Stories That Words Tell Us Part 15

Again, young writers should be very careful not to use really foreign words to express an idea for which we have already a good word in English. Sometimes the foreign word comes first to our pen, but this may be because of the bad habit which has grown up of using these words in place of the English words which are quite as correct and expressive. Sometimes, on the other hand, the foreign word expresses a shade of meaning which the English word misses, and then, of course, it is quite right to use it. For instance, _amour propre_ is not in any way better than "self-love," _betise_ than "stupid action,"

_camaraderie_ than "comrades.h.i.+p," _savoir faire_ than "knowledge of the world," _chef d'oeuvre_ than "masterpiece," and so on.

One disadvantage of borrowing such words is that they often come to be used in a different sense from their use in their native language; and people with an imperfect knowledge of these languages will say rather vulgar or shocking things when using them in the English manner in those languages. Thus, to speak of a person of a certain "calibre" in French is exceedingly vulgar; and refined people do not use the word _chic_ as freely as the English use of it would suggest. Examples of foreign words which we could hardly replace by English expressions are _blase_, _tete-a-tete_, _brusque_, _bourgeois_, _deshabille_. These have been borrowed, just as words have been borrowed all through its history, by the English language to fill gaps. They have really become English words. But there are many foreign expressions now scattered freely through newspapers the sense of which can only be plain to those who have had a cla.s.sical education. Unfortunately it is only the minority of readers who have had this. The effect is to make whole pa.s.sages unintelligible or only half intelligible to the majority of readers. This is not writing good English. Thus people will write _le tout Paris_ instead of "all Paris," _memoires pour servir_ instead of "doc.u.ments," _ipsis Hibernis Hiberniores_ for "more Irish than the Irish." Such phrases are quite unsuitable to the general reader, and as perfect equivalents can be found in English, there would be no point in using them, even if writing for a learned society.

Modern English, and especially colloquial English, has borrowed a great deal from the American way of speaking English. The people of the United States, though their language is that of the mother-country, have modified it so that it is, as it were, a mirror of the difference between American and English life. In America there is more hurry and bustle and less dignity. It is this difference which makes Americans and the American way of speaking appear interesting and piquant to English people. But this is no good reason for the adoption of American mannerisms into the English language. A typically American word is _boom_, meaning a sudden coming into popularity of something. Thus one may speak of a "boom" in motors, and the word has become quite common in English; but it is not beautiful, and we could easily have done without it. Words which sound quite natural when used by Americans often seem unnecessarily "slangy" when used by English people.