CORNISH-L Archives

Archiver > CORNISH > 2003-07 > 1058841539


From: "Pat Banks" <>
Subject: Re: [CON] West Briton Question
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 10:38:59 +0800
References: <BAY4-DAV55vGT77CtNF0000b7c8@hotmail.com> <3F1BF443.5090703@pacbell.net> <002201c34f99$60ead860$a7a33bcb@tencreek> <009d01c34fc2$9cf41f00$2e6e893e@george>


How true Sandra. It worries me, too, as to how far things will go. I even
read the other day of a student handing in an essay written in 'msg' speak.
Forgive me if I don't know the correct terminology but you will know what I
mean. It's a sort of shorthand used on mobile phones!!! He had the nerve
to complain when it was handed back to him to re-write in plain English!!

Another thing that bothers me is not hearing the Cornish dialect among many
of the young folk when I visited Cornwall last year. One had to talk to the
citizens of my vintage to get back into the pattern so to speak! (It
doesn't take long with the right person!) One word that irks me
considerably is hearing 'good' pronounced by all and sundry as 'gid'?????

Cheers

Pat

Pat Banks
Perth, Western Australia

CFHS 03548
OPC St Levan
OPC Mullion

Researching:
Osborne - St Levan
Cock - Mullion
Polglase - Breage & St Erth
George - Illogan & Crowan
----- Original Message -----
From: George Pritchard <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 3:56 AM
Subject: Re: [CON] West Briton Question


> Hello Jan Pat and List
>
> Ahhhh....... the things we learnt 'vis a vie' the Latinised Phrases in
> Everyday Use, Parts of Speech and English Grammar.
>
> Parsing sentences of incredible length on summer afternoons in a stuffy
> classroom, when we would much rather have been out on the lawn playing
> tennis, was hard to endure. That's my memory of revising for English
Lang
> at CCE time. Rote was boring but that's how it went in and stayed in.
> How to reply to an invitation from : a bishop or a Lieutenant Commander :
> correct forms of address to Members of Parliament, Royal Households or
> Diplomats. How to accept an appointment to a position at a Charitable
> Institution, a Social Club or a Friendly Society. Not much likelihood then
> of ever having to grapple with these conundrums in West Penwith but the
> Cornish were always ambitious for their children where education was
> concerned.
> Many of my schoolfellows did enter the civil or diplomatic service, where
> etiquette and manners went hand in hand with knowing how the rest of the
> world expected you to speak and behave. Speech at home was different and
the
> language of school was left in the schoolroom. Anyone who adopted airs and
> graces and thought themselves 'above their station' was soon 'put right'.
> Good behaviour and good manners was, however, always expected. It's a
wonder
> that more of us were not schizophrenic than we are.
> The correct use of formalised speech, either with the written or oral
word,
> was then very precise and was taught in every school offering higher
> education. No room allowed for evasion, equivocation or confusion. The
> Cornish were notoriously fond of reading ALL the news in the paper. Many
> collected the speeches of their favourite public figures.The smithy &
> cobblers shops were favourite places to debate the goings on ' up to
Lunnon
> Town'. One of my relations, Charles Botterel, a cobbler of Polgigga, used
to
> keep all his cuttings in an old tobacco tin. His workshop was above the
> smithy and the men would congregate in one place or the other depending
on
> the time of day. When the debate began to get a bit heated and those
present
> disputed the words of his public hero, he would search in his tin,
fumbling
> for the piece he wanted.When he eventually found it he would declare,
> holding it in the air waving and excitedly, " I knew I 'adn and it wadn
> true at al"
> I think the younger men sometimes must have done it to get him going.
> At Newlyn the men use to walk up and down the cliff road in a measured
> way. The distance they say was about a boats length. Then they would all
> stop, turn and walk back to where they started. Each group of these mini
> parliaments appeared to belong to a specific 'core' and there was no
> interruptions from any interloper. You had to await the invitation from
the
> group to join in the conversation and this was often imperceptible to the
> observer, so subtle as to be almost invisible.
>
> It's all a world away from the multi-media channels of today with their
> instant e-mail, phone or text message delivery of the news.We sit back and
> mostly either soak it all up or let it wash over us.We are hard pressed to
> believe our politicians speak the unvarnished truth or else are prepared
to
> believe that the most outrageous reports are the gospel truth.
> We have lost our analytical powers in the race to mediocrity and instant
> news.
> This acceptance of sloppy presentation is already giving today's
genealogist
> problems with translating the colloquial language of our fairly recent
> ancestors.
> We have to defer to those of mature years who had a good all round
education
> [or a good Thesaurus] for an explanation and that's even speaking the
'so
> called' same language
> What bothers me also is that if the written word continues only to exist
in
> this ephemeral, electronic form where will the paper trail be for future
> genealogist to follow?.
> All the best
> Sandra P
>
>
> > In this instance, the 'word 'inst' is short for 'instant' and means the
> > current month. Eg. Today, Monday 21st July, is the 21st Inst. If it
> > referred to last month it would have been 21st ult. or ultimo. If it
were
> > next month it would be 21st prox. or proximo. Comes from the Latin.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Pat
> >
> > Pat Banks
> > Perth, Western Australia
> > From: Jan Mackey <>
> > To: <>
> > Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 10:10 PM
> > Subject: [CON] West Briton Question
> >
> >
> > > I sure am enjoying the West Briton submissions. Thank you Julia and
> Rita!
> > >
> > > I have a question regarding the term "instant" used in the death
> > > announcements and I bet someone on this list knows what it means.
> > Example:
> > >
> > > On Saturday, the 6th instant, at Luton, Elizabeth, the wife of Mr.
John
> > > Jordan, aged 21
> > > years.
> > >
> > >
> > > Thank you,
> > > Jan Mackey
> > > California, USA
>
>
>
> ==== CORNISH Mailing List ====
> Cornwall's OPC List
> http://west-penwith.org.uk/opc.htm
>
>
>


This thread: