COCKNEY ENGLISH

Hokitika Guardian, 23 August 1927, Page 1

COCKNEY ENGLISH

CARELESSNESS OK SPEECH. HR ALEXANDER WATSON’S VIEWS. (Christchurch Sun) M itli an ea.sc and charm of manner, Alexander Watson, tlie well-known reeiter. is ns interesting off the stage as when he appears before the public. Eittlo changed in appearance from "hen he last delighted Christchurch audiences, he is back in the city. He likes Christchurch very much; at least ho says so> and a gun reporter lx lieves lie is sincere. He spake thi morning of his favourite topic <: speech. And he spoko at times wit just a tinge of regret. Eor lie has ad mired the persistence of good English as spoken fairly generally in the Do minion, hut on his present visit, he ha noticed a certain deterioration, then being a tendency towards Cookne; vowel sounds. In "Wellington lie listened to Purlin niont. He admired the cultural Eng lisli .spoken I>y such men a.s Sir Cba.rle; Statlmm, the Speaker of the House and also the diction of Sir Joseph Ward and Mr T. E. Y. Seddon. Bui many speakers were careless of diction. He discovered that some pronounced New Zealand a.s Nit Zeehrnd. “Do not tli.ink tliat I am pernickety, but I think slovenliness of speech is the equivalent of not. washing behind the ears.” A wrong impression may be gained from Mr Watson’s remarks. He bates pedantic speech, and even refuses to condemn an Australian dialect. But lie loves the English language. He loves it especially a.s it has been written by Kipling, and class him a.s a mere journalist”—here Mr Watson grinned at the reporter—“hut if Kipling is a journalist, so much the better fqr journal ism . No one ran paint a word picture a.s vividly as Kipling in as fotv : words. Take bis impression of the English Channel at night: One by one the lights came up. Winked, and lot us by. “And what could bo more suggestive of a sweating man than the line ‘The heat would make the eyebrows crawl.’ It is not refined ? But Kipling ran he if lie likes. His variety is amazing. My opinion of Shakespeare ? Well, first and foremost, like Kipling, he is human.

“Yes, I recite A. A. Milne’s verses for children. I have the idea that he has caught the chief characteristic of the old nursery rhymes. His verses are literally, rather than of the old folk character, hut ho has caught the lilt, the jingle and metre of the old rhymes. His versos have all the .metrical dynamics, i know children love the verses, and adults also love them.” Air Watson is particularly interested in how unschooled children recite AHI lie’s verses, 'for he holds the opinion that a teacher of reciting or elocution should never set a copy. The teacher should simply explain where the student is wrong. The reported ventured the opinion that many public performers are mimics.

“Exactly,” said Mr Watson, “ft is because teachers set a. copy that oloeula.tioii has lost an old appeal. Tbo modern idea is against, all the old .methods.. It is for the student to work out an interpretation. Why, after ■lO years, I am continually discovering the fidl meaning of phrases in a recitation that T have been speaking for years, i rehearse my programme each day before giving it. Tt is not only to refresh my but T listen to myself, and study my expression. In my opinion, the art of elocution is to speak in such a way that not a syllable is lost.”