Notes & Asides,

National Review, June 16, 2003

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: You were wrong to say (April 21) that you were wrong and your correspondent was right in claiming "averral" doesn't exist just because it is not in some dictionaries.

It is in the OED, marked, as you so often are by foolish modernists, as obsolete.

Besides, I'd trust your English more than any dictionary.

Richard L. Leed

Professor of Linguistics

Cornell University

Ithaca, N.Y.

--Dear Professor Leed: Well, that is terrific news.

I cannot imagine why the word became obsolete, though no doubt it was crushed by incipient modernists, doing their foolish things.

Cordially, WFB

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: Reading the interview with you about your new novel, I was disappointed at the way you described the Mormon character.

Apparently, this character loses his virginity while serving as a missionary for the Mormon church in Hungary. Speaking as a Latter-day Saint (a.k.a. "Mormon") myself, this is offensive and disappointing.

There aren't very many Mormon characters in contemporary novels that aren't actually about the Mormons, so when there is one, who is such a bad example of what we stand for, and the character isn't balanced with one who sets a better example, the result is to place us all in a bad light.

This is not showing much respect for other people's religions.

Gordon Cummings

Concord, Calif.

--Dear Mr. Cummings: The author of Getting It Right cast its Mormon protagonist in the highest light, with corporal weaknesses most religions were founded to cope with.

Cordially, WFB

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: A recent article in USA Today was entitled "Firms seek alternatives to Asia travel." Whatever happened to "Asian travel"?

The problem is endemic. The huge banner that hung from the exterior of the Kansas City, Kan., city hall proclaimed "All America City."

Perhaps the editors of "Nation Review" have an explanation, but it sure does feel like erosion.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Davis

Kansas City, Kan.

--Dear Mr. Davis: It is okay to wince, but it is not okay to despair. Economies of every kind are permitted in writing headlines and supplying text for banners and bumpers.

Cordially, WFB

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: The word "morganatic" has been cropping up much of late.

It appears in your latest novel, Getting It Right, as manifestly relating to the conservative movement's ridding itself of unwanted cousins, e.g., Ayn Rand and the John Birchers.

Prince Charles's potential betrothal to Mrs. Parker Bowles has been aptly considered "morganatic" in that Queen Elizabeth can't find it in herself to regard Mrs. Parker Bowles as fit to propagate the royal bloodline.

I am curious as to the etymology of the word. Wasn't there a character in Shakespeare with the name Morgan and wasn't she a bastard child and wicked sister of the authentic queen-to-be? If so, is this the derivation?

Please advise.

Michael Goldthwaite

Parker, Colo.

--Dear Mr. Goldthwaite: Now look, you are using me as a just-plain researcher, and that is an ABUSE!

But I did go to the OED, since you are a faithful reader, and I will give you two hints: The word is defined on page 663. And a use of it given pre-Shakespeare.

Cordially,

-- WFB