- A U turn - 18th October 2024
- Hamas hammered - 17th October 2024
- Wordplay part two - 17th October 2024
During 23 years with the BBC, and a 41 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry the correct use of words has always been central, and now this is underlined by the revelation that the Queen absurdly believes that certain things should not be used – in particular ‘fish knife’.
Lampooning makes no difference it seems.
Believing in certain ‘U’ and ‘non-U’ words has been the subject of ridicule for decades, but it has never gone away, and it may even, believe it or not, be staging something of a come back!
I have to get back to basics here (which is probably a very ‘non-U’ cliché), and I apologise if you know the following already, but the whole thing is such nonsense it bears repeating.
U stands for upper class, meaning that supposedly some words are ‘correct’ (U), while others are ‘non-upper class’, and they are so appallingly vulgar that it’s believed they should NEVER be used.
Lady Anne Glenconner (Princess Margaret’s former Lady-in-Waiting) has told The Cheltenham Literary Festival (which ended on Sunday) of how Queen Camilla HATES use of the word (and indeed the utensil itself) ‘fish knife’.
In fact Buckingham Palace (calling it ‘Buck House’ is SO common!) doesn’t have a single fish knife in its vast cutlery collection.
You might have thought after Nancy Mitford poured scorn on this kind of ludicrous attitude in her essay “The English Aristocracy” in 1954, it might have gone away.
But apparently not.
Here, then, are some more laughable examples, which Queen Camilla may also hate:
I’m a great believer in the right use of words, but this kind of rubbish really annoys me.
Say what you want…
Stories like these that Phil has covered in his long journalistic career (when words were chosen carefully, even if they were ‘non-U’), as he was gripped by the rare neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
