Letters
LETTERS Trenchant Mouth ____~ I agree with much that James Fallows says in his piece [“Language Barriers,” September], but I think he should know that there are those interested in the language...
...I cannot refrain from asking you, invidious display though it may be, whether you are pleased when your magazine contains such phrases as “he first trooped into Mike Mansfield’s office with great-uncle Carl Vinson” and “The unwillingness to pursue his instincts...
...Aren’t these examples of “invidious display” to demonstrate “breeding” that you deplore...
...From the same article, we learn that Senator Sam Nunn “successfuIly pushed an amendment through the Senate...
...They should be taught that thedifference betweengood and bad writing is how close it comes to transmitting the message they intend and not transmittingothers...
...Were you putting down other Washington restaurants...
...Can any reader have misunderstood the meaning of “successfully pushed an amendment through”or “trooped into [the] office...
...But the realquestion is why Mr...
...You admire the British medical journal, 7he Lancet, for its “readable, sometimes even vivid, prose...
...And can one man, or even two, troop...
...In your September issue, one of your contributors makes fun of the way Senator John Stennis pronounces “specifically...
...How does this “bring people together...
...Let mesuggest some analogies...
...You are also against “putting down others...
...LETTERS Trenchant Mouth ____~ I agree with much that James Fallows says in his piece [“Language Barriers,” September], but I think he should know that there are those interested in the language who are not trying to enforce “a tyranny of anxiety” when they try to preserve the language from such usage as “the most unique,” “hosting,” “gifting,” and “opt...
...He says that I oppose “flexibilityand change...
...He says that I engage in “one of today’s few socially acceptable forms of snobbery,” which is “invidious display” and “conspicuous consumption” intended to demonstrate that one is “well-bred...
...Are you puttingdown American medical publications...
...Newman who did not see that the unusual spelling of “specifically” was designed not to ridicule John Stennis but to praise him by highlighting the contrast between his insistence on details and theother senator‘s airy generalization...
...I am arguing that an addiction to jargon and pompous language is not helpful to a nation...
...The reason we have language is so we can communicate...
...Yes, there are differences, but they are vital matters only to those obsessed by class and snobbery...
...Newman have found these constructions so painfully awkward or redundant as to merit specialcriticism?Isourability to communicate undermined by the use of “trooped”in a context whose overtones are clearly military, or by “successfully” to underscore a point...
...Can Sam Nunn Escape the Respectability Trap...
...Fallows misrepresents my viewsand my purpose...
...Iarguealso that thenotion thatsuchadesire to use the language well is snobbish misleads millions of Americans into denying themselves the immense pleasure that English has to offer...
...There is another kind of word “scholarship” that is exemplified by Edwin Newman’s letter...
...Newman’s argument...
...A sense of proportion is indispensable, but do you recommend ignorance in such matters...
...You are unhappy about the care the White House puts into choosing wines for formal dinners...
...And why bother about the food at White House dinners...
...That is what I meant in praising books such as 7he Elements of Style, which are designed to teach people how to convey meaning...
...It would be so much friendlier...
...Why not send out to the nearest take-awayestablishment?Surely that would be more democratic...
...LILLIAN THOMPSON Winston-Salem, North Carolina In your September issue, James Fallows identifies me as a member of “the make-a-fuss-over-usage school of linguistics...
...Can many of them besides Mr...
...And why, if one follows your line of reasoning and James Fallows’s, won’t any old place witha bed do?Youcarryanadvertisementfor the Iron Gate Inn, which quotes you as calling it “the most charming setting for outdoordiningindowntown Washington...
...Let me try again...
...When words or phrases are used in a way that impedes communication, they should be corrected...
...As for “the petty nuisances who write letters to the paper whenever they see the word “finalize”-Lord love ’em, 1 hope they win the battle...
...By the way, what sort of wine list does the Iron Gate have...
...He wrote with good sense and gentle good humor...
...And what if a surgeon does not use his instruments skillfully...
...You recommend that nobody go toa hospital before investigating it and one’s doctor’s reputation...
...Thoughts of worth” are not couched in such language...
...Newman’s mandarin rules, he sustains Jim Quinn’s accusation that he has too few facts on his side to justify such pomposity...
...In your own “Tilting At Windmil1s”in thesameissue, you write that you are against snobbery because “we’re for democracy, for finding ways to bring people together instead of separating them into classes...
...Jonathan Alter, September] How does one pursue an instinct...
...Your magazine makes suggestions about “Where to Stay in Washington,” recommending some hotels that are “tasteful” and “stylish” and regretting that one is “far from elegant...
...But what about the difference betweena shirt with analligatorand one without?Or betweenadoctorwho drives a Mercedes and one who drives an Oldsmobile...
...But the second definition is entirely consistent with theauthor’s meaning...
...Coming from you, the accusation that 1 am snobbishly trying to put people down and separate them into classes is ludicrous...
...Farfromit...
...There is a difference between a shirt that will shrink and one that will not, between a shirt whose colors are fast and one that will run...
...No doubt that is more noteworthy than unsuccessfully pushing an amendment through the Senate...
...There is a difference between a doctor who knows what he is doing and one who does not...
...These differences are significant, especially in the case of the doctor, and worth insisting on-as is the difference between language that conveys its meaning and language that does not...
...For the same reason, I believe that students should spend far more time learning English composition than they are nowexpected todo...
...Wouldn’t it be undemocratic to dine there...
...Even if the game were to be played, as it should not be, by Mr...
...Although the author of the book I was reviewing, Jim Quinn, included Theodore Bernstein ’in his list of “word snobs,” I agree with Lillian Thompson that he was principally a teacher in the sense I am describing, and deserves a higher regard...
...In the same issue, one finds such terms as “coin of the realm,” “penchant,” “impasse,” and “oenophilia...
...EDWIN NEWMAN New York, New York James Fallows replies: I seem to have fallen short of the standard I was trying to propose, that of getting one’s meaning across...
...Is there anyone except Mr...
...Snobbery...
...In the process, they will learn that it is harder to express a point precisely than approximately...
...And surely nobody could accuse the late Theodore Bernstein of ridiculing or of being petty or arbitrary...
...It is“togoone’sway: WALK (-edoffrornarker...
...A final point: Why not sprinklemistakesingrammar through your magazine...
...So it is with Mr...
...Newman should be wasting his time on “trooped” at all instead of concentrating on the substance of the article in which it appeared...
...Aren’t the more skillful surgeonsjust showing off and putting other surgeons down...
...Webster’s New Internationd Dictionar-v (unabridged), for example, lists the first definition of the verb “troop” as “to gather in crowds...
...Is that vivid prose “invidious display...
...Neither is incompetence...
Vol. 14 • November 1982 • No. 9
