ABSTRACT
John W. Nelson's general message was Orwell's: foreign terms are greatly over-used by writers in English, and should as a rule is replaced by native English synonyms. Nelson recognizes that many of the foreign terms he objects to have no simple English equivalents or synonyms, but suggests that if synonyms do not already exist, simple word-for-word English translations should be used, and he offers as examples. The great problem with Nelson's essay, as with many other treatments of the same topic, is a failure to understand just what a "foreign" word or phrase is. His essay, typical of many that attack the use of foreign terms as pretentious, confusing, or otherwise undesirable, made it clear that the more fundamental problem is not whether to use foreign terms, but to decide what a "foreign term" is. The zeal to replace all "foreign words" with good old — or bad new — English equivalents has been remarked and rebuked by others.
