What or Pardon-Neither!!!!

What a horribly snobby thread this is...

Surely you mean 'snobbish'?

I rest my case.

My husband just says "Eh?"!!

What?" really should suffice, but unfortunately it can sound a bit blunt and rude and if I remember rightly I was told off for that very reason when uttering what when I was a child instead of the unnecessary but more acceptable "pardon" which since then has obviously subliminally taken root as far as I'm concerned. Although I think I probably use "what" with people I'm very familiar with.

Feetelebaum, I M far too polite to say what to the servants. I find "eh?" Works perfectly well.

Someone, and I have forgotten who, said "'Pardon' is fit only for talking to servants or dogs

Why on earth would you want to say "What/pardon/excuse me" to dogs ?

My dog makes herself understood perfectly easily and if I don't' "get" what she is "saying" , she just barks louder !

"I'm sorry or "I beg your pardon'' will do fine. "What" is just rude and "Pardon" is for people who just don't have good manners!

I think you are taking it too seriously Ana. I was certainly writing tongue in cheek and I imagine others were too.

Amazing isn't it- G. B. Shaw's words still ring true- "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him."

Say again reminds me of the woman on Miranda who was always on her phone and kept saying, "bear with, bear with"

Years ago there was a comedy series with Liz Smith and Stephen Rea, as mother and son. They had an Uncle??? Who had his gas mask box around his neck. His sole role was to constantly say "Pardon".

It was set in Northern England and written by a well known author, can't remember!

Off to google!

X

Hi back! 'I didn't know you cared' by Peter Tinniswood.
Uncle Stavely always said Pardon.

Sorry for disrupting this thread!

x

I say 'You will need to repeat yourself' and if it is to someone who doesn't know that I am hearing impaired, I will add a few words of explanation. If it is family or friends, I simply ignore them. On the advice of my audiologist years ago, I never apologise for not being able to hear.

Oh dear I'm terribly common. Not only do I say, 'pardon', but I taught my children to say, 'pardon', too. Worse still when I was teaching, the entire staff encouraged the children to say, 'pardon'. What a common bunch of professional educators we were and how we let the children down!

I don't think I was ever taught that anything was non-U. Just saying.

One can say "I beg your pardon?" in a very superior way

J52 was there not an uncle Mort? I do remember the programme. It was very odd (but good)

I'm sure everyone says "pardon" sometimes. No one sticks to just one term.

Yes. "I beg your pardon" sounds snotty.

I always thought, 'I beg your pardon', was used as an exclamation of dissatisfaction when someone says something you perceive to be impolite or vulgar.

Jane10, yes there was Uncle Mort. I also remember it as odd, but good!
I think it was in black and white, which probably added to its oddness!

x

The programme was called, 'I didn't know you cared'.

Oh I loved that programme. Why can't they show some of these things again?
Got a song now-"I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden"-can't remember anything else. Any ideas?

I beg your pardon is very Margot Leadbetter (from The Good Life)

Whatever we grew up with many of these "rules" are out of date now. The idea of U and non-U came from an essay by Nancy Mitford in 1955 so things will have changed a little since then.