23 JULY 1932, Page 15

ENGLISH?

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your Edinburgh correspondent objects to my use of the word "fan." But he will note that I was careful to add "if the word can now be respectably used without the use of inverted and apologetic commas." I gather from his indig- nation that it cannot so be used. And I, for one, am heartily glad to know this. It is a strange coincidence that his letter confirms the points I have been making in a recent course of lectures on "The Beauty of the English Language." The films are not the only menace to our speech. Hardly less injurious is the convention known as "singers' English," a product of an Italian invasion.—! am, Sir, &c., Stone Roof, Drax Avenue, S.W. 20. BASIL MAINE.