Write 12th out in full…

[BarrelOfOtters]

Twelfth

there’s an ‘f’ did everyone else know that?

Twelvth. Twelfth.

Yeh, you're right

Of course. You sound the f as you say it, don’t you?

Yes, but it is one of those words I have to spell without consciously thinking as it starts to look wrong if I think about it.

Have a similar problem with friend. I know how to spell it but I had to think hard when young so doubt creeps in.

Yes.

Twelfth Night
The Twelfth of Never

Always been there. Never thought twice about it.

Yes. I love the sound of this word (I'm Autistic and have Echolalia which means I often repeat the sound of words I like over and over) My Mum always chuckles at me when I say Twelve or Twelfth as I like to pronounce every letter clearly (if they makes sense)

Sixth is an number that annoys me when I hear it spoken out loud, as most people seem ro pronounce it sick-th instead of si-x-th.

Now, how about sixth?

Nobody who works on television or radio knows there's an x in it. They all believe it's "sickth".

I can't work out if I audibly pronounce the F or not!

I would think that most people do know it, with a reasonable minority of people who don’t.

Of course. Do you think most people are stupid?

Of course.

I hate the look of it written out. I know it's right, but it looks so wrong

Same!

And what about first?! So many pronouncing it fuhst, poor letter R.

I’ve said ‘sixth’ out loud several times and I can’t find any difference between sick-th and six-th.

No. I say twel-th. My tongue can't pronounce fth without some lippy two syllables

Because x is pronounced css

I’ve said ‘sixth’ out loud several times and I can’t find any difference between sick-th and six-th.

That's what I thought for a moment when I saw that, but it's sicks-th which sounds the same as sixth to me, not sick-th.

I see what you mean. I suppose I tend to say the th sound as if it’s sth. So essentially the same as sicks-th.

"sixth" and "twelfth" are two of the most fun common words to use when teaching pronunciation and phonology.
Consonant clusters in English are notoriously difficult for non native speakers, and as above, specific consonants within the words aren't pronounced even by native speakers.

That's correct though.
/sɪksθ/

"X" is pronounced as /ks/ and in "sixth" that's followed by /θ/ which is "th"

That's your consonant cluster. Three all together /k/+/s/+/θ/

Mouth gymnastics. When vowel sounds are inserted between consonants it's a lot easier!

I’m always intrigued by phonetic representation (for want of a better description). I know nothing about the system. It looks like a sort of meta-language: taking one language and repeating it in a different script for a special purpose.

(This is a very interesting Saturday morning by my standards!)

I bloody love it. It's my thing 😂

I suspect the vast majority of people knew that, is it something you've just found out?

40 is always a hard one for me to write

On my Year 6 spelling list for this week, so that’s another 60 who know!