12 FEBRUARY 1965, Page 15

This and That

SIR,--Can some expert in modern English usage please explain why it is that the current idiom prefers 'this' to 'that' and the phonetic 'ah' to any other pronunciation of the first letter of the alphabet? I have a feeling that adolescents started the habit, but adults have not been slow in following suit. 'Mahn' is an imitative creature; 'this' is true. But why have these particular inflexions so rapidly and overwhelmingly caught on?

41 Cloth Fair, ECI