1. Introduction to the Subject and the Books

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975) was an English humorist who wrote novels, short stories, plays, lyrics, and essays, all with the same light touch of gentle satire. Wodehouse is best known as the creator of the dim and affable young bachelor Bertie Wooster and his invincible gentleman valet Jeeves.

In the books Jeeves’ tasks are many. He dresses Bertie. He provides cures for Bertie's lovesick chums. He protects Bertie from his Aunt Agatha. To top it all, he makes a neat bourbon and soda. And the reason Jeeves is such a brainy chap has to do with large amounts of fish and hat sizes. Jeeves knows everything, and can foresee a way to handle any situation, no matter how sticky. In the words of his young employer Bertie Wooster, "[Jeeves] virtually lives on fish (...) if I had even half his brains, I would take a shot at being Prime Minister or something."

P.G. Wodehouse actively wrote novels throughout his life, and whatever the dates of publication of his books, his English social atmosphere is of the late Edwardian era. Thus, the language in the books may sound a bit old-fashioned and funny. Furthermore, even though that Bertie and Jeeves first appeared in Wodehouse’s books in 1917, they were still together and nothing, including the language of these two chaps, had changed when Wodehouse wrote his last novels in the early 1970s. The rich and slightly old-fashioned language in Wodehouse’s books is definitely one of the charms of these books, in addition to the incredible intelligence of Jeeves and the silliness of Bertie.

2. Description of the Language

The language in Wodehouse’s novels is always thoroughly very British. He uses expressions which would undoubtedly be unknown, or at least old-fashioned in other parts of the English speaking areas, for example in Northern America, especially since many of them are old-fashioned in British English as well. In the short story The Purity of the Turf he uses such British terms as a punter, a tenner, a doodah and a lad.

Furthermore, from the novel Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, I found an example of the British manner of adding an adjective between two nouns, as in "Sir Watkyn ruddy Basset". There are also sentences which are clearly uttered by a person who speaks British English. In the next example Bertie is talking to a very young girl:

"I say, old thing," I [ Bertie] said, "I don’t want to hurry you and all that, but you couldn’t condense it a bit, could you? I’m rather anxious to see the finish of this race. (…)".

(The Purity of the Turf)

Here the vocabulary is rather formal, and he uses such British phrases as I say and old thing. Furthermore, it is clearly the speech of a person belonging to the upper class.

As the characters of Bertie and Jeeves are very different from each other, there is also a difference in the phrases that Wodehouse has put into their mouths. Bertie is the narrator in the novels, and they mostly contain his lines and thoughts. Although Bertie belongs to the high social circles, which oblige him to use Standard English, he speaks in a very carefree manner. Jeeves, on the other hand, belongs to the old school of gentleman’s gentlemen, and his variety of English is strictly the Standard, and his utterances are always grammatically correct.

As the character of Bertie, the employer of Jeeves, belongs to the rich upper class of England, it would not do if he were to go around speaking Cockney. His lines consist thus mostly of Standard English, softened by some modish and informal expressions, which indicate that his character is up to date. This is demonstrated in the following:

"Never again! The strain is too great. I don’t say I shall chuck betting altogether: if I get hold of a good thing for one of the big races no doubt I shall have my bit on as aforetime (…)".

(P.G. Wodehouse, The Purity of the Turf)

Here the use of the verb shall is clearly a British grammatical feature, and a bit old-fashioned in speech as well. Also, aforetime is truly old-fashioned and extremely formal.

On the other hand, chuck is a very informal verb. Bertie makes an extensive use of other such colourful verbs: to totter, to buzz up, and to give smb the heave-ho. Wodehouse enlightened Bertie’s lines and thoughts with these funny and informal expressions. This must be due to the fact that Bertie is a young, outgoing bachelor and as such naturally uses the fashionable language of his time. That is, of the late Edwardian era. He makes great use of some hip expressions, which now sound rather funny. These are also very informal and include such examples as dash it and get rattled, as in "But dash it all," I [ Bertie] said, "we’re letting ourselves get rattled!" Jolly good is also a phrase, which appears numerous times in the novels, as in "I [ Bertie] think he would have a jolly good try." Yet another such feature is the expression Golly, which was found in this example: "It is worth a thousand pounds" said Stiffy (...). "As much as that? Golly!!"

As already mentioned above, there is a clear difference in the lines of Bertie and Jeeves. Jeeves is the gentleman’s gentleman, a practitioner of an old, distinguished profession. Thus it is a part of his job to always follow etiquette, and above all, to speak the variety of English of his socially distinguished employer, Bertie. Jeeves cannot act as a young, carefree man, even though that he is, like Bertie, a bachelor. His lines are

perfect Standard English. This is clearly demonstrated in the following exchange between Jeeves and Bertie:

Jeeves coughed, and there was a dreamy look in his eye. "I was as much astonished as yourself, sir, when I first became aware of the lad’s capabilities. I happened to pursue him one morning with the intention of fetching him a clip on the side of the head ¾ " "Great Scott, Jeeves! You!" "Yes, sir. The boy is of an outspoken disposition, and had made an opprobrious remark respecting my personal appearance."

(The Purity of the Turf)

This is pure Standard English, and Wodehouse nicely made it extremely fluent and colourful. He made Jeeves use words and expressions which have more prestige, or which at least are rather complicated and learned. These include such examples as endeavour instead of attempt, to be acutely alive to the existence of class distinction instead of to be aware of class distinction, and I am inclined to favour the idea instead of the simple it’s a good idea.

P.G. Wodehouse’s short story, The Purity of the Turf, and his novel, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, are perfect examples of Wodehouse’s manner of using language. He used vivid and colourful language, and this made his texts so enjoyable. His works brilliantly describe British English and the general British way of life during the late Edwardian era. In short, he knew how to use language.

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References

Wodehouse, P.G. Purity of the Turf. Wodehouse on Crime: A Dozen Tales of Fiendish Cunning. International Polygonics, Ltd. New York, 1981.
• Wodehouse, P.G. The Jeeves Collection. Chancellor Press. 1992.
• http://www.smart.net/~tak/wodehouse.html#plum