Notes & Asides.

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: Being a fan of N&A, and feeling envy for your contributors' command of the English language, I would like to opine on this subject.

The basic purpose of any language is to communicate. If what has been said or written is understood, communication has been accomplished. To nitpick the method of delivery smacks of elitism.

My education, along with millions of others', was cut short in 1942, as we had more important things to do. I spent my career in the military with the basic purpose of defending our Constitution and freedoms. One of those freedoms -- freedom of speech -- guarantees this right not only to those who/whom speak eloquently, but also to those who use such phrases as "ain't got none" or "we is."

Proper use of language is commendable, but all do not possess the talent. I was "sicced" so many times while writing "Letters to the Editor" that I often felt the urge to bark, attack, and chase cars.

My writing career was cut short by a liberal editor who/whom didn't take kindly to my conservative views or/nor uneducated ramblings.

Clifton H. Chandler, USN (Ret.)

Santee, Calif.

--Dear Mr. Chandler: You are quite correct. And thanks for your years of service.

Cordially, WFB 

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: Reading your column "Pyongyang Blues" (Feb. 10), I came across the word "averrals": There is a mind-boggling fog generated by these averrals. I searched several dictionaries and the Internet to find the meaning of "averrals" -- to no avail. Can you help me?

Sincerely,

Watson A. Bowes Jr., M.D.

Chapel Hill, N.C.

--Dear Dr. Bowes: Right. I was wrong. "Averments" is the word I should have used.

Cordially, WFB

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: You replied to Michael Streeter's letter (Feb. 10) about the language in The Redhunter: "A novelist's responsibilities include the reproduction of language as spoken."

In the author's note preceding The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk wrote: "The general obscenity and blasphemy of shipboard talk have gone almost wholly unrecorded. This good-humored billingsgate is largely monotonous and not significant, mere verbal punctuation of a sort, and its appearance in print annoys some readers."

Perhaps that was one reason Queen Caroline (Saving the Queen) enjoyed The Caine Mutiny so much, even if she did put it aside for Blackford.

Sincerely,

Albert Alioto

San Francisco, Calif.

--Dear Mr. Alioto: Nice point, nicely made. But here is a distinction to be kept in mind: When obscenity is regularly transcribed, it is everything Herman Wouk said it is. When it is carefully quoted, a point is made that should transcend general punctilio in the matter of printing obscene words.

Cordially, WFB

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: Concerning Mr. Herrick's question (Feb. 24) on the Marine private's proper response to the master sergeant's query, your reply is correct only if the privates are in boot camp. If they are not "boots," the proper response would be: "Top, I didn't say 'nothing'!"

Gene Presti

Oberlin, Ohio

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: For your "Examples of How Language Usage Is Insidiously Becoming More and More Orwellian" file (surely you have one!):

The computer database at a branch of the N.Y. Public Library revealed that the status of the book I sought was "available," ergo on the shelf. After my efforts and those of the librarian to locate the book were unsuccessful, she agreed to initiate a more comprehensive search and to inform me of the result.

Several weeks later I received a notice with the results of the search. It read: "The last available copy has become unavailable."

Cordially,

John W. Eisenhauer

Milltown, N.J.

-- WFB