18 MAY 1912, Page 17

THE UNSEEN "R."

[TO THE EDITOR OF TUB “SPECTATOR,u3

Stu,—I have been reading, with some amusement, the dis- cussion in your paper about the pronunciation of words like idea, which some say should have the sound of a final r, and others are against this. I think, perhaps, foreigners notice, more than we ourselves do, such peculiarities in our language, and a Frenchman, once joking with me on the subject, said : " The only word in which you English pronounce the ' r' is ' colonel,' which has none."—I am, Sir, &c., Department of Agriculture, Cairo.

THORWALD SMITH.