Byways of Language

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 417, 20 June 1947, Page 11

Byways of Language

ROFESSOR ARNOLD WALL’S ability to be a light unto our feet among the more obscure ways of symbolic languages and Anglo-Saxon scribes cannot be questioned, but it took what is known as a "Technical Defect" at 3YA to turn his talk on "Runes and Runic Monuments" into a comedy act. This talk was the first in the series Byways of Language, dealt with in a way which was neither too learned nor too condescending, and it was a great pity that its continuity should have been so marred by interruptions and repetitions, Just why the record stuck in this manner we were not told, and although it was put right shortly before the end it was obvious. quite early that a profound apology to the Professor and his listeners was forthcoming. "When cutting horizontal lines," the Professor would begin, "zontal lines, zontal lines, zontal lines .... hic! .... When cutting horizontal lines," and so on. And this, as in the case of the Young Lady of Spain, happened not once but Again and Again and Again. We must, of course, resist any temptation to believe that this was an attempt to prove to would-be scoffers that Professor Wall’s Runes could be as entertaining as Arthur Askey at his best (with due apologies of course to the Professor), and must accept the announcer’s statement that it was due simply to that perpetrator of nearly all

mishaps, Circumstances-Beyond-Our-Con-trol. But it was all very unfortunate, and one hopes that future "Byways of Language" will not be confused in this way.