serve for new things or ideas. But there was one
time when a great reduplication of the vocabulary occurred. After the
French conquered England in 1066, English and Norman-French were
spoken side by side. The resultant tongue, composed of both, offered
many doubles for the same idea. In some instances the fashionable and
aristocratic French word marked a difference of meaning as is clearly
indicated by such pairs as _beef_ and _ox_, _veal_ and _calf, mutton_
and _sheep_, _pork_ and _pig_. In many other cases words of French and
English origin are separated by differences less distinct. Such are
_love_ and _affection_, _worship_ and _adoration_. A speaker must take
thought of such groups, and consciously endeavor to use the more
appropriate for his purpose.

Anglo-Saxon and Romance. It may help him to remember that the
Anglo-Saxon words are the more homely, the closer to our everyday
feelings and experiences, the expression of our deepest ideas and
sentiments, the natural outspoken response to keen emotion. On the
other hand, the Romance words--as they are called, whether from the
French or directly from the Latin--are likely to be longer; they
belong generally to the more complicated relationships of society and
government; they are more intellectual in the sense that they
represent the operations of the brain rather than the impulses of the
heart. They deal with more highly trained wills, with more abstruse
problems; they reason, they argue, they consider; they are
philosophical, scientific, legal, historical. Listen to a soldier
relate his war experiences. What will his vocabulary be? Listen to a
diplomat explaining the League of Nations. What will his vocabulary
be? Have you ever heard a speaker who gave you the impression that all
his words ended in _tion_? This was because his vocabulary was
largely Romance.

The inferences from the foregoing are perfectly plain. Subject and
audience will determine to a large extent what kinds of words a
speaker will choose. The well-equipped speaker will be master of both
kinds; he will draw from either as occasion offers. He will not insult
one audience by talking below their intelligence, nor will he bore
another by speaking over their heads.

General and Specific Terms. Effective speaking depends to a large
extent upon the inclusion of specific terms as contrasted with general
terms. "Glittering generalities" never make people listen. They mean
nothing because they say too