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A Paper With a Purpose, Printed by the Reformatory Boys Doi ng the Best They Can.
Volume III. MiUedgevide, Ga., Saturday, Ju ? v 15, 1916. Number 14
GUARD YOUR MflGf. AGAINST SLANG
A Few of the Ways That Slang is
Robbing the American Lang
uage of its Euphony and
its Harmony
Slant', in its truest sense, means
a low, vulgar, popular, but un
authorized language , the jargon
of some particular calling or class
in sr.cietv, and it is more or less
common in nearly every walk of
life at the present day. Slang words
and expressions have crept into
our every day languages, and so
insidiously, that they have not been
delected by the great majority of
spe ikers, and so have become part
and parcel of their vocabulary
and on an equal footing with the
legiti in ate words of speach. They
are called upon to do similar service
a-i ordinary words used in conver
sat ion, to express thoughts and
desired and to convey meaning
from one to another. In fact, in
some cases, slang has become so
useful that it has far outstripped
classic speech and made for itself
such a position in the vernacular
that it would be hard in some cases
to get along without it.
Slang expressions consist of
words and phases which pass cur
rent, but are not elegant enough to
be admitted into polite speech or
literature whenever they are re
cognized as such. 13ut, as has been
said, a great many people use slang
without knowing it is slang and
incorporate it into eve r y day
speech ; just as a child uses profane
words without' consciousness of
their being so.
In all cases the object of slang
is to express an idea : .n a more
vigorous,piquant, and terse man
ner than standard usage ordinarily
admits. Some authors purposely
use slang to give emphasis and
spice in familiar and humorous
writing, but they should not be
imitated by the tyro. We should
try to avoid the use of slang as
much as possible, even when it
serves to convey our ideas in a
forceful manner. A master such
as Dickens is forgivable, but in
the novice it is unp irdon tble.
A< times it would be difficult to j
condemn some slang words as;
they convey such a vidid meaning j
that it would be almost impossible j
to substitute another for them, and j
if above all they are refined and!
can stand the muster of the timej
they will eventualy, if they have!
successfully stood this test, be j
taken into the American language, J
|
but it has now gone to the point
where slang words have usurped
the place of our regular words of j
language .in many instances and
now reign supreme in their own j
strength and influence.
Remember that most all slang is!
of vulgar origin and bears upon itsj
face the bend sinister ol vulgarity, j
Of slang that is of good birth ; pass)
it by for it is like the broken down*
gentleman. Of little good to any-j
one. Imitate the great masters in
classic literature, but when it comes
to their slang—draw the line.
Are you going to let a new world
an insulting words that has no just
reason for being so, rob your lan
guage of its euphony and harmony?
If you use slang, use the refined
kind, and use it so like a gentleman
that'it will not hurt or give offense
to anyone. Cardinal Newman de
fined a gentleman as lie who never
inflicts pain, “lie a gentleman:
never inflict pain.”—The Electron
The Flag as Adopted by the Con
gress of 1777. Taken from
the Coat-of Arms of
Washington
A fac simile of the first Ameri
can flag is still preserved in the
Betsy Ross house in Philadelpha.
“Old Glory” is a growth rather
than a creation and several sugges
tion ^ have been advanced relative
to its composition.lt has been con
tended by some that the idea of
the stars and .-.tripe- was derived
from the coat of arms of the family
of George Washington , but noth,
ing has ever been found to sub
stantiate the theory except the sim
ilarity between the two designs.
Washington spoke of flag ,»s follows.
“We take lhe stars from Heaven,
the red from our mother country,
separating it by white stripes, thus
showing that we have ‘■eperated
from her, and the while stripes
shall go down to posterity tepre-
senting liberty.”
It was not until a year subsequent
to the Declaration ol Independence
that the first legislation relative lo
the establishment of a national (lag
was enacted. On June 14, 1777,
Congress in session at Philadelphia,
adopted the following resolution :
* Resolved, That the flag of the
thirteen United States be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white:
that the union be thirteen stars,
white in a blue field representing a
new conslellation. ’’
The recorc»sof Congress are silent
as to who introduced the resolution,
1 and there is no record of the dis
cussion that may have taken place
at the time. Little is also known of
; of the committee which designed
the llag, except that John Adams
was its master spirit.
The first tlag displayed under the
resolution adopted by Congress bore
(Continued on page 8. column i. )
HAVF YOU » lJTTJ F nmu{F . \T\7.W JN YOUR HOMF.?—WELL. YOU SHOULD.
