DEFINITELY
To the Editor, "The Listener" Sir-I am glad to see that a correspondent has objected to that fashionable prop of the would-be-authority, "definitely." I have met feeble-minded persons whose sole answer it was to several attempts to create a conversational opening. As Professor Sinclaire said wisely in one of his recent excellent broadcasts (by the way it is to be hoped that the Broadcasting Service will prevail on him to give another series-we have had few talks that come from such depth and sincerity), " ‘definitely’ belongs to the angzmic vocabulary of a clique," and he warns us to beware of him who uses definitely, as he will probably be the least trustworthy guide. Listen to a story from James Agate’s Ego 3. "Formerly slang was working-class and worked its way up. To-day it is the other way about. Peter Page tells me that at 3 a.m. this morning, putting on trousers and dressing gown, he descended four flights, and asked a navvy breaking up Berkeley Street whether this row was to go on all night. The navvy said ‘ Definitely!’" Yours, etc.,
READER
Invercargill, December 3, 1939,
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 25, 15 December 1939, Page 10
Word Count
187DEFINITELY New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 25, 15 December 1939, Page 10
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