To hate it when people miss out the word 'to'

[fiveacres]

DS has picked it up.

'Hey, Mum, I want to go Florida!'
'you want to go TO Florida!'
'Yeah, that's what I said. I want to go Florida and -'

Argh.

I noticed this when I was teaching and it drove me crazy then - 'Can I go toilet?'

Grrrrrrr.

So am I being ridiculously anal or does anyone else loathe this? I also can't stand 'etc etc' which seems to be another thing DS is bringing home from school.

[Theycallmemellowjello]

@fujimotos, I've never thought about this before, but as a fellow Yorkshire lass now in London, I feel like the Yorkshire glottal stop and the London missing out the 'to' completely are two different things - even though they might sound the same if you see what I mean! Also I think it's more common in Yorkshire to have the glottal stop for 'the' and say 't'' for 'to'? what a weird thing language is!

[Cheesypop]

hamiltoes I'm also a Scot but have only ever heard this in England! I have heard it all over England though, it seems pretty standard.

[ViVarUnge]

I haven't noticed this!

[ViVarUnge]

Euphemia, my dad, he was playing bridge and he said "I should of went up with the ace" I had a laugh. He's not English though!

[Cheesypop]

Euphemia my DH says 'went' and 'have went' all the time when he shouldn't. It drives me bananas. He's exceptionally smart, the son of an English teacher, and now has a fancy pants finance job but he cannot/will not stop saying it no matter how many times I tell him...

'You can see these figures from this quarter have went down compared to last year' no no no!!!!

[Mrsstarlord]

It's neither a Yorkshire thing or a glottal stop. The glottal stop is for the word 'the' not 'to'
'Going to 't' shop'
'Watching 't' telly'

The only time I've ever heard it was in the North West, friends from Lancashire seem to do it.
wrong side of the Pennines you see

[soapboxqueen]

I used to teach in Leicestershire and they drop the 'to' eg 'can I go toilet please?'. In school I would just stare at them until they remembered. Often another child loud whispering 'you have to say to'

It is part of their dialect and isn't 'wrong'. Just as differences in my dialect aren't wrong. Yes, children should know how to use standard English but that is, in itself, a dialect of the fabulous English language family.

It really makes me sad that people are so desperate to erase 1000s years of local and national history by making everyone sound the bloody same.

[Stealthpolarbear]

I can't bear "in any way, shape or form"
Sorry, just been waiting for a thread to record that :)

[SoupDragon]

I have never heard it. (S London)

[longestlurkerever]

I don't really understand the angst around other people's speech. The words people use "loathe", "hate", "can't stand" are out of all proportion to the crime, which is often nothing more than using a local dialect or picking up phrases from peers. I am Northern. Dd (3) was born in London and speaks very differently from dh and me but meh.

[SoupDragon]

Yes, but because she was born in London, she speaks properly :o

[Pipbin]

Can you explain "where are my car keys to"? What does the to signify? Would you ever just say "where are my car keys"? If so, when?

West Country person here. I grew up saying 'where's it to' and had no idea that it was anything other than normal until I went to uni. I have lost my West Country accent now but it is phase I use to bring it back.
In my mind the extra 'to' signifies the actual place.
So for example, 'where's Dad' makes me just think of a void. I'm wondering where my Dad has gone but I'm not really visualising him, iyswim.
'Where's Dad to' makes me visualise him and the places he may be. The 'to' makes it almost like when you are asking yourself the question.
That said, you would never say 'where's that' only ever 'where's that to'.
I miss saying it. I miss the West Country and its another little bit of my heritage that I've lost.

As for the missing 'to', I think that they all slipped down and ended up in the West Country.

[paddypants13]

Another Yorkshire lass here and we have the glottal stop, we don't just miss out the to altogether.

Put t'book on t'table!

I am happy for my DD to grow up saying this in informal speech.

[Mrsstarlord]

My kids speak with a Yorkshire accent, I have a Southern accent - drives me batty, particularly as they put it on more to wind me up

that said, Kit Harrington is far sexier with a Yorkshire accent than RP

[FujimotosElixir]

mellow yellow yes, in the south its more of a sloppiness thing probably than how the vast majority of people behave

[FujimotosElixir]

*speak

[Newshoesplease]

East anglia here.

"Miss, can I go toilet?"

"You can go TO THE toilet, if you need to?"


"We went Spain".

Just stop.
God, I hate it.

[Pipbin]

New
East Anglia here too. I agree, it's sloppy rather than an accent or dialect.

[TheEmpressofBlandings]

Pipbin, that's a lovely way of describing it. I married into a very West Country family and I will have to try not to inwardly scream to value their heritage!
Do you do the added 'l' on the end of words too? My MIL never has an idea, always an ideal.

[Flowerfae]

haven't come across this but when I was in school it was popular to say 3 month, 3 day, 3 week, instead of months, days, weeks ... used to annoy me a bit .. it's only one letter... why bother dropping it? :)

[GlitzAndGigglesx]

I don't always say to . I knew it was bad when I heard myself say "give it me please"

[OnlyLovers]

Oh yes, the dropped 'to' really winds me up.

Pipbin, I didn't know that about West Country speech. How interesting. I guess it's like 'Where are my car keys at?' (I don't know where that usage comes from – is it Irish?

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

All the yoof in essex say it.

Tis horrendous.

I went town. You going school? He went Spain etc etc.

[Pipbin]

Empress. I have lost my accent, which saddens me really as very few people seem familiar with a proper West Country accent, see Broadchurch, the accents in that were dreadful.
My dad is proper West Country and I now find him hard to follow. I don't think the adding l on the end is actually an 'l' if you see what I mean. It's just the way your tongue drops after a vowel sound.

[MrsTedCrilly]

Never heard in Yorkshire, we say "going t'somewhere" In my head I can hear Liverpudlians say it..