SURGICAL NEWS

CURMUDGEON’S
CORNER
THE QUEEN’S ENGLISH
Curmudgeons do not like being corrected!
BY PROFESSOR GRUMPY
There is one thing that really
annoys me and it is being
wrong. This month I have
received a letter from a fellow
curmudgeon surgeon in rural New
South Wales. It reads:
“I greatly enjoy reading your column
in the Surgical News and share many of
your curmudgeonly complaints.
As a true curmudgeon I must take
exception to your misuse, I believe, of the
term the Queen’s English.
My understanding is that the term
should be the King’s English, it having
nothing to do with whoever sits on the
throne on the moment but to the King
James Version of the Bible and the
English used therein. Keep up the good
work.”
It would seem that I was wrong about
the usage of the term “Queen’s English”.
However we curmudgeons are not
willingly corrected. It is not that we are
arrogant know-alls it just is that rarely
are we wrong (Mrs. Grumpy wanted
me to insert “it is just that we rarely
admit to being wrong” but it is my
article, not hers).
We don’t admit defeat readily
so I consulted my old friend, Prof
Wikipedia. The King James version
of the Bible was translated between
1604 and 1611 at the direction of King
James I. I also found out that the first
use of the term “King’s English” was
in “The Arte of Retorique” written by
Thomas Wilson in 1550 or possibly
1553. On page 162 he laments the use
of Italienated English by far travelled
gentlemen who should be charged with
“counterfeiting the King’s English”. Dare
I point out to a fellow curmudgeon
that the first usage is before the good
scholars started on their work for King
James? That puts paid to the NSW
argument. Now Edward VI was on the
throne at that time so the use of the
term the King’s English is fair enough.
Unfortunately for my argument that
it should be either Queen’s or King’s
English depending on the gender of
the reigning monarch is given a bit of
a knock as the next notable use is in
Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of
Windsor” which was written during
the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Mistress
Quickly says “..here will be an old
abusing of God’s patience and the
king’s English”. We curmudgeons are
not easily put off so may I suggest that
William S was confused or that the
play is set at an earlier era when a King
reigned.
We curmudgeons have considerable
respect for each other – it is almost a
brotherly affection, a bit like a Lodge.
I do not want to offend my NSW
brother. I have thought long and hard
about a solution and it has come. Why
worry about whether it is the King’s
or Queen’s English when a solution is
so obvious. The term means English
that is correct – correct grammar,
correct spelling, correct syntax, correct
punctuation and avoidance of the
use of foreign words, abbreviations or
teenage text words (OMG, LOL etc.).
How about “Curmudgeon’s English”?
What do you think of that, fellow NSW
curmudgeon?
IN MEMORIAM
Our condolences to the
family, friends and colleagues
of the following Fellows
whose death has been
notified over the past month:
John Doyle
Victorian Fellow
David Gunter
Victorian Fellow
Alexander Jeffery
New Zealand Fellow
Peter Kudelka
Victorian Fellow
John Jose
South Australian Fellow
John Maddern
South Australian Fellow
Christos Mitrofanis
NSW Fellow
George McLeod
Queensland Fellow
Kevin King
Victorian Fellow
Ross Campbell
NSW Fellow
Geoffrey Coldham
New Zealand Fellow
Victor Fazio
Queensland Honourable
Fellow
We would like to notify readers that it
is not the practice of Surgical News
to publish obituaries. When provided
they are published along with the
names of deceased Fellows under
In Memoriam on the College website
www.surgeons.org
Informing the College
If you wish to notify the College of the
death of a Fellow, please contact the
manager in your regional office:
ACT: Eve.Edwards@surgeons.org
NSW: Allan.Chapman@surgeons.org
NZ: Justine.Peterson@surgeons.org
QLD: David.Watson@surgeons.org
SA: Meryl.Altree@surgeons.org
TAS: Dianne.Cornish@surgeons.org
VIC: Denice.Spense@surgeons.org
WA: Angela.D’Castro@surgeons.org
NT: college.nt@surgeons.org
SURGICAL NEWS AUGUST 2015 27