College men possess one everyday commodity which they not only use extensively but almost as extensively misuse. We refer to the cause of periodic complaints brought to our notice by those who mingle or associate with Williams men--the misuse of language.

This may appear a trivial topic, and probably there are faults in our social system more heinous than grammatical innaccuracy or "lowbrow" talk. But the misuse of the English language so prevalent on every college campus indicates, deeper down, a state of laxity reigning over almost every branch of conduct. Men whose conversation is deficient either in grammar or in taste not only offend their hearens but reveal themselves incapable of verbal self-control.

Slang is at best a temporary relief from the rigor of correct expression, but in a college of liberal arts its continued use is pitifully futile. Profanity is neither more nor less than absence of self-control, and in a community of supposedly maturing men such immaturity is really a matter of shame.

No self-respecting man wants to be taken at less than his full value. Yet haw many Williams men make an effort to be perfect in speech as well as perfect in appearance? And how can Williams, with its distinction of being the only college in New England which will graduate a man without requiring a single hour of English study, expect its students to aim at the ideal of pure speech? College and student are both at fault, and if the ability to speak reputably is a vital part of the well-educated man, then correct speech for its own sake must be emphasized in precept by the college, and in practice by the undergraduates. --Williams Record