B.B.C. Pronunciation The B.B.C. committee on pronunciation has issued some
new instructions which give us pause.. The " a ' in " ass " is to be pronounced short, and some similar words are to be brought under the same rule. The " o " in such words as " cross " and " off " is also to be pronounced short. Some newspapers in commenting on this have gone so far as to express their delight at getting rid of an ugly Cockneyism. There may be an academic case for abolishing the broad " o," and thus making pronunciation correspond more nearly with the spelling, but what are we to say of the idea that the broad " o " is a Cockneyism ? It is traditional. Countless persons of taste or learning who are certainly not Celckn( ys use by preference a broad " o " and a long " a." Not to mention living persons, the late Lord Rosebery and the late Lord Salisbury, for example, would not have dreamed of pronouncing " off " or " cross " with short " o's." To them cross, off, office, offer, coffee, and so on were crawss, awff, awffice, awffer, cawffee. Anyhow, instruction by the B.B.C. may have as little effect on pronunciation as national education has on the determination of the people to talk the language in their own way in their own homes. Besides, what is going to happen to the Derby if we cannot shout, " They're awif I " ?
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