DICK WICKHAM,
Madam, - When I was at school, many years ago, our teacher used to encourage us to open our mouths and pronounce our lovely broad Irish vowels. A regular exercise was to place two or three fingers between our upper and lower teeth and recite over and over again, "How now brown cow", until we formed the habit of pronouncing our vowels clearly and properly.
It saddens me when I'm informed every day on the radio that the "inbend" traffic in Dublin is very heavy, the "etbend" traffic in "Coirk" is at a standstill, the "Red Cyow Rendabet" is choc-a-bloc, and the "sethbend" traffic through "Jewleek" is moving well. This just drives me rend the bend.
We are often reminded that the best spoken English is in Dublin, but in my opinion, this is fast becoming a myth. - Yours, etc.,
DICK WICKHAM,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.