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?

[royaljelly]

I hate it when people dumb down talk just because they are babies and 'ta' is one that makes me cringe. My daughter 26 mths has always had 'please' and 'thank you' said to her and I encourage other family members to do the same. Although her both her Grandmas insist on 'ta' which makes me cringe and I find it a bit impolite when addressing others.

She now says 'Your welcome', (well just the welcome bit), whenever anyone says thank you.

Actually I have never used baby talk with her and she is now able to put her wants and needs into understanderble English sentances.

I must admit, however, her Dad(dy) still uses baby / toddler talk with her, (horsey, doggy, drinky etc.) and the down side is whilst she calls him Daddy I am plain old Mum.

[Indaba]

YANBU!

Horrible!

[usualsuspect]

My children learnt to say ta ,because I say it quite often

If that makes me naff I can live with that

[emsyj]

I say 'Hiya' and 'ta' all the time - all the time.

But absolutely, totally, 100% do not want DD to say either word and would never say Hiya or ta directly to her.

[mistressploppy]

See, I think that's different, usualsuspect

[usualsuspect]

I say Hiya all the time as well

[Ephiny]

Is that the way the grandparents speak themselves (regional dialect), or are they trying to talk 'baby language'? I would find it a bit annoying to be honest.

I hate 'choo-choo train' as well just because it's inaccurate - trains are not steam-powered and do not go 'choo-choo' any more, and have not done even in most parents (and some parents) lifetimes, never mind their children's! I have no idea why people say this. It's like pretending the family car is pulled by horses.

[supergreenuk]

I personally don't see the problem. It allows the child to have at least a fighting chance of being able to say it. My dd can say ta but cannot say thankyou. If you really have to ditch ta though because after all it's your child so you make the rules. Why not teach dc to sign thankyou. This will give dc the ability to say it and understand the correct wording.

[edam]

royaljelly, you've got the wrong end of the stick. Using simple one-syllable words and lots of a repetition is perfect for babies and their stage of development. Turns out mothers have instinctively known whats good for their children all these generations, and the very patronising attitude of some snobby - mainly male - experts was incorrect. However, we are still suffering the hang-over from that 'expert talking down to mothers' phase of the 50s and 60s.

'Ta' is easier for a baby to recognise and say. But having said all that, that one word does make me squirm - even though I know I'm wrong. Think it's down to my own Mother being very keen to ensure we spoke properly and looking down on people who said 'ta' to their children. (We grew up in Yorkshire, she wasn't local and she didn't want us growing up with broad accents.)

[Tortington]

nowt wrong wi' sayin' ta lass

[DrCoconut]

My DH says "somefink" and he's a southerner. I'm a northerner and would have been told off for lazy speech if I'd said that. It irritates a bit and DS2 had better not pick it up or he will be corrected

[Tortington]

itts when your mil starts teaching him to say 'fuck off it's mine' you need to worry

[Pumpster]

Mine have all said ta then thank you. Mil pisses me right off by saying 'thank you' over my 'ta'!

[tyler80]

Ephiny do you dial a telephone number?

[Ephiny]

No tyler, haven't heard anyone say that for many years, don't we usually 'call' people now? And I don't 'tape' television programmes either, though DP is firmly stuck in the past on that one

The main one I wonder about is when we're going to lose the floppy disk icon as the universal symbol for 'save' in word processing etc applications. I don't think I've seen one of those in real life since I was in primary school (quite a long time ago!) and the next generation will surely have no idea what it is!

The steam train thing is oddest of all though, I'm genuinely curious about why people say this and what (if anything) is going through their minds. At least in DPs defence he did actually record stuff on tape when he was younger and the expression stuck, but surely few of today's parents remember steam locomotion being the norm.

[zanz1bar]

Interesting views that because Ta is shorter, easier to say it makes sense to use as part of speech and language development.
Similar versions of Ta, tak etc follow this theory.
What shortened versions of mercy, gracias are there? Anyone?

[zanz1bar]

Merci, dam iPad auto correct

[working9while5]

Mistress, no.. not in N Yorks, but Yorkshire, yes. I am, however, a a blow-in. My MN handle came about because every time I hear someone say "9 while 5" I hear Dolly Parton going "all Yorkshire" in my mind and have to stifle a giggle.

[hophophippidtyhop]

I hate the ramming of ta at babies, dd1 wasn't old enough to know what it meant really, and by the time she was, she could say thank you. Even if she hadn't been an early talker, I'd rather she had found her own form of expressing thank you from me saying it properly, than if I'd said ta. My mum would also use the phrase "dd1 do" for anything she wanted to get her to perform. Not really rational, but highly irritating when you hear it every 3 minutes.

[tyler80]

Well, in my part of the world people still dial phone numbers, dial 999 etc. The campaign about the new 101 number for non emergency police calls definitely used the word dial too

[pigletmania]

Another one who cannot stand it either, makes my teeth itch.

[working9while5]

Cows aren't moos, sheep aren't baas, trains aren't choo choos.. we don't say these words to my son (22 months) but he calls them these things anyway...

I don't understand why it annoys anyone, really.. it only lasts such a short time. Ds says "Are you?" in a sing song way when he looks for something e.g. "Where are you?", he sometimes says "tai tay" for thank you, "muh" for pick Me UHp and "da wun" for anything he doesn't have a word for. He won't be doing this in six months.. it's a transitional stage. No one has modelled it that I am aware of, it's how he has interpreted the information in his environment. Soon forgotten.

[Sirzy]

Exactly 9while5

[Casmama]

I'm not keen on ta either but my ds picked it up at nursery and only used it for about 3 months and now two says bakoo and peeze. I would relax - he will grow out of it soon enough.

[CurrySpice]

I still say horsey and baa-lamb and my kids are 11 an 8

They don't say it. Just me.