Evening star., 1929-12-08
~ s'Graham
s7t Il McNamee
Speaking"
McNanee
Speaking

circuit which I would like to see again.
There is that priceless monologue Of
THE Dude Detective" and all sorts Of
things which I can think of without
half trying. And, as Mr.. Randall Sug-
gestS, a regular old-fashioned minstrel
show wouldn't be so bad. I should be
pleased to hear from my correspondents
on this.
Radio and Speech Habits.
Last Sunday I discussed the radio war
in England over dialects, and several
days ago 1 was chatting with a friend,
a radio engineer who has just completed
tour of the South and the Middle
West. We were discussing the effect of
radio on the national speech habits of
this country. It has, of course, fire.
quently been observed that radio is
tending to obliterate speech differences,
but had never fully realized how rap
idly this is taking place until my friend
gave me definite instances in which sec
tional speech has succumbed to the ra-
dio pattern.
"I noted it more in the South than
in the West" he said, land I observed
people. In Atlanta a school teacher at
school where radio has been used a
great deal told me she had witnessed
most astonishing change in speech
habits, which she aScribed to the radio.
The children, she said, were picking up
the missing gs and no longer saying
'runnin' or 'jumpin'.' She said she
frequently made some radio selection a
model for little talk on good grammar,
pointing out the errors that the broad
| caster might have made, but didn't. It
appeared to me that most of these
changes were unconscious. although
found one Southern girl speaking with
carefully nurtured Bryn MaWr ac-
cent, and learned from her friends
that she had studiously cultivated this
with the radio as pattern"
Bill Mundy's Speech.
When / hear Bill Mundy broadcasting
foot ball I am little skeptical about
our Northern speech ever overcoming
the South. It seems more likely that
Bill will have all the rest of us talking
like Southern colonies. There is the
tale of the young Harvard graduate who
| engaged a professor to cure his Ger
man immigrant father of his accent.
Going abroad and returning year later,
he asked the professor how his father
was getting along with his English stud
les. well, your fadder iSs doing very
well" said the professor. These speech
habits are stubborn.
Several weeks ago printed in this
Z
miner complaining that the radio was
driving out of the mines the Tommy
Knockers" the friendly little sprites
who warn the miners of danger. The
reaction has been to me a surprising
reminder of the fringe of mysticism
which surrounds even such an audience
OF everyday folks as the radio crowd.
1t seems that among the delivers into
the occult there Is genuine alarm about
the ethereal disturbances now going on.
have at hand long and elaborate
thesis from Professor" Bernstein of
Philadelphia, which I confess looks
mostly like static to me. His main ar
gument, which requires two hours TO
pass given point-if it has any given
point-appearS to be based on certain
ancient Egyptian symbols, setting up
the boundaries which man must not
pass in his explorations of earth and
air. I had tossed In the Pennsylvania
document as a rather quaint contribu-
ton, but an astonishing number Of cor
respondents have treated it seriously.
Here is one sensible note from Boston.
signed IL. r. B."
Brains in Radio Development.
"a great deal of medievalism still
exists in any large mass Of people, even
our own enlightened populace. The
mere fact that apprehension about the
effect Of the radio on spirits is mem
tloned IN connection with such a tri-
umph of liberated intelligence as the
LOUD speaker is dramatic reminder Of
the fact that the constructive irnaEiHa-
tion of the few always far outrunS the
intelligence and comprehension of the
/ many. The mass mind doesn't change
great deal. The great victory of radio
VIII come when 1t has an audience