The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-04
M E N W O M E N
 A ND THIN c $

N~ AAAcAiu UT inine who never nau ult advantage of college education con fessed to me that he never for one mo- rnent dreamed that the pronunciation of Latin had given the scholars so much trouble
 He needn't have been surprised as the pronu1ciation of English itself is by no means stabilized in spite of the work of the dictionary makers, scholars and literary men. If you have any doubt of the truth of this statement, just be fool hardy enough to get into an argument with high school graduate over the sim plest word.
 Take, for example, either and neither, and if you care for controversy you can have long drawn out one on the proper way in which to pronounce them. I think I'll content myself with just quoting one name which in years past carried great weight with it when it came to the use of correct speech. mean Richard Grant White. in his Words and Their
 
 ities.
 He says the pronunciation of either and neither has been much disputed, but, it would seem, needlessly The best usage is even more controlling in pronunciation than in other departments of language; but usage itself is guided, although not constrained. by analogy. The analogical- | ly correct pronunciation of these words is what is called the Irish one, Ayther and nayther; the dipthong having the | sound 1t has in large family of words in which the dipthong "ei'' is the em- phasized vowel sound, weight, freight | deign. vein. obesiance, etc.
 | Now, here is where the Irlsl score one on the English, linguistically speaking according to Grant White, who says 1 This sound Preferred to above). too, has come down from the Anglo-Saxon times and there can be no doubt that in this, al in some other respects, the language o1 the educated Irish Englishman is analog ically correct and in conformity 10 an cient custom" I may put in parenthet cally at this point that the study of olt English so far as I have been able tt tell has helped me but little; but dc mot wish to influence any one against talk 1 ing it up if they propose to specialize 1T English.
 Grant White is strong for"fhe correct ness of the accommodations of the Irtsi Engiishman Gf there be any. 'sich ani naro. I hope no one will jump on m' for being pro-Irish or anti-English. as am now writing simply to amuse or may haps instruct, but with no thought what ever of bringing down upon my head thu scorn of the inhabitants of either th' Emerald Isle or the Tight Little Isle, for when it comes to what is known a the Irish question: am not competen to add anything of worth to throw ligh upon the tragedy which is now causini loo much thought to both the English an' tho Irish statesmen.
 H4 maintains {hxt tho Irish EAgIisn man of ednca4ann.s pronunciation of csE Itaan syIlablss in '-a." which have se lQuired in English usags the sound ~of 70 Hong. as. for example. coneeit. receiv. land which he pronounces consayt, re sayve, is analogicaIly and histurican correct" In any event it is pleasant t get whiff of Irish brogue when we us ro.,A | A- " E had of old the sound of "a- long. an
 ''T' the sound of 'e," particularly i words which came to-us from or tfroug the Norman French.
 
 It ssms he has nlade out ~aecnseafUe a, decision rendered by tho Irishm4n, whs . when appealed to settle diapute - [ and neether. or i-ther and ni-ther, wit
 true Irish wit, replied nayther. B, tGrant White comedies that ayther an nayther, being anticipated sand Irish, ar alogy and the best usage require the con
 mon pronunciation eether and neethe
 Now. here is where he is going to giv offenss. for he adds. For the pronur
 citation i-ther and ni-ther. with the } long, which Is sometimes heard. there nc authority either of analogy or the bes speakers
 I'll admit this is an mkind blow to ou sweet girl school graduates and youn
 men with their sheepskins fresh from co
 leges out of the state, who come hom and make sentences in order to parad i-ther and ni-ther, when all their live they had been content to say eether (an neether; but he rubs it in by adding. q
 is an affectation. and in this country copy of second-rate British affectatior Persons of the best education and tn highest social position in England gen orally say eether and neither"
 Please do not think that care con tinental whether you who read this pre-
 the English in their ni-ther or use tn
 good old southern eether or neether. fo
 do not l believe in allowing people
 liberal choice in pronunciation, and
 have often been amused at the eocksure Eess of the average high school boy c
 girl in calling down their parents on ac count of a divergence from their way c
 pronouncing certain terms. I hay learned from . long study of technics
 English that the deeper one digs into the less dogmatic he becomes in settin l up himself as an authority.