The Story of Ain't

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The Story of Ain't Page 33

by David Skinner


  Robert Hutchins on education and, 81–82

  Dwight Macdonald’s criticism of masscult, midcult, and, 223–25

  National Council of Teachers of English on, 181

  William Allan Neilson on, 27–28

  parody of Declaration of Independence by H. L. Mencken, 111–12

  quotations from, in Webster’s Third (see quotations, illustrative)

  Philip Rahv on, 103

  science in, 144

  in Webster’s Second, 91

  Long, Percy, 143

  Longley, Nancy, 288

  Luce, Henry R., 39, 53, 63–65, 78–79, 97

  McAuliffe, Anthony, 126

  McCarthy, Mary, 97, 102–3, 156–57

  McCarthyism, 279

  McClintock, Miller, 105–6

  McDavid, Ravin I., Jr., 183, 277, 298

  Macdonald, Dwight

  as anticommunist, 219

  criticism of Webster’s Third by, 16–17, 273–82, 291–92, 298

  criticism of William Benton by, 298–99

  interest of, in communism, 67, 77–80, 97–103, 151

  meeting of, with James Joyce, 95

  meeting of, with Philip Gove, 245

  Politics journal by, 39, 103, 151–57

  response to, by James Sledd, 283–85

  on usage panel of American Heritage Dictionary, 295

  wife of (see Rodman, Nancy)

  as writer and critic, 37–43, 219–25, 302

  as writer for Time and Fortune magazines, 63–66, 77–80, 96–99

  McKeon, Richard, 81

  MacLeish, Archibald, 64, 66

  Marckwardt, Albert, 149–50, 174, 180, 277, 288, 294

  Marxism. See communism

  masscult, 219, 223–25

  mass culture, 279–80. See also American culture

  masses, 280, 285

  masturbation, 1, 154

  Maverick, Maury, 129–30

  meaning. See also definitions, Webster’s Third

  Jacques Barzun on, 228

  Leonard Bloomfield on, 87

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 47–48, 119

  Philip Gove on, 13, 231–32

  National Council of Teachers of English on, 181

  I. A. Richards on, 70

  Mencken, H. L.

  on American language as racy, 191

  American Mercury magazine by, 65

  on bloated military language, 129

  book of, on American language, 29–35, 70, 112, 302

  Henry Seidel Canby on, 55

  consideration of, for Webster’s Third editor, 145

  parody of Declaration of Independence by, 111–12

  science book review by, 144

  in study by Sterling Andrus Leonard, 71

  Merriam, George and Charles, 3

  Merriam, Robert, 263–64

  Merriam-Webster. See G. & C. Merriam Company

  midcult, 219, 223–25

  middlebrow culture, 94, 224, 275

  Middle English Dictionary, 145

  military terminology, 91–92, 123–31, 159–60

  Modern Language Association, 113, 145

  morality, 47, 61, 151–53. See also taboo language

  Morton, Herbert C., 297

  Munroe, Robert C.

