THE TELEPHONE VOICE.

Mataura Ensign, 15 January 1914, Page 4

THE TELEPHONE VOICE.

By St. J. c. Ervinc in 'The Daily Mail.' tlJSeZ^trtlT 11 ' telephone filing against the Hampstead telephone Z! ™ y -, of th « Iho charges made are varioua n, commonest i s that the omS, < quently answer, ■ please "or "tfo renftt" „f i i&> n >\ the calling subLlS haSed'H nouncing the number he desires AT other charee is thnt JUL """ires. An- ■ repeat §» to a o '' of this inefficiency a ™ odd" Some subscribers assert thn. i\l dl operators are useless ■tW "T* n p.m. are too incompetent for word.

English Pronunciation. One of the things that first .frii,. dropped aitch, for examnlTif i,,~ £«*> to an IrisS*' £2R Ireknd or in Scotland omit, iff*,'" is it «Jn»+v -irx , nor a i ™ZL % l!l, t«rate Englishman « I finds dirficultv i„ speaking the E^riih * a rVrffe^ n i^? 12.*J ffl ' nighly-placed ecc t« astio T f^ 0 at ! d Pronunciation weri •neb that he might have been Tolapuk instead of English^kXn* presses" hj« J' ? / poke « f ,'the major ■SS'wt . -£ h y°" t'inh?" They find ™ ' V , as difficult as the tack »ey find* tho letter aitch OocMirvJ^M. P»»ge contains this heartv letter ™a sist on *(.' ™ i. ; *nom, winliln»??v g the English language ''ooT'%L nfT**** pronounced "0i (the Oxford version) or «n»i" Wr-middle class veS" 'o? "Aw " Wshmfn" LT°- tt) > !"> correalfr n V n * P r on«unc»7 K - aerstand the difficulties of the harassed wcuneu in the te^hon'^ ; Finicky Accents.

Th? normal English voic* i* u»a enough, but when W S takes on »£? for speaking through the tele. K *« a *the caUer wantaTand wheS der that the operator sometimes lolls with telephone manners, but I canfcot refrain from wondering'why it i "hut the average deoently-brea man or vonuui takes on the iaWta ofTooaT heaver the moment he or she gras™ a EST 8 !■ •.**? cf UB ha ™ littHntwt l«lge of how to use a telephone. Some of us speak too loudly; others too qufeS «."„* I ?e Der ?° n !"" 8 »«* so quickly tlat his words coll de in big teeth- and get wrecked; another will speak at a pace w hlch t tlMt at . to Be « funeral mute. One person wiS stand too far away from thVmouTh--8' eC6 i a 5 d otll «r wiU glue Lis lips to l„'„.i- * w ?? n aa Irate fientleman i* bawling at the top of his voice. "Ow ;* sy! i 0 „ ere ,.miss, waddu mean bv thah, miss, keenaiy give me Mump, r ) ,-7 i <v I "r! p .', [nuß, P W »UI" then I nik that ,f I were an operator I BhouM do my best to give thTt perm

The telephone is an imperfect instrument a „d tAe operators fill short o th. angels, but it is conceivable also that those who use the telephones have some ba™ too; and if English people w^uld I£° poak the> dutiful lan K uac» S^.w 1 !? 60 ' and decency, it might, be that the difficulties of telephone robgenbers would be- minimiwd