Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1890 — THE USE OF SLANG. [ARTICLE]

THE USE OF SLANG.

Americans the Wont People on Earth in ThU Respect. “A man born and bred in the United States fails to appreciate how much slang he daily uses in conversation,” Baid an intelligent American who had just returned from a continental tour. “He fully appreciates these blemishes, however, when he returns to America after having had daily intercourse with some of the well bred persons in Europe. He picks up these blots on perfect speech so gradually and they multiply so rapidly that before he is aware of the extent of these acquisitions at least one-tenth part of his vocabulary oonsists of slang expressions. This fact is so true of America that even the ignorant peasants of Ireland recognise it when their countrymen return to their native land. As heard in America slang seems to add foroe and expression to conversation, but this is only seeming, for when contrasted with really simple and consequently elegant diction the difference in strength can readily be seen. There are some slang words, however, in the American vocabulary which, if used at the right time and place, find their bull’s eye like a minnie ball. But as a rule the use of slang words is only a blemish on conversation, and its use cannot be too heartily condemned.”