The treason of the clerks
Sir: A reply to Simon Raven (1 December): Tell me not here, 0 Simon Raven, What rules the Clerk betrays, Why solecisms escape reviewers, Why English usage strays, For it and I are long acquainted, And I know all its ways.
If someone ventures 'This is valid' Instead of 'That is true,' Or 'as and from the 1st September' Or 'equally as new,' Or `crops comprising of potatoes,' Why should it anger you?
Disperse with Aristotle's Latin, Which, in this age and day, Must mitigate against the freedom Of we who lead the way. Why be so reticent to pardon A style that's here to stay?
Don't denigrate against the credit Of them you count as fools; Accept, as dons accept, the voters That vote there are no rules. This grammar is of no criterion, And must be banned from schools.
For moderns, shameless heedless moderns, Will neither care nor know, What slovenly approximations They bandy to and fro, Nor ask, amid the mist of meaning, If you are right or no. Charles Race Barcroft, Edinburgh Way, Queens Park, Chester
Previous page
