Early Cockney vees for double-yous

[Joel S. Berson]

At 1/1/2014 05:02 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Dickens, of course, made this trait familiar in _The Pickwick Papers_.
>
>Is this the earliest occurrence?

Aside, of course, from printing -- VV for W and vv for w.  Such as
Nathaniel Ward, _The Simple Cobler of Aggavvamm in America ..._ .  1647.

   :-)
Joel

>Note that in this burlesque, the sounds
>consistently replace each other:
>
>ca1785-90 Robert Pickersgill, ed  _Mirth's magazine: or, Momus's Fund. A
>collection of humourous songs, &c. from the most celebrated authors_
>(London: ptd. for the compiler, n.d.) 10-11 [ECCO]:
>
>Fleet Market ...clee-wers...Italian airs and quawers... vile I sing the
>fair vith vhom you'd vish to dally....vithal ...She vears plain
>stuffs...She's...deserwing...Vot vould you give for such a vife.
>
>
>As a point of interest, p. 10 also has "olesome" for "wholesome."
>
>The song does not appear (to me, anyway)  to burlesque some foreign accent.
>
>JL
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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