World Wide Words -- 31 Mar 12

[Michael Quinion]

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WORLD WIDE WORDS           ISSUE 780          Saturday 31 March 2012
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      A formatted version of this e-magazine is available 
      online at http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/xxxx.htm


Contents
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1. Feedback, Notes and Comments.
2. Weird Words: Sooth.
3. Q and A: Sentence-initial "and".
4. Sic!
5. Useful information.


Feedback, Notes and Comments
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AMBULANCES AND CLIFFS  Ira Rimson pointed out that an even earlier 
reference exists to the idiom "ambulance at the bottom of the cliff" 
than the one from 1920 that I quoted; it appears to be the original 
from which all other references follow. It's a poem with the title A 
Fence or an Ambulance, which appears online under various authors' 
names and in a number of versions, but is now perhaps best known as 
a John Denver song from 1977. He and others attribute the poem to 
Joseph Malins and date it to 1895 - this is reasonable, since the 
earliest dateable appearance I've found is under his name in a US 
newspaper of December 1901. A community debates whether to build a 
fence at the top of a cliff to stop people falling or to provide an 
ambulance at the bottom to treat injuries from falls. This is the 
last verse in its 1901 appearance:

    Better guide well the young than reclaim them when old,
      For the voice of true wisdom is calling:
    "To rescue the fallen is good, but 'tis best
      To prevent other people from falling."
    Better close up the source of temptation and crime
      Than deliver from dungeon or galley;
    Better put a strong fence round the top of the cliff.
      Than an ambulance down in the valley!


2. Weird Words: Sooth
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At my grammar school, more than 50 years ago, one teacher would face 
a boy who had produced some lame excuse for a task not done with a 
stern look, clasp the lapels of his academic gown in both hands and 
query him thusly: "speakest thou sooth, boy?" He clearly fancied 
himself as a wit, though we mentally added a second "t".

"Sooth" does indeed mean "truth", an Old English word that can be 
traced back to the Sanskrit adjective "satyas", true or real. It has 
not been in daily use for about four centuries, except in the fixed 
phrases "by my sooth" or "my sooth", interjections emphasising that 
the speaker was telling the truth. "Sooth" was reintroduced in the 
nineteenth century as a literary archaism by writers such as Sir 
Walter Scott.

    In sooth, there was that in her face and in her voice 
    when she spoke which almost made Anne weep, through its 
    strange sweetness and radiance.
    [A Lady of Quality, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1896. 
    This work is exceptionally full of sooth - the author uses 
    the word 20 times.]

The two best-known compounds of sooth are "forsooth", literally "in 
truth" or "truly" but which for the past two centuries or so has 
been a humorous or derisive alternative to the disbelieving "Is that 
so?" or "Indeed?"

    "Is one to have no privacy, Glossop?" I said coldly. "I 
    instructed Jeeves to lock the door because I was about to 
    disrobe." "A likely story!" said Tuppy, and I'm not sure 
    he didn't add "Forsooth!" 
    [Right Ho, Jeeves, by P G Wodehouse, 1934.]

The other compound is the much better known "soothsayer". This came 
into English early in the fourteenth century, with the meaning one 
might expect - a person who tells the truth. But within a century it 
had been severely modified to mean somebody who only pretends to 
tell the truth, in particular one who claims to be able to foretell 
the future.

    "I'm afraid I couldn't be a party to that. The Book of 
    Om forbids consorting with false enchanters and deceitful 
    soothsayers, you see." "I wouldn't consort with false 
    enchanters neither," said Nanny. "Their beards fall 
    off."
    [Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett, 1998.]


3. Q and A: Sentence-initial "and"
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Q. Is it correct English to begin a sentence with "and"? [Bob Maggs]

A. Yes.

Though perhaps overly bald, that's a fair statement of the view of 
grammarians and stylists. 

Many of us, particularly if we are of mature years, will remember 
having had it drummed into us in school that we shouldn't do this. 
The rule was often broadened to decry "but", "or", "however", "so", 
"also" and other connecting words.

Free yourself of any concern. All the style guides that I have on my 
shelves are firm in their belief that it's perfectly good English. 
The prohibition is equated with the ones about not ending a sentence 
with a preposition or not splitting infinitives. All are regarded as 
unthinking perpetuations of false ideas that take no account of the 
way in which we actually use the language.

