RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29673, 17 November 1961, Page 23

RANDOM REMINDER

; RAIN IN SPAIN, ETC. ; - -

’ Holders of purse strings throughout New i Zealand will note with alarm the revelation i that in England, five i employees of a large > bakery business who ■ were promoted from the floor into executive positions were sent back to i school because their speech lacked a public i school finish. They were ’ taught to improve their i vowel sounds, and so succeeded in mastering the art that they pounced on a new pupil with vile vowels and made his life miserable with instruction. i * What if this cult of

culture should spread to New Zealand? Friday shopping is bad enough now, without being rebuked by the butcher for slovenly speech. The tutor of the English bakers said the difference between an Old Etonian and the modem schoolboy was only a few vowel sounds. An old friend of this column who pointed out the dangers lurking behind the blue and white apron or beneath the baker’s hat said bitterly that they would be giving them ballroom dancing lessons next. Already many shoppers harbour the belief

that the butchers and the bakers are guilty of favouritism in handling the Friday morning queues. So what chance would a woman with an old Harrovian accent stand with a butcher trained to speak only Old Etonian? Even in :he purest tones, a request for a bob's worth of cat’s meat might fail to impress. There is no knowing how far it could spread. But there is this small consolation: a grocer's delivery boy, even if it is Beethoven he is whistling. will still sound like a grocer's delivery boy.