I listened with admiration to Rupert Soames, Churchill’s grandson, interviewed by the BBC’s Nick Robinson on his Political Thinking podcast. Soames has this year become chairman of the Confederation of British Industry and I loved his Tiggerish energy and optimism — and noted his skilful diplomatic reluctance to diss the new government. What really captivated me, though, was his old-fashioned pronunciation of the word “off”.
When I was a boy, half the English-speaking world said “orf”. Who still does? A double-breasted suit and cufflinks no longer guarantee an orf. Only the grandest of the grand do it (though I bet Prince William doesn’t in public), as do London’s East End Cockneys of a certain age and older South Africans.
And on Ryanair recently I was.
