15 MAY 1941, Page 5

The murder of the English language perpetuated around us every

day is so widespread and so shameless that for the most part it goes unremarked. But there are some limits. If freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell " Janus " may be permitted at least a semi-suppressed groan when he comes on the injunction "Study Busology." 'Subsequent letterpress indicates that the heading is addressed to persons in the habit of travelling by omnibus. As an example of perversity in word-making this has its points. Someone in France a hundred and twenty years or so ago christened a vehicle holding a number of people " voiture omnibus "—" carriage" (French) "for everyone" (Latin). The first word dropped out and the Latin omnibus re- mained. It was brought across the Channel, the part of it which had a meaning (omni-) dropped, and the completely meaningless termination -bus put into daily use. Now to a Latin termin- ation made into a principal noun someone tacks a purely Greek suffix -ology, and so is born the good Anglo-Saxon " busology " —to be added to the now familiar " embus " and " debus."