‘Mr Sundries’

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 3

‘Mr Sundries’

"How vwiderful that we aartt On everything from A to. Zee'" "Wow wonderful," 1, an»weT~. leg, raid. “On everything from A to] Zed.” This charming little verse, on Anglo-American relations, is quoted from memory and! may not be correct in every | detail, but the essence of it] is there, and very pleasant it; is. There is. of course, al-1 ways that confusion over “tomahto" and “tomayto." and it tickles people on this side of the Atlantic that the Americans, with their passion for hustle. should say ■'elevator.” thus using three sunerflous syllabes. while the British save time and breath I with “lift ” Differences between Eng-i lish and American speech, and idioms are. however, in; the nature of things, to be ' both expected and accepted.! It is different when it comes, to Australia. There is, to be; sure, the Australian accent which, whatever its merits; or defects, is certainly some- 1 thing that no-one can pass bv \ without noticing, but. in all else that concerns the! language, the differences be-; tween Englishmen and Aus-1 tralians may be thought to be negligible. When an Aus-; tralian commentator takes over the broadcasting during, a test match, however, it be-! comes apparent t*»at this is: bv no means so. “That makes, the total one for nine.” announces the voice from the! Southern Hemisphere, and the listener who has tuned, in late is at once confronted ! with a vision of catastrophe j for which there is no parallel 1 in all the pages of Wisden. He has. as a moment’s re-1 flection shows, got it upside! down and means nine runs; have been scored for the loss; of one wicket, a disappoint-! ing state of affairs, but normal! enough- Later the commen-j tator may say that there are! two sundries, which some! automatic translation turns intn extras. The English word, insular, prejudice apart, seems al- j together stronger and more; powerful Its meaning., ally for parents when; the school bills come in or' for those about to settle hotel accounts, makes, indeed. aI- ( most as strong an impact.! and it seems a law. after the Parkinson model and out-: side the context of cricket; that extras, once allowed a] toe-hold, multiply until they amount to no less than 25 j per eent. of the total charge. I Sundries sounds altogether! dimmer, a vague and de-i pressing word which succeeds! only in suggesting an empty! teashop on a wet day at the* seaside when everything on the menu would seem quali-i fled to come under that par-' ticular heading. On the cricket field “extras" are sometimes allowed the! courtesv title “Mister”: it isj Impossible to conceive of "eundries " being so honoured.'