Pauline Nevins

 Pauline Nevins April 6, 2015 - The Union

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This is an open letter to Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor and president of the University of Warwick in England. Mr. Thrift was in Placer County recently providing details on a proposed 6,000-student Warwick University on 600 acres west of Roseville in Placer County. I hope he’s still in the area so he can read this.

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Dear Vice Chancellor/President Thrift:

May I say your surname is perfect for someone who is looking for investors for the new University of Warwick proposed for construction in Placer County in 2016 — although you may have the money part covered. I know nothing about the financial side of this project. Also, your Christian name (or should I say “first name”), is pretty cool, too — very upper-class English. How many Americans are named “Nigel?”

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Actually, this letter has nothing whatsoever to do with your nice name. I was born and raised about 50 miles east of Coventry where your Warwick University is located. I know it’s not news to you, or to most English and Americans, that though we mostly understand each other’s language — facilitated by American films in Great Britain, and British programs on American public television — there are still some words and pronunciations that cause confusion.

   

In my teens I dated an American serviceman who was stationed in England. He would become my first, but not my last husband.

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“Frank the Yank,” as my cheeky siblings called him, was a bit odd. Even I, a self-centered teenager at the time, managed to discern this. However, I continued to go out with him. I told myself Frank’s behavior was just a cultural thing, something to be understood — like his Southern accent. One of his many quirks was to correct my pronunciation.

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“Nestlés chocolate is American,” he announced one rainy afternoon as he sat on our sofa in the living room munching a chocolate Aero bar, “and it’s pronounced “Neslees” not “Nessels.”He also said I pronounced “aluminium” incorrectly. “It’s not al-you-min-i-um,” he told me mockingly. “It’s a-loo-min-um.”

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