THE AMERICAN TWANG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20929, 20 July 1931, Page 10

THE AMERICAN TWANG.

EXPRESSIONS IN SYDNEY. ACCEPTED FORMS OF SPEECH. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, July 8. The complaint of an,elocution authority that Sydney is suffering from what he oxpressively terms " nasalisation" because of its closer touch with American visitors and American speech than the other capital cities of Australia, is not without a large measure of justification. Sounds uttered partly through the nose, otherwise known as nasal twang, are common in Sydney. Purists in the science of language see also in Sydney a shocking tendency towards Americanisation in speech. "0.K., Chief" is now a common expression in Sydney, although not, of course, in cultural circles, but in offices it is quite an accepted form of speech among employees in their loss serious moments. Tho better-clars Americans in Sydney, howover, are never guilty either 'of the slang of their country or of its commonlyriccepted nasal twang. They are less conspicuous, in fact, for the idioms of speech than is the average Australian, although some arguo that the Australian expression " Too right," for example, is far more expressive and human than " most certainly," even if it is likely to shock linguistic purists.