POLITE PRONUNCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 276, 20 November 1926, Page 27

POLITE PRONUNCIATION.

GEMS FROM AN OLD j DICTIONARY. THE SIX OF VULGARITY. j The pronunciation of words in any language is continually changing , . And j not only is the sound of the word altered, i but in many cases the rueani j also. If, i for instance, we look at Walker's Die- j tionary 1779), «c nnd that! ■"catcall" i< denned as "A squeaking in- ! stroment used in the playhouse to con- j demn plays.' , and "Cadger , as "A] huckster.'' And Walker adds: '"This word is only used by the vulgar in London and where it i< not applied to any j particular profession or employment, but ! nearly in the same sense as "Curamd- j geon.' and is corruptly pronounced as A ' written "Codger. , " "'Hostel," Walker tells us, is "A genteel inn"; "Luncheon. , " "'As much food as one's hand can hold" , : and ""Xunchion," "A piece of victuals taken between meals."' '"Waif" meant in Walker's time ""Goods found and claimed by nobody." "Sofa" was "A splendid seat covered with carpets.'' With Garrick at the Lane. Walker was at one time an actor, playing at Drury Lane with David Garrick; and we are told that he played "second parts in tragedy and those of a grave, sententious east in comedy."' After reading his own footnote to the word ""Fun," which he defines, as Dr. Johnson did, as "Sport, high merriment." adding: "With jrreat deference'to Dr. Johnson, T think 'Fun' ought rather to be styled low merriment.' , we should not be inclined to question Garriek's wisdom .n allotting Walker the parts he did. Walker talks a great deal of "The Polite"' and "The Vulgar"; in fact, it would appear that vulgarity was ro him one—and perhaps the most fatal—of the seven deadly sins. Thus "yellow' , was pronounced by various authorities as '■yallow/ , rhyming with "tallow." John Walker, however, prefers "yellow," rhyming with "mellow." For, he observes; "I am much deceived if the former pronunciation .do not border closely on the vulgar.' , "Chaise," "A carriage either of pleasure or expedition," carries with it this comment: "The Vulgar, who are unacquainted with the spelling of this word and ignorant of ite French derivation, are apt to suppose it a plural and call a single carriage a 'shay.'" The Vulgar Tongue. "Growth of vulgarity" i≤ noticeable in connection with the word "flay."' "There is a common pronunciation of this word as if spelled "flea, , rhyming with 'sea.' which is every day growing more vulvar. 'Sausage' was pronounced, we are told, as "sawsidge" "by the correct," and "Sassidje' , "by vulgar speakers." Here is one of the few instances, in which the "polite" is not used in contradistinction to the "vulgar."' Perhaps the polite refused to acknowledge the existence of the homely sausage. There is a tinge of sadness in liis lament for "unked" (uncouth i. which he mentions, is not in Johnson, and goes on to say: "It is at present, however, only heard in the mouths of the Vulgar, from which state few words ever return to ;rood usage."* After all this, it is a trifle diseoncertinjr to read Mme. D'ArViLay's opinion 01 John Walker himself. She writes in her diary concerning him: ""Tho-jgh modest in science he was vulgar in conversation." Alas: Poor John: