Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/199

 impulses; and at such times its parts are not properly words, hence their high mortality.

Dialect is as natural as grass. It springs from the people as readily as grass from the sod. It is a kind of wild grass that persists in repeating earlier forms. For that reason it has been widely reprobated; that is to say, for its lack of culture, while its vitality and usefulness have received slight commendation. Only now and then is something said in its favor to offset the much that has been said against it.

It has been noted, for example, that the well-known London “Cockney” is a legitimate child of the Kentish tongue. This is true especially of the dialect spoken on the south side of the Thames, although Kentish seems to have influenced the North London dialect as well. “Thet” for that is clearly Kentish, and it was so spelt as early as 825. A number of other Cockney words readily can be traced to Kentish origin: “benk” for bank, “keb” for cab, “kissins” for cousins,