Word: purists
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1920-1929
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...exposition in the first act. Here your stickler would cry out at the exaggeration; but possibly it was the players who underscored too heavily, and possibly the stickler who exaggerated, so finely did the action cut to the truth. In the second act, and indeed throughout the play, the purist would cavil at the lapses into broad relief; too often cleverness passed for wit, and gross business for eyebrow innuendo. For the over-dramatic, Mr. Rathbone, in the tutor's role, was the only possible offender. It was naturally as difficult for him to disclose his smouldering fires...
...would be interesting to know just how the fines have been allocated. For there was probably not a single alleged error for which it is impossible to find plausible justification. Numberless expressions condemned by the purists of today can be found in the greatest classics written in the English language. After all, is it not a sign of intelligence rather than the reverse to use slang? For it is a well worn platitude that the slang of today is the speech of tomorrow; even the majestic Plato used slang in his deepest philosophical works because of its freshness and vividness...