Gentlemen and Latin
With thanks to the Financial Times for reminding us of this deathless quotation:
A gentleman need not know Latin but he should at least have forgotten it.
The words of James Brander Matthews (1852 – 1929), a professor at Columbia whose studies spanned both English and French literature, as well as the history of the English language. His short tract on The Englishing of French Words was published in 1921 by the Society for Pure English.
1 comment