Show MODERN MAKERS OF LIVE SLANG ten writers get credit for enriching 0 language 0 wilfred J funk knows wo words ads lie he ought to because lie publishes dictionaries tion aries and ami writes poetry highly dissimilar occupations but both bogli dealing in word so lie he may properly erl y qu qualify a 1 1 f y n ns s a an n c expert y pe rt 0 on n s slang lan g one 0 ne awls f c e 1 s alint t 1 at he 1 ie is 1 s A bit bl t too to 0 es x cl clesle however in crowning only ten americans us as the fathers of modern slang or the argot ot of contemporary americana it if ou must give your slang it highbrow highbrown high brow label this Is s said a I 1 d in n n no 0 disparagement p ir a n t ifil aa als eme of the m magnificent a m n e exi t audacity d a c at y ich i tb which the ten he be mentions have committed in ahern on innocent english the ten sime silverman 11 II L T A dorgan walter winchell bugs baer ring lardner Lard ncr dawon damen runyon Itu nyon golett durgess burgess george ade and gene huck buck are leaders no doubt in the creation of the new and startling jargon but their task Is shared by thousands of 0 others mostly anonymous who daily are coining new ian language ua q and putting it into circulation the chances are arc that the most popular and enduring examples of slang should they be traced to their birth by a careful scholar could not bo be riven given a definite paternity like topsy they just grew not a few of oe them grew on the erport pi vs of american newspapers witness the verb to merkle or to imil a merhle which arose from an 1113 unfortunate fortunate but spectacular inc incident dot in a certain world series ot of 20 years 0 ngo go and ion long lefore before the modern amer lean can sport paw bloomed to its present flo lower flower of lingual license slang was being built in uie the same manner artemus ward orpheus C kerr and V nas nasby by were doing it half a century or more ago and bere them were other generations of tiang ing founders some ot of them attained a bit of fame in their day most of them are forgotten long ngo the wise began to r recognize e co g that flang Is good er 1 s h 1 in a bogl t the i making a 1 they 1 icy poo po c d the tp puro ests s strictures t r e of the h e purists and hair splitters much ex es slang is now in the dictionaries frequently without t the patronizing libel label ot of colloquial happily all slang does docs not make vie uie grade of good or accepted english engish frequently it Is not apt and falls 1 ls 0 of f lt its s 0 own iv n w weight ei g li t go good 0 1 I s slang 1 a n fa a and n 1 l w we e m maintain ai n t aili t that h i t the 1 definition l e fin i t i n Is valid sl should b be e d direct i r oc t i illuminating 1 1 t isar vald clet bout lol a detour u to g greater r ea t e r c clarity la r i t y along the sometimes aoa tedious highways bighea Ys of language As such it merits a permanent ina place th in the tha language and if it 1 Is 13 3 good enough it will attain it cleveland plain dealer |