Leisure Readings

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 Excerpt: ...well educated, are very careless, to say the least, in the use of the aspirate. I refer to their pronunciation of words beginning with w and wh.JJ We too often hear when, where, whale, and so forth, pronounced like the words wen, were, wail, &c. In America this mistake is never made. They do not pronounce the words as educated Irishmen often, if not generally do, hwen, hwere, hwale; that is, with an exaggerated aspirate, giving the words with a whish, as it were; but they make the distinction between ' w and wh very clear. I am inclined, by the way, to believe that the Irish mode of pronouncing words beginning with ' wh is in reality that which was in use in former times in England, probably at an earlier date than that of the Pilgrim Fathers; at any rate, hwat, hwen, &c., is the spelling in Old English and Saxon books. 1 In passing, I may remark that the word ache was formerly pronounced aitch, so that.the word aches used to be a dissyllableThus Beatrice, in Much Ado About Nothing, says she is exceeding ill--not for a hawk, a horse, or a husband, but for that which begins them all, H, that is, through an ache or pain; just as two scenes earlier her fellow-victim, Benedict, says he has the toothache. There are faults of pronunciation which, so far as I can judge, are about equally common in both countries, --for instance, sech for such/' jest' for just,1 ketch for catch/' becos for because/' instid for instead, sometimes even forgit for forget. But we certainly do not so often hear doo for due, soo for sue, and so forth, in Engla...