.
It is full time for those who have at heart the
maintenance of the rule of tho people of these renlras
to see that it is not swept aside and replaced by the
sort of oligarchical government which existed'in the
days of tho Georges, and which Lord Beaconsfiold
termed in his novels a Venetian oligarchy. At present
wo have a government of twenty cabinet ministers,
only three of whom axe not either members of titled
families or of families belonging to the untitled
landed aristocracy. In this cabinet the working
classes are entirely unrepresented, whilst trade and
commerce hardly figure in it. The same system has
been adopted in regard to the secondary administra
tive parliamentary appointments. Lord Salisbury,
the head of the government, is a man of exceptional
ability, but he has stuffed the cabinet with members
of his own family; and in order to make place for
them he has "reorganized" out of existence gentle
men like Sir Matthew White Ridley, against whose
administrative action as home secretary nothing
could be alleged. It is openly admitted that there is
an inner cabinet within the cabinet which decides
upon all political issues. The names of this council
of three or four are more or less kept secret, and thus
their direct responsibility to tho country is evaded.
Fully one-half of the government has bs'en se
UcUd from, th houae oi lorda-an aasamblj Inde
pendent of the people and owing no atleghwee id
them. The house of commons has been tricked out of
its true position, as the ruling council of the nation,
and its authority has been reduced to a vanishing,
point. Our legislative machine consists, therefore,
of (1) an hereditary house of legislators, augmented!
each year by men themselves enjoying the right to
transmit their functions to their posterity who aro
drawn from the ranks of the plutocracy, and who
often pay for their promotion to this assembly; and
(2) a house of commbns, which partially, but only
partially, represents the nation, owing to plural votes
being given to tho rich at elections and to the oper
ation of our scandalous registrat ion laws which ex
clude from the. franchise hundreds of thousands of
tho working classes; whilst it is reduced to impotence
by its rules of procedure. Thus a ministry with a
mechanical majority behind it becomes the absoluto
master of our destinies, and in that ministry there is
a council of a few of its members like tho "council of
three" in Venice, whoso names are unknown, but
who rule with unrestricted sway over us.--Labouch-ere
in London Truth.
flockery of Truth.
The beginning of this recent exploitation of war
as a means of furthering Christian civilization, so
called, was occasioned by the decision of the United
States to punish Spain for the brutal treatment of
Cubans who did not assent to tho claim that three
hundred years of conceded sovereignty justified the
repression of efforts to establish a government of the
people for themselves.
Can any one claim truly that there is a real dis
tinction between the present treatment by tho United
States troops of the Filipino in rebellion (so called)
and by the Spanish troops of the reconcentrados who
had often given sympathy and aid to the soldiers or
guerillas, if you will, who desired freedom from Span
ish rule?
Is it not a mockery of truth to assert that any con
siderable portion of ten millions of people who had
never even heard there was a United States of Amer
ica three years ago can now have any intelligent de
sire to bo governed by any one living seven thousand
miles away?
War is denominated the final appeal, a most con
clusive proof of its utter defiance of both reason and
justice, for tho appeal to force must be decided in
favor of tho most forceful, whether right or wrong.
I know that many agree with me that the more
they reflect upon the assertions made in favor of war
by Christian professors, the temptation is strong to
lead them to conclude it to be utterly useless, and, in
fact, a mockery of tho rational action of the mind, to
expend either time or money in the effort to maintain
and extend churches to further tho teaching of such
doctrine. George Foster Peabody, in the Churchman.
The surrender of the West Point cadets to public
opinion is a result justifying the investigations held.
It is well that the youths being educated at the pub
lic expense have recognized that they owe a decent
respect to the views of their benefactors.
The difference in the two investigations has been
very marked. To those who have believed in the
searching efficacy of military rule, it will come as a
surprise that the officers had failed completely in the
effort to reach the bottpm of the trouble, while, with
hands down, the civilian committee carried off every
cover and laid bare tho whole disorder. - For the first
time the. students were brought face to face with
authority, and hastened to make their submission.
Atlanta Constitution.
"Lucy has gone away to boarding school," said
one East End girl to another.
"So I heard."
"But I don't think it is a very high-toned school."
"Why."
"Because it ha3 terms, instead of semesters."
Pittsburg Chronicle Telegraph.
She I wonder why they hung that picture?
He Perhaps thoy, couldn't catch the artUt. Ex
change.
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