The Story of Ain't
Page 33
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