I believe she's got it!

So much for Professor Higgins. I bet elocution teachers are the next in line to protest. Now we hear that the British Library is asking the public to help it track how pronunciation is shifting in Britain. And the library thinks it is all OK to say what you like how you like. I'd say that was a kind of reverse snobbery led on by the need for these people to be politically correct at all times.

Joyce Grenfell had a marvellous turn as a schoolmistress keen on correcting the foibles of pronunciation in her classroom. Those at the British Library punting out this casual questionnaire seem to suggest it matters not if an aitch becomes a haitch. But I think it does. It either shows a lack of learning or a defiance of normality in spoken English. Generally, the English have preferred to speak as per their class background. The upper and more learned classes defined proper diction and the rest either followed or did not. This new approach suggests that there is no normality just a kind of wave action of change. Some words get the ripple approach, others a tsunami and change completely.

The song that memorably stands out is "Let's call the whole thing off" and that is a clever take on linguistic differences. Not all Americans say "tow-may-toe" as not all come from a background of rhotic English. However, "tow-may-toe" is in the overwhelming majority. In essence, I think there are standards of correctness in spoken English, but I would never correct anyone (other than for my children or in a classroom environment).



However, saying "mischeev-y-ous" is clearly wrong as the word isn't even spelt that way. One word that has been truly redefined in pronunciation terms is "ven-y-sun" for deer meat. I rather favour the "ven-zun" version, but no doubt we have been culled by a whole host of celebrity chefs. There's influence for you!

And one pronunciation, if that is the correct word for it, is describing the year we are in. Some say "twenty-ten" whilst others opt for the longer "two thousand and ten". David Cameron says both during PMQ's, depending on the way the question has been posed.

Oh, and if were commenting on such things, the new Downton Abbey series, from ITV, has the Earl of Granthumb as a key character. Surely some linguistic mistake? Mrs. Thatcher came from Granthumb but a 100 years ago the town was never referred as such by earls and others.

What's in a name?

Over the past few months Barack Obama's name has been the subject of much talk. How is it pronounced is one question. Burr Ark - that's how some Americans say it. "We've got a brand new vessel, Mr. Noah! It's the latest thing in flood protection!" Then there are the Barrack disciples. Sounds like an Army hut on its own. And then there's Beer Rack, a shelving system for Budweiser.

He should come out and declare which one is appropriate for a would-be president. Colin Powell did. Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army tried, in vain mostly, to get Captain Square to stop saying Main Waring. "It's Mannering!" he'd say, peevishly. Part of my antecedence is through the Burnett family. A great aunt used to admonish anyone who would not follow her advice. "I say wrap it up and throw it on the fire and BURN IT!" No Burr Nett for her! My grandmother spent most of her days in Yorkshire being labelled "Mrs Bayonet", which may not have been that inappropriate.

Names are very important. They are who we are. Get them wrong and we feel diminished in some way. I well remember being asked to chair a meeting and the tables had been arranged to form a square. I took the rash step of introducing about 25 names. An eager adviser came up afterwards, "I saw you struggling," he said, in a rather machievellian way. "You should have got them to say their own names". I learnt a lesson. Get a name wrong, and offence may be taken. I managed OK, but never again.

My mother was born in Lincolnshire. So was Margaret Thatcher. The link about stops there. However, Mrs T would talk fondly of Grantham and her father's shop. She put the town back on the map. My mother wondered not so much about Mr. Roberts and his grocery dispensing but if there was anyone left who did not say GRAN THUMB!