POINTS OF STYLE. No. 2. INVERTED COMMAS.
Mr. Baldwin has said that he hopes before he dies " to make the use of inverted commas in this country illegal." I have had to use them in quotation of his bold dislike. But .he was thinking (I suppose) mainly of the sarcastic or superior use of them, to mark contempt or disbelief. They are also a cowardly evasion for the heavy leader writer who isn't quite sure whether it's safe to be seen in the low company of slang. How small a distinguished statesman may be made to look if you comma him as a " statesman " ! And, for the condescending use, you may note the growing popularity of ramp. It • has been " ramp," in the leader column, for months past. It is still, lingeringly, " ramp." Now that the election is over I anticipate that it will become ramp—unquoted... Ramp will then be an English word, and no longer a piece of pitch you mustn't touch unless your undefiled hands put on gloves, which, in this instance, are the inverted commas that hold the nasty syllable aloft for disdainful inspection. R. J.
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