EASY TO PRONOUNCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 August 1928, Page 2

EASY TO PRONOUNCE

RUSSIANS AND SCOTTISH NAMES

When a Russian who had been born a Palkowski explained to a London Magistrate the,t he had since changed his name to Maxwell, he was asked, “Why do you people always take Scots names?” “Because they aye easier to pronounce,” was the reply. It is an unexpected reason —and one is not quite sure that it sounds convincing (says the “Manchester Guardian”). The popular belief in this, country rather tends to be that Russians can pronounce anything —if only by virtue of the practice which they get in pronouncing the printed versions of their tongue. The witness suggests a different view—that Russians do, perhaps, have diffculties with their own naiftes, so that when a change becomes appropriate they choose something which is easy to say. But are Scottish surnames so much easier to pronounce than English ones? Certainly not in all cases. “Smith” looks easier than “Colquhoun”; “Brown” .ought to present fewer difficulties .than “Farquharson.” Nor is “Urquhart” a very inviting looking combination of consonants, •and “Menzies,” “Dalziel,” and “Wemyss” are often mispronounced on« this side of the border. Of course these are not the surnames which are Usually selected by ambitious Russian arrivals, but they do show that all Scots names cannot bo certified as easy for the foreigner to pronounce. No —it may be suspected that prestige rather than pronunciation is at the back of the alien preference for Scottish labels. Historically the Scot, like the ambitious Russian, is an invader of this land for his own ends —and a very successful and formidable invader. These later arrivals borrow their surnames because they hope that the mere sight of them will produce that “inferiority complex” and strike helpful terror into the heart of the hapless Saxon.