THE KING'S ENGLISH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20307, 15 July 1929, Page 9

THE KING'S ENGLISH.

VIEWS REGARDING "COBBER."

ORIGIN OF THE WORD. [from our own coruksponbent.] SYDNEY,. July 4. There is an insistent demand by some members of (lie local judiciary for the expression in the Courts of English in its purest and undefilcd form. r Jo insist upon good English is right, hut somo people think that some of the Judges go just a little too far in the matter. The latest dictum from the Bench is tjiat "cobber" is a "slum" wort!. This word—it is claimed—is just as good Australian, and therefore English, as the word "boomerang," for example. It has an even deeper sentimental meaning than the word "friend." • "Cobber" is an accepted Australian word, whether tho Judges like it or not.

Rabbi Cohen, the leader of tho Jewish community in Sydney, is authority for tho statement that tho word —and it is not at all distasteful to him—is simply a corruption of "Chaber" in Hebrew, meaning companion or mate. Tho Rabbi, who sees unmistakably tho development of an Australian Hebrew pronunciation, recalls tho days when ho was in the ministry in Dublin, and the children of the Jewish community thero spoko Hebrew with a distinct brogue. The word "cobber" is not the only good homely Australian word that has its genesis in Hebrew. Take tho word "shickor, for example. Everyone knows tho meaning of it. It is derived from the Hebrew "skikur," which means tho same thing—that is, intoxicatod.