Information for the Ignorant
Not being thoroughly familiar with
the Polish language, we have been compelled to wait for instruction
from our more fortunate contemporaries before undertaking to pronounce
the name of the man who shot the President. The instruction is coming
in with a rush, but we confess that we are a little embarrassed.
The Raleigh News and Observer, for instance, tells us that
“The pronunciation of the assassin,
Czolgocz, is ‘Cholgosh.’”
But the Roanoke Times says:
“The name of Czolgosz, the man who
shot Mr. McKinley, is pronounced ‘Shollgosch.’”
While the Richmond Dispatch, ever
erudite, presents this scholarly solution:
“T-s-o-l-g-o-t-s is the pronunciation
of the name of the assassin, Czolgosz! Every letter to be sounded
as spelt, except the first ‘t.’”
And the Savannah News is informed
by “a Polander resident in that city that
“As near as the English tongue can
say it, the name of the President’s assailant is pronounced ‘Zolgoose,’
with a hiss at the beginning and ending of it.”
Of these four demonstrations, we may
be pardoned for saying that the one furnished by the News and Observer
is the simplest, the one furnished by the Times is the sweetest,
the one furnished by the Dispatch is the prettiest, and the one
furnished by the News is the most appropriate. We agree with our
Savannah friend in enjoying the hiss at the beginning and end, and
it may be pointed out that “goose” suggests another hiss, if those
two are not enough. However, as there is such a wide divergence
of authority, most persons will continue to call the assassin “S-s-s”
or merely “him.”
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