ACCENTUATION
"From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dooey eve,
A summer's day,"
I am perfectly willing that they should do so, reserving always my own right to say "dyooey." It would not at all surprise me to learn that Milton said "dooey"; but neither would it lead me to alter the pronunciation which, as one of the present generation of Englishmen, I have learnt to prefer.
It is said that when Mr. Daly's company returned to New York, after a long visit to England, they pronounced "lieutenant" according to the English fashion, "leftenant," but were called to order by an outburst of protest. Though, for my own part, I say "leftenant," I heartily sympathise with the protesters. "Leftenant," though a corruption of respectable antiquity, is a corruption none the less, and since it has died out in America, it would be mere snobbery to reintroduce it.
So, too, with questions of accentuation. We say "prim′arily" and "tem′porarily"; most (or at any rate many) Americans say "primar′ily" and "temporar′ily." Here there is no question of right or wrong, refinement or vulgarity. The one accentuation is as good as the other. It may be argued, indeed, that our accentuation throws into relief the root, the idea, the soul of the word, not the mere grammatical suffix, the "limbs and outward flourishes"; but on the other hand, it may be contended with equal truth that the American accentu-
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