"OXFORD " AS EPITHET
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
SIE,—Despite Mr. A. P. Herbert's stout resistance, the " groups" appear, for their private purposes, to have annexed the honoured name of Oxford. That, it seems, we must perforce endure, but is it not about time that the application of the epithet Oxford to "accent " and " manner " should be abandoned?
I have not found anyone who could tell me just what the expressions " Oxford accent " and "Oxford manner " mean ; but from the passages or utterances where they occur it is evident that they are intended to imply disparagement, if not derision.
In my undergraduate days I encountered no such distinc- tive accent or manner. There may have been a handful of conceited young men who assumed a preciosity of speech and bearing, but they were a source of ridicule to most of their contemporaries. And in the Oxford men I have met, and still meet, since those old days I have found no such symptoms of affectation. They seem to me to speak and behave as educated civilised human beings should.
I believe that hosts of my fellow-Oxonians will agree with me that, whatever else Oxford taught us, it taught us to be sincere ; and such affectations cannot thrive in an atmosphere of sincerity.
Do let us banish these foolish expressions, as well as the musty and unmerited jibe about " the old school tie."—Yours
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