Omaha daily bee., 1922-05-21
Gampish and English


Slowly the hoyeott Of the infant
'inlsiisetuais'' on the yhierians 10
breaking To some Of those aneients
even a modest merit is conceded by
the sasseious Georgian children. In
this happy moment appears = Siadi.
cation or psnesyfle ef y beloved
Veteran character. Mr.. Camp,
What phiicioser isas not been stirred
by that ''sumptuous and unrtuopg'
language OF hsrb, AZ Mr. Chester
ton has said. one would prefer TO
die under her ministrAtions 10 being
saved by another nurse, snusfy. am.
pie. thirsty ssrah-what . language
was hers.
My earnings ID not great. air.
but ! viii not be impoged upon.
Bless the babe and save the mother
Ia my mortar. sir. but I makes 40,
free ~ sdd tn that. Don't try 10
no imposieian with tho nuss. Tor
she will not sb4ar IT," ,
In the cornhiii Magazine rrof.
Ernest weekiey OF the University Of;
Nottingham. = skilled siudeht OF
words. shows that Mrs, Camps hab-
iiuai speech was correct. sound. even
patrieian. Hers WAS tho cockhey
tongue. that noble blend OF Fast
Mereian. Keniish and East Anglican.
which. written by chaueer. printed
by caaton. spoken by spenser and
Milton. and surviving In the mouths
Of Sam Weller and Mrs. Camp, has.
In a modified form and with an srti-
fetal pronunciation. given us the lit
erary English OF thst present day"
NUS" In q pronunciation ''prescrib.
cd by an orthoepist of.i77S." Let us
not be- too proud. The griat stand
Dictionary" u7sl) long ruled usage,
called "odious" ''ojus." and preferred
''sparrowErass" to "sspnragus." Mrs.
Camp said "coweurf,ber."tsa. pundit
smart tell us. well-taught persons OF
the old school pronounced it'in 1885.
Sarah's date was is&?.
Mrs. Camp was a conservative.
She talked like an early Georgian
duchess. and Sam Weller like a town
blood" Lady Wentworth. in the
early eighteenth century. spoke and
wrote Gsmpish. She calls her son,
Earl STAFFORD. ambassador At Berlin,
dearest crcctur." like Mrs. Camp
talking 10 Mrs. Prlg. Just AZ Sarah
refers TO the "torters OF the Imposi-
tion." Lady Wentworth writes that
her dying lapdog never offered to
snap at anybody In Its horrid torter."
The pronunciation OF "ure" AZ "er"
was once universal. and we still
have fritter' from French frlture.
'tenter- thooks)' from French ten
ture. and several other examples"
'Idee" came along before idea"
Old people in the United States used
to say. perhaps still say. "Chinee,"
"Indee," "AShee." Lady Wentworth
writes OF "the queen Of Prushee."
The old pronunciation "Indee" IL
still evident In the plural Indies"
"A back gate; which forget the
streets name II goes into" writes
Lady Wentworth. "sartainly." as she
was accustomed to say, anticipating
Gampish. In the thirteenth century
"veser' was spelled "wessel." Three
hundred years later. while written
"vesel." II was probably pronounced
vessel" In the Wellerian manner:
He called me a vessel. Sammy. a
vessel of wrath" So to Mrs. Camp
this world is the VALLEY Of the
shadder." In Henry Machyn's
DIARY" (1550-63) 10 much good
Cockney; for example. "volsake."
woman" velvet" ''wacabond,"
Anton Court In southern English
dialect the sounds Of d and r are
almost indistinguishable." Thus our
"porridge" comes. from "pottage." or
rather from its colloqufal form.
"boddige." Hence Mrs. Camps .im.
perent for ''impudent." IL MrE
Camp wrote "ehimley,: 20 did John
Knox, ".. - ss- :.
Unfortunately, Prof. w.eekley
hasn't yet found a patrlcian eight
eenth century parallel for Sarah's
fiery FURNACE" and "Jonadge's