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> According to the compilers of the monumental Dictionary of American English (now abuilding in Chicago), the pronunciation is ja.-lop-y.—ED.
Epsilon Aurigae's Companion
Sirs:
I should appreciate it if you would correct one statement which you made in your article concerning the McDonald Observatory in a recent issue of TIME [May 15]. The determination of the size of the double star companion of Epsilon Aurigae was the work of my colleague, Professor G. P. Kuiper. My own investigation of this unusual star was concerned with other properties.
OTTO STRUVE
Director
Yerkes Observatory
Williams Bay, Wis.
The King!
Sirs:
If 7 meet the King! I will not bow low from the hips, watch the King! closely, shake hands only if he extends his hand first [TIME, May 22]. On the contrary I will accord to him the respect due to any foreign official, and no more.
The prototypes of Grover W., however, need not be perturbed, for I will not meet the King! being only a citizen and not one to shiver in my holy socks on seeing royalty.
Besides, what would the King ! do in Texas?
JACK CARMER
Kingsville, Texas
> TIME, misled by a press association dispatch (since corrected), erred in reporting that the State Department had issued rules of etiquette for U. S. citizens who meet the King and Queen. The Department issued no such rules.—ED.
Sirs:
With reference to the protocol in addressing the King of England, it seems treachery to every concept of democracy to treat him otherwise than we would our own President. To read the instructions issued by the Department of State, William Penn would have blushed with shame (and I am no Quaker)....
These rules may be satisfactory to ceremony-loving, class-conscious snobs in Washington, but I would alter them to read:
Men, women and children: remember that you carry the dignity of (admittedly) the biggest power in the world, and that you are meeting the representative of a friendly nation. Advance easily and look him "straight in the eye"; shake hands if he offers to do so and let him lead the conversation, if any. When leaving him, turn your back squarely and try not to stumble on your way out!
GEORGE R. BROTHERS
San Francisco, Calif.
Hot Water Bottles, etc.
Sirs:
It is indeed regrettable that we no longer have a Brisbane or a Scripps with guts enough to speak forth editorially against the embarrassing verbosity of our First Lady.
Her indelicate releases anent our guests-to-be, Their Majesties the King and Queen of England, reach a new low in the all-too-pronounced American tendency to blab and run at the mouth over juicy but personal morsels that are best treated with a dignified reticence. . . .
. . . Maybe the Embassy did make some suggestions as to how Their Majesties like their beds made, how many hot water bottles they would like, etc. etc.—all strictly private matters that are meat to our gossip-starved public but nevertheless matters that are best left undisclosed. If I were in His Majesty's position I would be inclined to call the whole visit off—or put up at a hotel where one's privacy is a foregone conclusion. . . .
L. M. LUCAS