  Philip Gove and, 165, 171, 176, 303

  planning by, for Webster’s Third, 134, 136–38, 171

  on pronunciation in Webster’s Third, 192, 194

  search for Webster’s Third editor by, 141, 143

  Murray, Gilbert, 27–28

  Murray, Lindley, 45

  Murray, Samuel E., 236

  musical figures and terminology, 90–93

  Nation (magazine), 58, 97, 99

  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 89

  National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

  American English Grammar study by, 114–21, 150, 185, 277

  Commission on English Language of, 288

  “Current English Usage” paper by Sterling Andrus Leonard for, 69–75

  English Language Arts book by, 179–187, 229–31, 276, 278

  Charles Carpenter Fries as president of, 46

  Good Grammar Week of, 30

  on language education and linguistics, 149

  National Review (magazine), 222

  naughty language. See taboo language

  negatives, double, 31, 50, 85, 115

  negro, 89

  Neilson, William Allan

  academic career of, 21–25

  as assistant editor of Harvard Classics, 7

  on biographical information in Webster’s Second, 133–34

  death of, 139

  defense of Webster’s Second by, 89–94

  Dwight Macdonald on, 275

  planning for Webster’s Third by, 136–39

  as Smith College president, xiii, 19–20, 26–28, 57–62

  as Webster’s Second editor, 1–2, 59–60, 303

  neither, 116–17, 120

  neologisms, 29, 33, 267–68

  New Criticism, 69, 227–28

  New International (magazine), 98, 100

  New Republic (magazine), 98, 268–69

  Newsome, Tenison, 239

  newspapers. See also New York Times

  interest of, in science, 144

  negative reviews Webster’s Third by, 15–17, 242–50

  positive reviews of Webster’s Third by, 267–72

  New Yorker (magazine), 97, 220–22, 273–82

  New York Times

  criticism of Webster’s Third by, 15, 244–46, 255–57, 292

  Bergen Evans’s response to, 272

  Philip Gove’s response to, 247–49

  on William Allan Neilson, 139

  review of Webster’s Third by, 256, 259–60

  on slang and colloquial language, 32

  on Sterling Andrus Leonard’s study, 69, 71–72

  on Webster’s Second, 5

  New York Times Book Review, 256, 259–60

  New York University, 106–8

  Nietzsche, Friedrich, 65

  nigger, 41, 205, 293

  Nock, Albert J., 235

  none, 74, 116–17, 120, 253

  nonstandard English. See also American language

  Leonard Bloomfield on, 85

  Philip Gove on, 202–5, 248–50, 297

  number agreement. See singular-plural agreement

  numbers, definitions of, 87, 280

  Oakes, Edward F., 141

  obscenities. See taboo language

  Oxford English Dictionary

  Leonard Bloomfield on linguistics and, 277

  as competitor for Webster’s Second, 136

  lack of encyclopedic information in, 257

  on shall and will, 49

  swing in, 215

  participles, 117

  Partisan Review (magazine), 39, 98, 100–103, 153–57, 223

  Parton, James

  American Heritage Dictionary of, 295–96

  American Heritage magazine of, 224

  attempts of, to buy G. & C. Merriam Company, 235–40, 246, 263–66, 287–90

  Jacques Barzun on grandfather of, 235

  criticism of Webster’s Third by, 15

  military experience of, 123–31

  as president of American Heritage Publishing Company, 303

  past participles, 117

  Pater, Walter, 191

  pedantry, 22, 228, 235, 280

  Pei, Mario, 256, 295

  permissive, Webster’s Third as, 245–46, 256–57, 272, 274–75

  Phillips, Willi
am, 98, 102

  phonemes, 190

  pictures, 137

  pissed off and pisspoor, 295

  plagiarization, dictionary, 109–10

  plays, study of language usage in, 48–50

  plurals. See also singular-plural agreement

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 116

  Albert Marckwardt and Frederic Cassidy on, 150

  Pocket Dictionary, 237

  Politics (magazine), 39, 103, 151–57

  politics

  Jacques Barzun on language and, 229

  Leonard Bloomfield on language and, 83

  Cold War language of, 216–17

