Ball player 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.”
About This Quote
Source Essay on language (published in 1950s)
English is portrayed as a crafted, non‑natural language shaped by writers, now formal and decaying like an ancient library.
In simple terms: English is a constructed, aging language.
Key Takeaway
Appreciate the evolving nature of language.
Themes
language
literature
culture
Mood
reflective
critical
scholarly
Type
analytical
historical
When to use this quote
- writing style
- educational outreach
- literary criticism
- historical perspective
Key Concepts
formalism
decay
proletarian writing
Questions to Reflect On
- How does popular slang influence language vitality?
- Can formal language coexist with creative expression?
A Different Perspective
The view may be overly pessimistic about linguistic evolution.
![“Hammett was the ace performer... He is said to have lacked heart; yet the story he himself thought the most of [The Glass Key] is the record of a man's devotion to a friend. He was spare, frugal, hard-boiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote…” quote by Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/882/raymond-chandler-629_dashiel-hammett_hammett-was-the-ace-performer-he-is-said_20171.jpg)
![“He [James Cain] is every kind of writer I detest...a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and a board fence and nobody looking.” quote by Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/614/raymond-chandler-629_cain_he-james-cain-is-every-kind-of-writer-i_41185.jpg)
