ON MUMBLING

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1780, 8 July 1926, Page 7

ON MUMBLING

We cannot be surprised at the difficulty of an Italian in understanding English when spoken by the English when we realise that many English people cannot understand it, either, when it is spoken by their countrymen. I do not remember a single occasion when I had trouble in understanding or hearing what was said to me by an American, but I can remember many occasions when I have replied " Urn ! " or " Ur-hu ! " to an Englishwoman, simply because I could not hear what she was mumbling to me, and did not wish to embarrass her by making her repeat, in a louder and distincter tone, most of her remarks. On more than one occasion I have pointed out that an Englishman, when he answers a telephone call, invariably begins by saying: "Ah yoh thah?" which, being interpreted, means: "Are you there?" I myself have heard a •well-educated woman say: "Hah ah yah?" when she meant to say: "How are you?" There is a scene in the enormously popular musical comedy, ".No, No, Nanette," in which a young actress brings a telegram to the comedian, Mr Joseph 'Coyne, and says in that, terribly ladylike tone which is so prevalent on the English stage: "Heah's a wall faw yah " A faithful translation of this gibberish is, "Here's a wire for you." Mr Coyne, who is an Irish-American, gets a lot of fun out of mimicking her singular pronunciation, and talks very entertainingly about the " wah," but I amagine 'that most of his dialogue at this point is of his own invention, suggested to him when he first heard this girl's speech. The author could hardly have anticipated that the words would be spoken by a young lady with a -too, toon " refaned" accent.

Once again one asks oneself how an Italian or any other foreigner with a knowledge of English be expected to understand a young ' person who says: " Heah'e a wah faw yah!" and' means: "iHere's a wire for you?"—St. John Ervine, in Good Housekeeping.