LET'S SPEAK ENGLISH:
Broadcast: Monday, July 24 1939 at 9:00 PM

Eighth Talk of New Series - Pronunciation

I. Difference between English and American pronunciation:
a) Genuine Beduin Arab of Palestine
b) Cynic and Sink
c) Stoic and Stork.

II Silent 'B':
a) Bomb
b) Tomb.

III. Silent 'h':
Hour

IV. Silent 't':
a) Christmas
b) Glistened
c) Chestnut
d) Nestled
e) Castle
f) Hastened
g) Listened
h) Rustle
i) Thistle.

V. Words confused through similarity in pronunciation:
a) Addition and Edition
b) Disease and Decease
c) Accept and Except ·
d) Low and Law
e) Row and Raw
f) A Lawn and Alone.

VI. Words that vary their meaning with the syllable stressed:
a) Permit and Permit
b) Refuse and Refuse.

TRANSCRIPT: EIGHTH TALK - PRONUNCIATION

I don't know how to explain the peculiarities of English pronunciation. I think it was invented by the same people who invented England's foreign policy today. It's just incomprehensible.

Even Americans pronounce English quite differently from the way Englishmen pronounce it. An Englishman will talk about a genuine Beduin Arab of Palestine. An American will say a 'Genuwine Beduwine Ayrab of Palesteen'. It's largely a matter of accent: the Englishman puts the accent on the first syllable: 'Genuine'; 'Beduin'; 'Palestine': the American puts the accent on the last syllable: 'Genuwine': 'Beduwine': and 'Palesteen'.

Sometimes the difference between English and American pronunciation leads to serious misunderstanding. A New York student in philosophy was once asked what was the difference between a CYNIC and a STOIC. He replied, ''De cynic is de place vere you wash de fingers : de stoic is de boid vat brings de babies".

Now there are several letters in English that are often not pronounced at all. For example, the second B in 'bomb' is silent. You don't say 'bomb' but 'bom', as if it were B-O-M. The second B is silent. I only wish the bomb were silent too.

If the bomb is not silent, you'll need a 'tomb'. The tomb is always silent: so is the B. It's spelled T-O-M-B: but you don't say 'tomb', you pronounce it 'toom', as if it were written T-double o-M.

The letter H is sometimes silent, as in the word 'hour' (H-O-U-R). You don't pronounce it 'hour', but 'our', just as if it were yours and mine - OUR.

In my library I have an old Hebrew grammar-book that was used a hundred years ago at Westminster School in London. In those days Greek, Latin and Hebrew were taught in England as the three classical languages. On the first page, the book explains how you should pronounce the Hebrew alphabet. It begins 'Aleph is pronounced like the H in 'hour''. I've always thought that was rather ingenious.

Sometimes people use a silent H when they should pronounce it. They say 'to 'ave' instead of 'to have'. To drop your aitches like that in England is the mark of an uneducated man. As the groom said, "It ain't the 'untin' wot 'urts the 'orses: it's the 'ammer, 'ammer, 'ammer on the 'ard 'igh road". But he, of course, wasn't a member of the Brighter English League.

In addition to the silent B and the silent H, you sometimes find the silent T. Here's a sentence built up largely of words with a silent T. I'll make a slight pause every time I come to a silent T. 'It was Chris-tmas and the snow glis-tened on the ches-tnut tree that nes-tled under the cas-tle. As I has-tened, I lis-tened to the rus-tle of the wind among the this-tles', You see how often you come across a silent T ? I wish we had silent T everywhere. Tea in Tel Aviv, for example, is never silent. Everyone talks at the top of his voice at tea.

By the way, did you know that there are four ways of spreading news in Palestine? Telephone; telegraph; tell a woman; and Tel Aviv.

Now we come to words that have somewhat similar pronunciation and are often confused. Let's take ADDITION and EDITION. Addition, with an A and two D, is the process of adding. Some people can't add at all. I once had an old English nanny for my children. When she came to us, she was forty-five. Ten years later, she applied for a new passport and wrote down her age as forty-five. When I asked her why her age hadn't changed she said, "Well, the year I was born hasn't changed, has it? " She just had trouble with her addition.

But 'edition', with an E and one D is what you do when you edit a book. You publish an edition of so many thousand copies. But if you're a Ping you probably call the publishing company also an 'edition'. That's because in German Verlag is sometimes used for a publication as well as for the publishing company. But in English you can't translate Verlag as 'edition' : the proper translation is 'publishing company' or 'publishing house'.

Next we have DISEASE and DECEASE. Disease is spelled with a D-I-S and means an illness: decease is spelled with a D-E-C and means death. If you have disease, with a D-I-S, it may lead to your decease, with a D-E-C. So don't say I didn't warn you. That reminds me of the first plans I saw of the new Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. The architect had worked out all the entrances and exits required for the patients, the doctors, the medical students, for food and for medical supplies. The whole plan was covered with different coloured arrows. At the far end of the building, where the patients came out of the hospital, there were two arrows. They were marked 'Out home' and 'Out cemetery'. There's nothing like being methodical.

