Severe Attack on the English of England

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 44, 10 May 1935, Page 51

Severe Attack on the English of England

~ To the Editor. Sir,--Your correspondent "Caius" must be an unconscious humorist. He says, "I come from Hngland, and one never hears grammatical errors or mispronunciation there." Well, well; and yet in Hugland they have a special body headed by Bernard Shaw to arrive at an acceptable pronuneiation, and very often it is a compromise. If there are no grammatical errors or mispronunciations in England, What is the particular need for this special body? Lately we have had recorded talks on "Causes of War," and in Lord Beaverbrook we have a pleasant yoice and good pronunication, and on the other hand, Dean Inge has an unpleasant voice and bad pronunciation. Of course, some people like this way of talking, and many New Zealanders try to ape this manner of speaking, but, after all, it is bad English. I listen regularly to the announcers of all the YA stations, and on the whole I find the yoices pleasant, the pronunciation good, and grammatical errors few. Englishmen are the worst speakers of English that I know of, and at least 75 per cent. of the people of England cannot speak propér Hnglish; among the other 25 per cent. affectation makes their English unpleasant to listen to. After all,. I don’t know if a uniform \ language, would be a blessing. . You wil! never get uniformity of language in Eng ‘land, while on the other hand 90 per cent, of the English in New Zealand is uni- ‘' formly good Pnelish.-I. am, ete.,

LAPSUS LINGUAE

Te Awamutnu,