Even writers on style who are usually considered to be curmudgeonly 
mark it as a non-error. Others dismiss it as "outmoded convention" 
or "rank superstition". The first edition of Fowler's Modern English 
Usage in 1926 has no mention of the matter, either because it wasn't 
then an issue or because the author thought it not worth mentioning. 
(Later editions have included it, but only to dismiss it.) When the 
brothers Fowler wrote The King's English in 1906, they mentioned the 
initial "and", but only to stress that it shouldn't be followed by a 
comma. It's hard to find any grammarian, of however traditional a 
stripe, having at any time gone on record to disparage the use of 
sentence-initial "ands". The only one I know was in 1868, who said 
"it is not scholarly" to do so, a view reflected in current academic 
prose, which uses it significantly less than other forms of writing.

But there's often a rider to the effect that, like any grammatical 
construction, it shouldn't be overdone. A succession of sentences 
starting in "and" reads like a child's description of what they did 
on their holidays: "We got in the car. And we drove a long way. And 
then we arrived at this big hotel. And ...". Some writers, otherwise 
puzzled about where the proscription originated, have suggested this 
may have been where it came from, as a way to encourage children to 
write in longer and more complex sentences.

Grammarians and stylists have often pointed out that the history of 
starting sentences with conjunctions in English can be traced back 
to Anglo-Saxon times. The King James Bible of 1611, that monument to 
splendid English prose, is chock-a-block with them. 

    And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness 
    was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved 
    upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be 
    light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it 
    was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
    [Genesis, King James Bible, 1611. In the first chapter 
    alone, 33 sentences begin with "and"; 11 more occur after 
    colons. The whole KJB has 12,863 instances.]

The translators kept the narrative structure of the original, an 
age-old way of telling a story, long predating English, which to us 
is as unsophisticated as a child's first attempt. But innumerable 
writers have used an initial "and", albeit in more moderation. 

    At the end of three yards I shall repeat them - for 
    fear of your forgetting them. At the end of four, I shall 
    say goodbye. And at the end of five, I shall go! 
    [Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, 1865.]

    This was the first he had let us know he knew a lot 
    more about something than we thought he knew. And it had 
    happened years ago.
    [To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, 1960.]

    Of course you were far too young to remember. But who 
    says? If love travels at the speed of light then it could 
    have other powers just on the edge of the possible. And 
    things create impressions on babies.
    [London Fields, by Martin Amis, 1989.]

I'd go further than just to say it's allowable and argue it can be a 
stylish way of introducing a follow-on thought or the development of 
a narrative; it's given emphasis through being separated from what 
precedes it by a full stop.
    
    
    "Come in," cried Miss Squeers faintly. And in walked 
    Nicholas. 
    [Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens, 1865.]

So "yes" it is. But use it consciously, in awareness of your 
intended readership, and certainly not to excess.


4. Sic!
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The old ones are still the best. In a quote from the Queen's speech 
to the joint houses of Parliament that appeared in the Independent 
on 20 March Paula Maier found this: "The work of millions in the 
professional and voluntary services, whose efforts were for the 
pubic good, would also be recognised this year."

Anthony Baker, John Neilson and Barry Joy all sent this sentence 
from the Sydney Morning Herald of 26 March: "A critical incident 
investigation was underway last night after a man was killed by a 
police officer for the second time in a week".

Weather forecasters' phraseology is sometimes charming, sometimes 
incongruous. The forecast on BBC Radio 4 at lunchtime last Tuesday 
confirmed that Britain's unseasonal heat wave was continuing: "The 
whole of the country has wall-to-wall sunshine".

Chip Clark pointed me to the New York Times' After Deadline section, 
in which errors of grammar and style in the paper are discussed. One 
was from the issue of 17 March: "This year, Mr. Adelson has given at 
least $10 million, along with his wife, to support Newt Gingrich's 
presidential campaign". It has been corrected online.

An all day visitor parking voucher issued by Islington Council to 
Alan Clayton contained this warning: "You are liable to a penalty 
charge if you ... do not use the voucher other than as described 
above. He commented, "Damned if you do and damned if you don't!"

Robert Waterhouse found this in the March issue of What's Out, the 
Addis Ababa events guide: "A spacious paint house for rent located 
in the upscale Bisrate Gebriel neighborhood; Balcony on every side; 
A 360 degree paranoiac view of Addis."


5. Useful information
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