Quote by Raymond Chandler

It is a mass language only in the same sense that its baseball slang is born of baseball players. That is, it is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be within the grasp of superficially educated people. It is not a natural growth, much as its proletarian writers would like to think so. But compared with it at its best, English has reached the Alexandrian stage of formalism and decay.

It is a mass language only in the same sense that its baseba

Summary

This quote suggests that the language used by writers is a specialized form, manipulated to convey nuanced ideas in a way that is understandable to the general public. While some may argue that this language is a natural language that has evolved from proletarian writers, the quote claims that it is a deliberate creation rather than an organic growth. In contrast, the English language is seen as being in a state of formalism and decline when compared to this controlled and precise mass language of writers.

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By Raymond Chandler

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