So much for 'disease' and 'decease'.

Another pair of similar words is EXCEPT and ACCEPT. Accept starts with an A and a double C. It means to receive something. You may accept my thanks, my explanation, my apologies or my resignation. Or, on the other hand, you may not. No? That's just what I thought.

You are mean!

If you accept something you must be careful how you say so. Once I sent some money to a charity in Jerusalem for the poor and needy. I got a reply back saying that the committee accepted with thanks my contribution 'for the poor needies'. But I'm afraid the word 'needy' is an adjective and hasn't got a plural. You can accept something for the poor and needy: but not for the poor 'needies'.

So much for 'accept' with an A double C. 'Except', which starts with an E-X-C, means something quite different. 'Except' means omitting something. For example, Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist everything except temptation".

Now I'm perfectly happy except when I have nothing to do. I love being busy. Not like Charles Lamb, the famous English author, who had a minor post in a Government department. He didn't like being busy; so one day the Minister sent for him and said, "Mr. Lamb, see how late you arrive in the morning!", "Ah!" said Lamb, "but see how early I leave in the afternoon".

Now we come to the simple word LAW L-A-W . meaning the legal rules that govern our life. But it's funny how many people in Palestine pronounce law as if it were Low, written L-O-W.

'Low'· means something that's not high. You can talk about a low number, like two, three or four. But if you get low marks at school on the average, you must be careful to explain to your father the meaning of 'on the average'. When I was at school myself, I used to think an average was something that hens laid eggs on. So please remember the difference between 'law' and 'low'.

There's the same confusion in pronouncing RAW and ROW. Raw is spelled R-A-W and means anything uncooked, like a raw potato. But people will insist on pronouncing. 'raw' as if it were written r-o-w - 'row'. 'Row' may either be a verb, to row, which is what you do with oars to make a small boat go over the water. Or it may be a noun, such as a row of trees, or a row of tables in a cafe.

What always amuses me in cafes in Palestine is the way in which people flock only to those that are already packed full. I suppose they think that if everyone goes to a particular cafe, that must be the best one. So they want to go there too.

My definition of an optimist in Palestine is a man who tries to reserve a table at a popular cafe on a Saturday night. Of course, there are other definitions of an optimist. One is that an optimist is a man who looks after your eyes, while a pessimist is a man who looks after your feet. The real words, of course, are 'optician' and 'pedicurist'.

Then we have the word LAWN L-A-W-N, which means a plot of grass on which, for example, you can play tennis. But some people find it very difficult to pronounce 'lawn' properly and they call it LOAN, as if it were written L-0-A-N. That, of course, is what you try to borrow from the bank and always fail. It's a pity that bank managers don't know grammar. Otherwise they'd let you have a loan without any difficulty. For the future of 'you give' is surely 'I take'.

Some people confuse a lawn with ALONE - A-L-O-N-E, which means being by yourself. There's nothing like being alone on a lawn with a pretty girl on a summer day. I can't understand those people who take ugly dogs, around with them when they might be walking about with a pretty girl. For it's well known that the animal which possesses the greatest attachment for man is woman.

Now there are several words in English which have somewhat different meanings according to the syllable that is stressed. Take the word PER-MIT. When you put the accent on the first syllable, it's a noun - a permit. You know, a travel permit. If you put the accent on the second syllable, it becomes a verb, to permit, which means to allow you to do something.

If you want to publish a newspaper, you must ask the Government for permission. If the Government permit you to publish it, they will give you a permit.

There are lots of newspapers published in Palestine and a new one is started each week. But the Government never refuses a permit because there are too many newspapers. For the Press is the Mouth of the People. You can also say that a newspaper is the organ of a political party. But you can't say that the Press is the Mouth-organ of the People.

Then there's the word REF-USE. If the accent is on the second syllable, it's a verb - to refuse - which means to decline something. If the accent is on the first syllable, it's a noun, refuse, which means something refused, like rubbish. There's a refuse-bin outside my kitchen door in which the cook puts all the rubbish she collects from the kitchen.

Refuse is not a pleasant word: refuse is much nicer. Think what a lot of things you can refuse to do. You can refuse to get up in the morning and to go to bed at night. You can refuse to work. You can refuse to marry any man who hasn't got an income of a thousand pounds a year. Perhaps that explains a printing error I saw in a Government memorandum the other day. Every time they talked about finances, it was printed 'fiancees'. 'The fiancees of this year are not as encouraging as those of last year'. What a pity!

Talking of fiancees, I once took a little girl of thirteen to a bank to deposit some money she'd been given for her birthday. Before she could open an account, she had to fill in a form giving details of her name, age, address and so on: When she came to the question 'ls your husband living? ', she wrote 'Yes'. "But, my dear", I said. "What do you mean? You haven't got a husband". "No", said the little girl. "But he's living all right. He must be about fifteen: I just haven't met him yet. If he weren't living already, I couldn't ever get married, could I?" She was quite right, wasn't she? Good night.