NOT STILTED
SHOPGIRLS' SPEECH
I have made a personal investigation into the justice of the accusations brought by Mr. L. N. Benny, of the Portsmouth Municipal College, against the speech of shopgirls (says a writer in the London "Daily Telegraph").
Mr. Benny had said to the Drapers' Chamber of Trade that "saleswomen cultivate an entirely unnatural, stilted and artificial style of speech when addressing customers." And, he added, which was perhaps more cutting still, that when talking $o each other, even in the presence of the customer, they "relapse into their own very slipshod English."
Jn visits to five West End stores I was, on the whole, agreeably surprised. Some distortions of speech there were, of course, and, in a few cases, affectations. ■ "Mawvellous ' velue—quate impossible tew repate, modem"—that was actually said ,in my presence.
Given my data, the professor' in "Pygmalion" could hare tracked down at least a score of accents to their homes. I: distinguished only three, the
".Jlegent-street-Purley," the' "Oxford-street-Barnes," and the "Bond-street-Kensington" ("only name and a helf guineas—reellah tew amusing!"), which is the most "refaned" of all.
But, after all, these were exceptions. The majority spoke as naturally as people can be expected to speak when they are trying very hard to please; and scores of voices were soft and wholly charming.
"The saleswoman," said Mr. A. Lloyd James, adviser on phonetics to the fe.B.C, "speaks no better and no worse than her sisters. She makes mistakes because she tries to imitate those she serves. The telephone girl does precisely the same thing—and is actually encouraged to do so by tbe PostmasterGeneral. The Church has .its special delivery. So have many other occupations. Speech is only one form of behaviour, and must be studied in relation to all sorts of factors—professional, social, geographical, and so on."
We are left with one conclusion—that tho shopgirl is not merely guiltless, but ahead of her age.
NOT STILTED
Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 140, 10 December 1931, Page 21
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