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Show lloiv Do Von Sy UolfT A Scotch golfer who played the game at St. Andrews In ISIiS, before the era of railways and long before the English Eng-lish took up the game, writes to the Times about the Kngllsh uilspi-onuuelii-tlon of the national game, which he says distresses him. lie goes on to say that among gentlemen gentle-men who had been In Knglnud or India In-dia nnd were free from t lie pronounced Scotch accent, the game was called gofe. l!y caddies and those speaking a broad Scotch it was called gowf. The phrase "folk play golf wns pronounced pro-nounced by gentlemen "foke piny gofe," gofc rhyming with loaf, and by tho caddies "fowk play gowf." There was a third pronunciation, but It was an affectation guff. j Thoe who so pronounced It were supposed to speak high Kngllsh, avoiding avoid-ing the broad pronunciation of the letter "a," so prevalent iimniig the Scotch, and substituting "o." For "e" 'they used the-short "I," as for example, "helTpest sivln," for halt past seven. The Scotch golfer continues: This particular dialect was greatly admired by my fellow-countrymen. It was known to them its ICillnburgh Kugllslu but even theso did not sound the "P In golf. Could they have foreseen what tile actual future mispronunciation 0f i the Kngllsh on taking up the gnme I would have been, with what Joy would they have called It "gawlf." It would have seemed to them "so Kngllsh." The writer then quotes the rule that "1" beforo "f," "k" and "in" Is silent If the preceding vowel Is "a" or "o," and Is sounded If It Is "e," "1" or "u." New York Sun. |