the most elegant English, at least a quite
respectable word for newspaper use, is _maffick_. This word means to
make a noisy show of joy over news of a victory. It dates from the
relief of Mafeking by the British in 1900. When news of its relief
came people at home seemed to go mad with joy. They rushed into the
streets shouting and cheering, and there was a great deal of noise and
confusion. It was noticed over and over again that there was no
"mafficking" over successes in the Great War. People felt it too
seriously to make a great noise about it.

A slang word which has become common in England during the Great War
is _straefe_. This is the German word for "punish," and became quite
familiar to English people through the hope and prayer to which the
Germans were always giving expression that God would "straefe" England.
The soldiers caught hold of the word, and it was very much used in a
humorous way both at home and abroad. But it is not at all likely to
become a regular English word, and perhaps will not even remain as
slang after the war.

Besides the fact that slang often becomes good English, we have to
notice that good English often becomes slang. One of the most common
forms of slang is to use words, and especially adjectives, which mean
a great deal in themselves to describe quite small and ordinary
things. To speak of a "splendid" or "magnificent" breakfast, for
instance, is to use words out of proportion to the subject, though of
course they are excellent words in themselves; but this is a mild form
of slang.

There are many people now who fill their conversation with
superlatives, although they speak of the most commonplace things. A
theatrical performance will be "perfectly heavenly," an actress
"perfectly divine." Apart from the fact that nothing and no one merely
human can be "divine," divinity itself is perfection, and it is
therefore not only unnecessary but actually incorrect to add
"perfectly." A scene or landscape may very properly be described as
"enchanting," but when the adjective is applied too easily it is a
case of good English becoming slang.

Then, besides the use of superlative adjectives to describe things
which do not deserve such descriptions, there is a crowd of rarer
words used in a special sense to praise things.

Every one knows what a "stunning blow" is, but few people can ever
have been stunned by the beauty of another's clothes. Yet the
expression "stunning hat" or "stunn