OXFORD REPUDIATES THE OXFORD ACCENT

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 71, 24 March 1934, Page 19

OXFORD REPUDIATES THE OXFORD ACCENT

How much longer are we undergraduates to bear the blame for -the "Oxford" accent? asks the Oxford "Isis," the. undergraduates' paper. Why is this pernicious form of speech, with its tortuous vowels, and its ludicrous mannerisms, attributed to this University? "AB.J." writes in the/ "Isis. ■'' We have done" nothing to*'deserve the insult. Our speech may be careless; it may be, and probably is, ungrammatical to the point of incomprehensibility; but it is not tainted with the so-called "Oxford" accent. Therefore, let the purists devise .another name for this c ungainly affectation.. Let them call it the "Park Lane Drawl," or by any name except that of' Oxford. • ■ ■

- That such an accent exists no one will deny, least of all the undergraduate. It can' be.heard winging its oily -way in tubes, in buses and in high-class restaurants. It is used extensively by radio 'crooners and smallpart actors, and by all those., who consider it ; an. essential rung in the social ladder. It may, in fact, be heard everywhere except in Oxford. For" during the last few years' all ■traces of, snobbery-; have been removed from this University. -No longer do -undergraduates strive to "live like

gentlemen" to the exclusion of- all other activities. False values have gone, and with them the last vestiges of the '''Oxford" accent. Beality and simplicity reign in their place.

Accordingly, we consider that it is high time for this stigma to be removed. It has long outstayed its welcome, if indeed it was ever looked upon with anything but loathing within the bounds, of this University.

Oxford-has been called the home of lost causes. Then let us admit that this cringing patient has died within our midst. Let us heave him but for the «vil monster that he is. Better far that we should open our doors to some genuine Monster of the Loch than, that we should give shelter to the unlovely beast who brings not fame, but contempt to our University. Tor too long we have remained silent. With the patience of a Job we have borne the blame for a crime of which we have not been guilty. We have been made the victims of a foul injustice. The time has come when we should make a stand. Therefore, let us arise and throw off this noisome thing that has been strangling us for so long. Let us assert our freedom and once again claim citizenship amongst the "-English-speaking peoples.