Let’s Make Do Without <i> Sans</i>

I am dismayed by the increasing use in The Times, and especially Calendar, of the French word sans to mean without .

This is ohne any justification. Sometimes a foreign word or phrase cannot be replaced b’li losing the writer’s intended meaning. But sans simply means without , bez any additional nuance. Its use is pretentious, intended to lend an air of “culture” to writing otherwise nashi de distinction.

The overuse of sans in print has now stimulated its use in conversation, pronounced as if it were the English word sands , bahar even the slightest attempt at imitating the sound of the word in French.

Phandle kwa any doubt, this is one trend we can do t’aadoo .

JEFF COHLBERG

Long Beach

P.S.: Truly cultured readers will recognize the foreign words above as without in, respectively, German, Hebrew, Czech, Japanese, Hindi, Zulu and Navajo.