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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think i don't have a speech impediment

285 replies

McColonel · 20/12/2015 23:53

To me, F and TH are pronounced exactly the same. E.g. three and free - I say them in exactly the same way.

My wife says I can't pronounce th, and I always pronounce an F when it should be TH.

Does anyone agree with me, that they are pronounced the same? Or is she right, and I can't speak properly? My brother agrees with me.

OP posts:
BillBrysonsBeard · 21/12/2015 00:11

Are you northern? I've always said free for three too, I find it hard to say 'th' with an r after.. Same with through, I say froo. But other 'th' words I say properly!

Original poster
McColonel · 21/12/2015 00:13

I'm from Oxfordshire.

My tongue goes nowhere near the inside of my teeth when i say "three".

Following my wifes instructions, i can make the "th" sound but it's an effort, doesn't come naturally and sounds ridiculous and exaggerated - "tthhhhree".

OP posts:
SummerNights1986 · 21/12/2015 00:15

Does anyone agree with me, that they are pronounced the same?

Sorry but I don't believe that anyone would truly be dense enough to need that question answered.

You may pronounce your th's as f's and it can be a regional thing (London). But you must know that most people don't pronounce them in the same way. How could you not know?

Original poster
McColonel · 21/12/2015 00:16

I have lived in manchester for most of my life, but my brother has stayed in Oxfordshire and has the same "impediment".

Looks like the consensus is that there is a difference, most people know about it and incorporate it, some don't, but doesn't matter either way.

And i also would pronounce through as froo.

OP posts:
patterkiller · 21/12/2015 00:20

Are you Danny Dyer?

Original poster
McColonel · 21/12/2015 00:20

Summer - i have never noticed a difference, hence my post.

My hearing isn't great, and I'm not particularly observant. I'm far from dense though.

As i said, my wife has demonstrated the difference in theory, but i wanted to know if she represented the majority or the minority.

OP posts:
Mmmmcake123 · 21/12/2015 00:21

So if you had to say for example:-
There was a thunderstorm in the middle of a thick forest and the thatched house was threatened by a thug in the thick fog. The thief was thick as he didn't notice the threat of the thwartsters.
Fair was a thunderstorm in fe mid of fick forest, fatched house frettened by a fug in fick fog. Fe fief was fick, didn't note fret of fwarsters.
You can't be that bad, sounds like gorgeous Baldrick to me

PerspicaciaTick · 21/12/2015 00:23

Come to Essex OP, you'll fit right in. Sarfend won ve ova die.
But watch out for my DD, she takes no prisoners when people mispronounce her name with a "F" instead of a "Th".

steppemum · 21/12/2015 00:26

When you teach someone English as a foreign language, the th sound is one of the hardest to teach.
The students have to begin by using an exaggerated form. The whole stick your tongue between your teeth to make the sound is really hard to learn as an adult.

But a committed learner does learn it, and after a while the tongue motion becomes easier and less exaggerated, until it is natural.

th is never an f or a v in 'correct' English, but it is in some accents.
My ds did this and I had to work hard to get him to correct it. Unfortunately I think many people associate an accent with this sound as sounding a bit thick, and uneducated.

PerspicaciaTick · 21/12/2015 00:27

Oh, and I do think it matters. The children at my DC's school actually struggle with writing and spelling because they replace "Th"s with "F"s.

Mmmmcake123 · 21/12/2015 00:28

Autocorrect grrr
I think as an earlier pp stated, if you have managed to live your life so far with people understanding what you say, it doesn't matter exactly how you say it.
Don't let anyone tell you that you are not speaking correctly.
It doesn't sound like a speech impediment, more an accent or dialect. Embrace it to tell any critics to thuck off, effort required proving the point hehe

MangosteenSoda · 21/12/2015 00:29

As a geeky aside, in the phonetic alphabet there are two pronunciations of th (but neither are f).

There's tongue between the teeth with a push of air - think, thing, thanks.

There's tongue between teeth with a softer expulsion of air and mouth in a wider smile position - the, their, this etc.

The first lot are often pronounced f and the second lot v by people with OP's accent.

CoteDAzur · 21/12/2015 00:31

"Sticks her tongue between her teeth and draws it back into her mouth as she makes the "th" sound"

Um... that's how the 'th' sound is made.

I'm not saying you are thick (especially since you assured us that you are not Smile) but how did you get to an age where you could legally get married without noticing that 'f' and 'th' are pronounced differently? How did you get past primary school without someone telling you how 'th' is pronounced, even if you didn't notice how everyone else says it? Confused

CoteDAzur · 21/12/2015 00:32

"The first lot are often pronounced f and the second lot v by people with OP's accent."

Is mispronunciation of 'th' an accent then?

JakeyBurd · 21/12/2015 00:33

PerspicaciaTick

'Sarfend won ve ova die'

Can you please translate this? Struggling somewhat!

steppemum · 21/12/2015 00:34

cote - in east end of London, pretty much nobody says th. It is the local accent.

ladygracie · 21/12/2015 00:36

Jakey- Southend won the other day.

Rainuntilseptember · 21/12/2015 00:37

I had speech therapy for this.

LineyReborn · 21/12/2015 00:38

Not even Danny Dyer says 'over ver' for 'over there'. H says 'over they-aaaaaaare'.

CoteDAzur · 21/12/2015 00:40

I've heard Londoners say "oi, bruv!" etc but thought they were being funny.

JakeyBurd · 21/12/2015 00:40

Thank you ladygracie!

pieceofpurplesky · 21/12/2015 00:46

It is a real bugbear of mine. DS had a teacher that said one, two, free ...
This is a wind up or a reverse surely?

hefzi · 21/12/2015 00:48

There was a special needs teacher at my primary school who used to refer to this as "Freddie F" Hmm There was a girl is my class who pronounced every "th" as an "f" - her twin sister didn't at all, so I guess in that case, it was impediment rather than dialect (they were also from South Oxon). I had a problem with the "hu" sound for years - thuman being, for example. There was a Hugh in our class - she called him "Phew/Few" and I called him "Thew"... I did grow out of it, but it's a bugger being a kid!

LineyReborn · 21/12/2015 00:48

Mangosteen you explain that very well.

SummerNights1986 · 21/12/2015 00:48

The children at my DC's school actually struggle with writing and spelling because they replace "Th"s with "F"s

I agree. Ds1 is 7 and does the 'f' for 'th' thing when talking and we're consciously working with him on his speech to drum it out of him now. He also uses a 'v' sound for 'There', 'They' so it's 'Vere' and 'Vey'. He is slowly getting better, but we've tentatively looked into and are considering speech therapy/elocution lessons for him in the New Year to help.

Anyway, he has terrible trouble with spelling those words so I completely disagree with anyone that says it doesn't matter. Written, he'll write 'Firteen' for 'Thirteen' and such. And then he gets confused and corrects words that don't need correcting so writes 'Threedom' for 'Freedom'. Not speaking correctly has wider impacts than just what you sound like.

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