Education: Mispronouncer

When Assistant Principal Samuel S. Jaffe of Brooklyn's Public School No. 150 wanted to say singer, hanger, longing, banging, clingingly, his tongue betrayed him. So New York's Board of Examiners in 1934 unanimously rejected his application for a principal's license. Last week Teacher Jaffe, still awaiting the result of an appeal to the city's Board of Superintendents, filed another appeal with State Commissioner of Education Frank Pierrepont Graves. Although statistically Teacher Jaffe has one chance in 30 of persuading Commissioner Graves to interfere, his action moved the Board to consider how many and what kind of words. if any, a New York school principal might mispronounce without prejudicing his chances of advancement.

Said Chairman William A. Hannig of the Examiners' legal committee: "Mispronunciation of common words is bad. Mispronunciation of uncommon words is not so bad. Mispronunciation of words commonly mispronounced by cultured people is also not so bad."

Snorted scrappy old Associate Superintendent John Lee Tildsley: "A person could make an ng mistake and still be a very good teacher."