Slang Barred in Boston Schools

My advice to the children in Boston schools is: Don't be slovenly in the use of English. Slovenliness is the result of habit, and once tolerated, it is likely to cling to all of us until mature life. – Jeremiah E. Burke

“Hello” Barred in Boston

 According to Superintendent of Schools Burke the Word is Both Undignified and Slovenly

Do not say “Hello” when you pick up the telephone. Avoid “Nope" and “Yep“ in your conversation when you mean “No” or “Yes.” If Boston is going to sustain its reputation as the “Athens of America” it must quit the use of these barbarisms, according to Jeremiah E. Burke, new Superintendent of Boston schools. It is more in accordance with Boston culture to say something like "This is Mr. Smith talking; with whom am I conversing?” 

“There are many words,” Superintendent Burke says, “to use in place of that undignified and impolite word ‘Hello’.” It is condemned in Boston schools, particularly in classes in salesmanship, where knowledge of dignified and grammatical English is essential. “There is no excuse for the use of ‘Nope’ and ‘Yep’ in conversation. I believe that if Boston school children will check themselves in their use, parents at home will gradually dispense with their use. My advice to the children in Boston schools is: ‘Don't be slovenly in the use of English. Slovenliness is the result of habit, and once tolerated, it is likely to cling to all of us until mature life.’” –Boston American, 1922

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