People teaching DS to say "ta" not "thank you"

[auburnlizzy78]

He's 11 months. Just not sure whether I'm BU to be irritated. I say it sometimes obviously in conversation so I'm not a Brian Sewell-type stickler for perfection when it comes to spoken English.... but should we not be teaching correct words first as he will pick up enough slang on his own anyway?

One of the grandparents is always doing this - asking DS to pass her a book or a toy and repeatedly saying "ta, ta" at him. I tried the subtle approach of joining in and saying "thank you DS" but she didn't click and kept on with the "ta, ta, ta." Not sure if I should correct gently or let it go?

I think people do it to teach the baby that being given things deserves some sort of acknowledgement.

'Thank you' is a lot more difficult to say than 'Ta'....but once the baby is speaking clearly, then 'Thank you' can be taught.

We all say ta in the north so YABU

I think it's fine at that age but I'm prob in the minority

I really hate Ta.

DS used to say Tankoo

YANBU, I cannot stand 'ta' it annoys the hell out of me, luckily neither set of grandparents uses it with my ds (12m) but I think I would say something-maybe in a jokey way so it's not a big deal but they get the message!

YANBU. I can't stand all this "ta" nonsense, yes, I would and have corrected.
I corrected my mother repeatedly when she told DD1 to say "ta", to "look at the gee-gees", "say hello to the doggy" or to "eat your bread and buppy". (Buppy? WTF? ).

DD learned good English as a result, although my mother took considerably longer! :o

Ah jeeze, correct it! I can't bear the use of "ta". However, I am a massive snob

Ta sets my teeth on edge. And I`m from the north :)

Unless your dc is extremely advanced in the speech department . Yabu . You need to relax a bit IMO. .

YANBU It makes me cringe to hear this. There are lots of words that children can't say at first they just adapt them until they can.

YAB(very)U. Is this really the biggest anxiety in your life?

relax about it, it's simple to say and he can learn correct queens en glish when he's a strapping big lad of 2.

Whilst we're on the subject exBIL used to say bockie for bottle which was just as bad.

Wouldn't bother me.

YANBU - thank you was one of the first things DS said, I remember people doing this as well and found it annoying

It is annoying. One of ds's grandparents also does this, I sympathise. However, I don't think you will get far trying to police what other people say to your children, it just isn't worth the aggravation and you will come off looking the worse for it, imo.

If I were you (and I am, sort of!) I'd pick your battles, take a breath and let this one go.

No it's not the biggest anxiety in my life. FFS, is AIBU only for matters of national importance? It was a quick straw poll, that's all.

It just occurred to me that my threshold for correct language in young children may be unusually low. My mother had to put up with my teenage uncle teaching me to say "fuck off" at a similar age , so "ta" really doesn't sound so bad.

Ok, in that case your reaction understandable

"good English" is meaningless in this context. People in different regions have different words for things just as people in different countries do. You wouldn't correct a Frenchman for saying "bonjour instead of hello"

I was the same as you and it used to REALLY irritate me, even DD's nursery did it. But, she developed to thank you no problems at all (by about 14-16 months). Whenever she said "ta", I'd say thank you. She soon picked it up. It is nice for them to learn the basics of manners as early as possible. It's lovely now when she says it unprompted.

yabu. So some people say ta, so what? It's easier for a child to say ta and it doesn't stop them learning thank you at the same time. You just come across as massively uptight.

Baby talk, or motherese, aids speech development.

I'm Northern and I use ta. But for some reason I hate hearing children say it, and use thank you around my DC. YANBU.

Some of my DCs went straight to Thank you (or Ahh ooo) some stayed at Ta for a while.

Its really not something that worries me.

They only talk like babies for a short time.

We say Ta quite a bit in North/East London too.

I cannot bear 'going a toilet' or 'pouring a rain though'.

So I suppose we all have our limits

The DCs' nursery taught "ta". Both the older two did "ta" mixed with various attempts at "thank you" for a couple of months then settled happily on "thank you". I don't think it's anything to be worried about. Mind you, I say "ta" myself sometimes.