SATURDAY NIGHT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 211, 2 August 1884, Page 2

SATURDAY NIGHT.

THE FIRESIDE.

Bon'te m Speech.

Don't say nin't for isn't, and above all things don't say 'taint. Don't say aren't for are not ; and although ain't way by a strelch be considered an abbreviation, of "am not," it is m fetter taste to speak the words m fulK Don't clip final consonants. Don'fe say comin', goin', sin ff i n ', for coming, going, singing. Don't say an' for and. Don't mispronounce rovrekounds m unaccented syllables. Don't say persition for position, pertater for potato, sentunce for sentence. On the other hand don't laj too much stress on these sound*; touch them lightly but correctly. Don't say ketch for catch, nor ken for can. Don't say feller for fellow, nor windce for window, nor meller fer mellow, nor to-morrer for to-morrow. Don't imagine that ignoramuses only make these mistakes. They are often through carelessness made by people of some education. v Don't, therefore, be careless on these little points. Don't saysecatary for secreiarj, nor sal'ry tor salary. Don't say histry'for history. Don't say doo for dew or diio. - Don't say dooty tor duty. Remember to give the dipthongial sound of eu wherever it helongs. The perversity of pronunciation m this particular is singular- «A heavy doo fell last night," one rustic will say. Doa't say "just wait a minat " for f ' just wail a minute." Don't pronounce route as if it were written rdwt ; it should be like root. Don't pronounce tour as if you were speaking of a tower. Let it b» pronounced as if it were toor. Don't pronounce calm and palm as if they were rhymed with haw. Give the a the broad sound as m father. Don't say sick, except where nausea is meant ; say illj indisposed. Don't say, I done it; he done it; they done it. This is a very gross error, yet it is often made by people who ought to kriow better. I did it, he did it, they did it, is, it ought to be unnecessary to say, the coirect form.