We very frequently disgust people because of our seven-by-nine
vocabulary. When the missionaries first went to the Hawaiian
Islands it was perfectly proper for them to call the horse the
“not pig,” because they knew no horse and the newcomers were
obliged to describe a horse in some way; but it is infantile for
a missionary in countries where horses are common, because they
do not happen to know the word for “horse” and do know the words
for “not pig,” to call a horse the “not pig.” There is too much
guesswork about that kind of talk, and you offend people by so
doing.
Vulgarity of speech is a very common fault with many. We do not
realize, perhaps, how our language has been purified, but in
most of the missionary countries the language is vile beyond
expression. A missionary adopts a word heard because he wants to
use the language of the people; and he picks up something that
is very greatly soiled. I recall a meeting that was electrified
and horrified by a missionary who, in reading a hymn, repeatedly
used an obscene word through sheer carelessness.--H. P.
BEACH, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
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=Speech and Practise=--See PROFESSION VERSUS CHARACTER.