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Editorial

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Sep 26, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 39.

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Editorial

By Editor

The Use of Slang

The disciples of the Lord in the first century were noted for their purity of speech. It is said of Peter and John that when their enemies perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, and noted the power and wisdom with which they spoke, they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13. There had been something ennobling and elevating in their association with their Master. The holy dignity, the refinement, the beauty of speech, and the purity of language that characterized his life had taken hold upon their hearts. He had become their ideal. It was their joy to represent him. In the holy truths he expressed, the holy dignity that characterized his life-work, there was no cheapness.
A true view of the Lord Jesus Christ will take cheapness out of his followers to-day. When we see Christ as he is, we shall so greatly desire to be like him that the vision will make upon our lives an indelible impression. We find many professed Christians failing to show in their lives this dignity of character. Their conversation is for the most part of the cheap and commonplace. Precious hours are spent in idle chit-chat and gossip. The contemplation of truly ennobling themes finds no place in their hearts, and no expression in their voices. Idle, silly joking and the employment of slang expressions are frequently heard. Such expressions as "You bet," "Where're you at," "Sit up and take notice," and many other cheap, commonplace sayings form a part of their everyday speech.
Nor is it to the younger members of the family, nor to those who are uneducated, that these vulgar, commonplace expressions are confined. We hear many who know better, even public speakers and ministers of the gospel, frequently using expressions of this character.
Their use by this latter class especially is most reprehensible. The minister who in public discourse uses slang expressions or cracks jokes becomes himself a joke, a shallow imitation of what the minister of the gospel should be, in the minds of many of his observers.
If language of this character appears cheap to men, how must it appear to the Holy Spirit and to the angels of God? Some of us may not be blessed with fluency of speech, and for this we may not be responsible; but we are responsible to the extent of doing the best we know. Let us as ministers and laymen, in the pulpit and out of it, avoid the use of slang.