ITH Poker Forum

[Dogs]

There are some well-read people here: can anyone tell me why Mr Toby Crackit pronounces his v's as w's?

[Pentahouve]

I haven't read the book and I don't know the character but I'll offer a guess. My wife is German and people are always very surprised when they find out as her English is so good. The only clue is her occasional slip with phrases beginning with v & w. 'Very well' will still sometimes slip out as 'Wery Vell.' Perhaps he's German. Hmm....the name's not wery German though....maybe it's a lisp like thing.

Have googled him, still don't remember him from the film.

[Dogs]

That's as good an attempt as I've seen - a friend with a Swedish wife says the Swedes behave much the same. I've pretty much concluded that it's likely to simply be a speech impediment, but there's no indication that he's foreign. He's only a minor character really, and whilst I'm all for giving out interesting traits, it would have been nice to see the reason behind it!

[Misunderstud]

It appears to be Victorian London dialect rather than a speech impediment. Google this (no quotes): dialect victorian london wery -very -weary.

[Dogs]

Some good links in that search - thanks Mis!

[Misunderstud]

Some good links in that search - thanks Mis!

You're wery welcome