Verbal traps

It amused Charlie how old money in America had somewhat adopted the English custom of leaving verbal traps for the social unwary.

Edward Rutherfurd, New York

Edward Rutherfurd

When Charlie, a character in Edward Rutherfurd's novel, thinks of "old money," he is thinking of those, like his own family, who have enjoyed wealth for a long, long time. And how do such people set verbal traps? By means of both pronunciation and vocabulary.

Charlies explains, "Old money pronounced certain names in ways that discreetly separated them from the rest. There were words, too. The modern custom of referring to a man's casual evening dress as a 'tuxedo,' or even worse a 'tux,' was definitely considered vulgar. Middle-class America said 'tuxedo.' Old money said 'dinner jacket.'"

Such verbal traps can be found everywhere, in virtually every group in virtually every region, every occupation or profession, every hobby. It's not just "old money" that does this. Old anything does it. It’s how veterans separate themselves from rookies, the old-timers from newbies, those who have lived in a place all their lives from those who have just moved in.

Not that setting these traps is deliberate. Nobody decided to start saying “dinner jacket” in order to catch wannabes saying “tuxedo.” But language evolves, lingo develops even without design, physical separation creates particular accents. The traps themselves may not be deliberate, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be used to single out, and perhaps laugh at, outsiders.

When I am in Florida I always try to order soda, not pop, in restaurants. The latter is a word I can use in Ohio. In Florida it’s a verbal trap.