  language of, in Webster’s Second, 93

  Pollock, Jackson, 216, 223, 225

  Pooley, Robert C., 180, 183

  popular culture, 154–56, 213–17. See also American culture

  Portal, Charles, 130–31

  Porter, Noah, 4, 174, 207, 303

  Practical Criticism (book), 69

  preface

  in Webster’s Second, 92

  in Webster’s Third, 241–42

  prefixes, 219

  prepositions, ending sentences with, 231

  press release, Webster’s Third, 9–13, 15–17, 241–50, 276

  prestige, 136–37, 143, 148, 208

  production cost

  Webster’s Second, 2

  Webster’s Third, 241

  prohibition, 93

  Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, A, 190–91, 194, 232–33

  pronouncing gazetteer

  omission of, in Webster’s Third, 135, 137

  in Webster’s Second, 5

  pronouns, 205–6

  pronunciation

  Leonard Bloomfield on, 86

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 46–47

  Philip Gove on linguistics and, 232–33

  Dwight Macdonald on, 278

  in Webster’s Second, 5

  in Webster’s Third, 135, 137, 189–97

  proper nouns, 211–12

  psychological terminology, 92

  public relations, 124

  quotations, illustrative

  criticism of, 259

  Bergen Evans on, 272

  failure of Philip Gove to explain, 248

  Philip Gove on, in Webster’s Third, 201–8, 232

  Dwight Macdonald on, 278–79

  James Sledd on, 295

  rabbit punch, 259

  racial issues, 89–91, 204–5, 293

  radical, Webster’s Third as, 192, 240, 242–43, 265–66, 289

  radio programs, 6, 30

  Rahv, Philip, 98, 102–3

  Rayburn, Sam, 299

  rayon, 42–43, 160

  Reader’s Digest (magazine), 155

  reason is because, 182

  Red and the Black, The (book), 65

  red-baiting, 99

  regional dialect, 148, 189–90

  Reisman, David, 214, 223–24

  relative, language usage as, 183

  Revised Standard Version of King James Bible, 220, 224

  Richards, I. A., 69–70, 228

  Rodman, Nancy, 67, 77–78, 156, 219. See also Macdonald, Dwight

  Roosevelt, Eleanor, 128

  Roosevelt, Franklin D., 1, 10–11, 66, 91, 112–13, 123

  Rosen, Gerald P., 236, 264–65

  Rosenberg, Howard, 216

  round the clock, 160

  round-the-clock bombing, 127–31

  Rowley, Arthur, 287

  rules, language

  Bergen Evans on, 271

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 45–50

  NCTE English Language Arts concepts vs., 179–87

  Ruth Millard Associates, 9

  Safire, William, 214

  sales

  of dictionaries, 236–37, 298

  of G. & C. Merriam Company to Encyclopedia Britannica, 298–99

  of Webster’s Third, 16, 193, 195–97

  Sanskrit, 82–84

  Sapir, Edward, 71, 173

  Saturday Review of Literature (magazine), 6, 38, 52, 272

  scholarly reviews of Webster’s Third, 294–95

  schools. See education

  Schwartz, Delmore, 102–3

  schwa symbol, 190–91, 278

  science

  academic prestige of, 143–46

  Jacques Barzun on, 227–29

  effects of, on female education, 20–21

  impact of, on American culture, 6

  of language (see linguistics)

  Dwight Macdonald on, 274–75

  William Allan Neilson on, 26–27

  of pronunciations, 192–93

  in Webster’s Second, 92

  Scientific Book Club, 144

  scofflaw, 33

  Scott, Leon, 89

  Scribner Handbook of English (book), 149–50

  Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (book), 153–54

  sexuality, 153–55, 215. See also taboo language

  Shakespeare, William, 24–25, 207, 282

  shall and will

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 48–50, 119, 186

  Sterling Andrus Leonard on, 74

  Lindley Murray on, 45

  National Council of Teachers of English and, 179

  in Webster’s Second, 5, 93

  Shawn, William, 220–21

  singular-plural agreement

  Sterling Leonard on, 73–74

  Bergen Evans on, 253

  Wilson Follett on, 258

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 116–17, 120

  Skeel, Emily, 3

  slang. See also American language; colloquial language; informal English; nonstandard English

