Q. I was brought up in South Africa and did graduate studies in the US. When I moved to London in the mid-1970s I encountered ‘put downs’ at dinner parties when I mispronounced aristocratic English surnames which I had only seen written. I had some exposure to them in South Africa but obviously not enough. (It was rather like the ‘snooty’ reaction I got when I called Albany ‘The Albany’ — as does Wilde in Importance… — but as I actually lived there from 1976 to 1981 I ignored the criticism.) A clever reply would have been very useful but I did not have one. Now I am living in Australia I wonder if you have any ideas which I can pass on to Australian friends who find themselves in a similar situation when visiting England?
D.A., Noosa, Australia
A. Snobbery over English name pronunciation is currently on the decline. Earl Spencer himself is often heard to mispronounce Althorp as spelt rather than the correct Althrup. Meanwhile, members of the Cecil family unflinchingly respond to Cecil as spelt when the correct pronunciation is Sissil. Even so, your Australian friends may still find themselves mocked when they make these inevitable gaffes. To give scale to the problem, Debrett’s Correct Form (£17.99) lists eight full pages of booby-trap name pronunciations. Should mockery occur, a chippy response is inappropriate. Instead, delight should be feigned as they beg for further examples of these quaint English perversities.
Q. One of my best friends took up writing poetry three years ago. Day in, day out, new poems come winging to me by email across the Atlantic. She says writing poetry is now her life’s work but insists she cannot do it without my comments on — and approval of — each and every poem ‘hot off the press’.
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