I don't know about spoke (I bet they "uhed" plenty) but wrote, yes. Learning how to write was part of an education (!!!).
Contrast that with a letter from a semiliterate person from that same era (who may or may not have been Jack the Ripper):
"From hell Mr Lusk, Sir I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer signed Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk"
I wish I wrote like that!
ReplyDeleteI often feel like that.
ReplyDeleteMy impression is that most literate people of that era spoke and wrote that way. Correct me if I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about spoke (I bet they "uhed" plenty) but wrote, yes. Learning how to write was part of an education (!!!).
ReplyDeleteContrast that with a letter from a semiliterate person from that same era (who may or may not have been Jack the Ripper):
"From hell
Mr Lusk,
Sir
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer
signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Hell_letter
Anyway, the point is - such a classy, genteel macha'ah.
ReplyDeleteWho would "J.K.L." have been??????
ReplyDeleteTried to work that out yesterday. Then I decided to just post it. Perhaps I'll revisit it.
ReplyDelete