cold wittles--(why w-?)

[Wilson Gray]

Reminds me of the time that a professor from what was then
Czechoslovakia interrupted his lecture to ask, "In English, is there a
difference in pronunciation between the 'vippink' in 'vippink crim' and
the 'vippink' in 'vippink villow'?" and there was the Israeli student
who asked, "Is there a difference in pronunciation between the boy's
name 'Jawn' and the girl's name 'Jawn'?"

-Wilson Gray

On May 13, 2005, at 4:36 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: cold wittles--(why w-?)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> "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>
>>
>