I have used the Spanish word "pelota," but it merely means "ball,"
just as the Russian word "soviet" means nothing in the world but
"council." English people who refuse to take the trouble to learn any
foreign language, seem to love using these words; they have all the
glamour of the unfamiliar and unknown about them. Personally, it
always seemed to me very foolish using the term "Kaiser" to describe
the ex-Emperor William. Certainly any dictionary will tell one that
Kaiser is the German equivalent for Emperor, but as we happen to speak
English I fail to see why we should use the German term. Equally,
Konig is the German for King, and yet I never recollect any one
alluding to the Konig of Saxony. Some people seem to imagine that the
title "Kaiser" was a personal attribute of William of Hohenzollern; it
was nothing of the sort. Should any one have been entitled to the
term, it would have been the Hapsburg Emperor, the lineal descendant
of the "Heiliger Romischer Kaiser," and yet one used to read such
ridiculous headings as "Kaiser meets Austrian Emperor." What did the
writers of this imagine that Franz-Josef was called by his subjects?
The meaningless practice only originated in England with William II.'s
accession; it was unheard of before. If English people had any idea
that "Rey" was the Spanish for King, I am sure that on King Alfonso's
next visit to England we should see flaring headlines announcing the
"Arrival of the Rey in London," and in the extraordinarily unlikely
event of the Queen of Sweden ever wishing to pay a visit to this
country, any one with a Swedish dictionary could really compose a
brilliant headline, "The Drottning drives despondently down Downing
Street," and I confess that neither of them seem one whit more foolish
than for English-speaking people to use the term Kaiser. The label may
be a convenient one, but it is inaccurate, for there was not one
Kaiser but two.