My
own father, I was going to say, has been involved in some pretty dirty
work in the course of his professional career - - "
"No doubt, no doubt."
"And please to note that he is as good a man as any brother of yours."
"You always miss my point."
"Now try to be truthful, for once in your life. Out with it!"
"A liqueur."
"Is that all? Sleep does not seem to have sharpened your wits to any
great extent."
"I was not asleep. I was thinking about eggs. A company."
"A company? You are waking up. Anything else?"
"An injunction...."
A distinguished writer some years ago started a crusade in favour of
pure English. He wished to counteract those influences which are forever
at work debasing the standard of language; whether, as he seemed to
think, that standard should be inalterably fixed, is yet another
question. For in literature as in conversation there is a "pure English"
for every moment of history; that of our childhood is different from
to-day's; and to adopt the tongue of the Bible or Shakespeare, because
it happens to be pure, looks like setting back the hands of the clock.
Men would surely be dull dogs if their phraseology, whether written or
spoken, were to remain stagnant and unchangeable. We think well of
Johnson's prose. Yet the respectable English of our own time will bear
comparison with his; it is more agile and less infected with Latinisms;
why go back to Johnson?