  Leonard Bloomfield on, 86

  Philip Gove on, in Webster’s Third, 202–5, 248

  Dwight Macdonald on, 278–79

  H. L. Mencken on, 33–34

  James Sledd on, 295

  in Webster’s Second, 5

  Sledd, James

  criticism of Webster’s Third by, 294–95

  defense of Webster’s Third by, 269, 283–85, 292, 298

  on dictionary plagiarism, 110

  on NCTE Commission on the English Language, 288

  research of, on Samuel Johnson, 303

  Sleeth, Charles, 196

  Smith College, xiii, 19–21, 26–28, 57–62, 139

  Smyth, Henry DeWolf, 145

  snafu, 129

  socialism. See communism

  Society for Pure English, 51–55, 62

  sociological terminology, 214–15

  Soviet Union, 159, 216–17, 219. See also communism

  specialized dictionaries, 133, 135, 137–138

  speech. See spoken language

  Speer, Albert, 131

  Spender, Stephen, 222

  split infinitives, 1, 11, 50, 93, 117

  spoken language. See also American language

  Henry Seidel Canby on, 53

  Ira Eaker’s, 125–26

  formal platform, 5, 19, 91

  Charles Carpenter Fries on, 113, 120

  Philip Gove on colloquial language as, 203–4

  Lyndon Johnson’s, 299

  Abraham Lincoln’s, 31–32

  Henry James on, 30

  NCTE English Language Arts on, 182

  Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, 66, 91, 112–113, 123

  Springer, Sara, 236–37

  Standard Dictionary, Funk & Wagnalls, 136, 191, 194

  standard English. See also American language

  Leonard Bloomfield on class and, 85

  Charles Carpenter
Fries on, 112–21

  Philip Gove on, 11–13, 203, 209

  Stearns, Scott, 239

  Story of Webster’s Third, The (book), 297

  Strainchamps, Ethel, 267–68, 273, 303

  structural linguistics, 16–17, 81-87, 276–77, 281, 301. See also linguistics

  subject-verb agreement. See singular-plural agreement

  substandard English. See also American language

  ain’t as, 242

  Leonard Bloomfield on, 85

  Philip Gove on, 203, 250

  nigger as, 41

  supreme authority, dictionary as. See authority, dictionary as

  swung dash symbol, 292–93

  Symposium on Language and Culture, 298

  Syntopicon (book), 221

  taboo language

  Leonard Bloomfield on, 86

  censorship of, in Shakespeare’s works, 24–25

  Philip Gove on, 295

  Webster’s Second on, 1, 89–90

  Webster’s Third on, 204

  Teacher in America (book), 146-148

  technical terminology, 92, 123, 130, 146–47, 214

  television terminology, 213

  Time magazine, 78–79, 105–6, 124, 267–68

  traffic accidents article, 105–6

  Trilling, Lionel, 153–55

  Trotsky, Leon, 97–99, 100

  Truman, Harry, 299

  Twaddell, W. Freeman, 163–65, 191, 193–97, 303

  Twain, Mark, 30–31, 222, 257

  uninterested, 280

  University of Chicago, 81, 87, 221

  University of Michigan, 45–46

  un- prefix, 219, 280

  usage. See also grammar

  correctness based on, 294

  dictionaries as authorities on (see authority, dictionary as)

  Bergen Evans on, 251–54

  Sterling Andrus Leonard on, 69–75

  Dwight Macdonald on, 274–75

  Albert Marckwardt on, 149

  NCTE English Language Arts on, 182–83

  William Allan Neilson on, in Webster’s Second, 89

  in Webster’s Third, 11–13, 231, 248–250, 274

  usage panel, American Heritage Dictionary, 295–96

  U. S. Army, study of letters to, 113–21

  U. S. Steel Corporation, 79–80

  Utley, Francis Lee, 193, 195

  verbal illustrations, 205–6. See also quotations, illustrative

  very, 72–73

  vulgar English 114-121

  vulgar language, 5. See also colloquial language; informal English; slang; taboo language

  Walcott, Fred G., 149

  Wallace, David Foster, 16, 297–98

  Wall Street Journal, 267

  Warfel, Harry R., 184–87, 303

  war terminology, 91–92, 123–31, 159–160

  Washington, Booker T., 91

  Washington Post, 260–61

  Washington Sunday Star, 243–44

 

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