cold wittles--(why w-?)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

"Wittles" (with "w') looks like a hypercorrection, as if "vittles" isn't the standard pronunciation. I don't have my books on Cockney speech handy, but I remember reading that Cockneys (often? always?) pronounce /v/ like /w/.  E.g., "when" can be pronounced "ven."
     Many English, including Cockneys, came to the U.S.  Maybe some of them, trying to improve their speech, hypercorrected "vittles" to "wittles."
I remember an educated Slovenian, who immigrated to the U.S. and  would sometimes speak of the "hills and walleys" of this or that country. He was perfectly capable of saying "valleys" but must have assumed that if
words like German "wenn," "was," "wo" (pronounced with /v/ are
are "when," what," and "where" in English, then "valley" must be a foreign (and hence incorrect) pronunciation of what is properly "walley."

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of George Thompson
> Reply To:     American Dialect Society
> Sent:         Thursday, May 12, 2005 10:39 AM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:           Re: cold wittles
>
> The idea may be that the thieves pose as beggars.  They knock on a back door and if anyone answers they ask for a handout of "cold vittles" as a cover for having knocked, and if no one answers they try to break in.  I have seen stories of thieves using such a technique, but haven't seen this term.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 11:19 am
> Subject: cold wittles
>
> > Brooklyn Daily Eagle 20 Oct 1859, p. 3
> > "A SNEAK THIEF. -- Some daring sneak thief stole an overcoat from the hall of No. 51 Willoughby street last night.  Keep your basement door
> > locked and look out for the "cold wittles" gentry."
> >
> > Neither "cold wittles" nor "wittles" seems to be in the OED.  Any idea
> > what the meaning of the phrase is?
> > <snip>
>