AIBU to think my son's name isn't that hard to pronounce?

[SailorByTheSea]

Or is this an acceptable pronunciation!?

We live in London, so 'fear' is 1 syllable (this is relevant!)

My son is called Theodore... You know, 3 syllables, 'The-uh-door'?

All he gets is 'fear-door' please tell me that this isn't an acceptable pronunciation? It makes me regret his name massively

Although one is hard and one is soft, my tongue is in exactly the same place when I say thirsty and when I say the. When I say foot it is somewhere else entirely.

Free vs three

Rubbish.
I was poor and from a very deprived area with a very strong accent.
We all left school managing to pronounce th

Congratulations on rising above your family and friends and leaving all that unpleasantness behind.

I am proud of my background, my accent, my dialect and who I am.
I feel no need to deny it.

I have managed to do well enough whilst sounding lazy, common and deprived.

I say f instead of th most of the time. I can say th, if I wanted to, but I just don't care that much.
I work in the city, and a lot of my colleagues from all over London, Essex and Kent do it too. It's spreading.

I mean, yes the PAs do. No one in a serious job does.

Bit snobby @5rivers5hills.

As I said, NOBODY pronounces things incorrectly; it's just regional dialects.

There is some terrible snobbery on this thread from a few posters.

To say no-one in serious jobs 'mispronounces' is basically saying only people with menial jobs 'don't speak properly,'

Wow, rude much.

No one in a serious job does
As long as my flippant job pays my bills, I'm not worried

.

I mean, yes the PAs do. No one in a serious job does.

Yes, you wouldn't hire on ability or talent! Accent is a much better predictor of performance.

What productivity crisis? We built an empire on Latin verbs and the right vowels!

Speaking of fear though, to me it rhymes with mirror. They're both one syllable unless I say meer-or very carefully

I'm fascinated by this, I always home in on it in films Yanky

One of my builders is called Fayoh. Or so I thought until he left me a note.

Theo...

Fear has 1 syllable.

www.howmanysyllables.com/words/fear

@3EyedRaven @FreudianSlurp @Imustbemad00 thanks!

I'm from Manchester but live in London

My curiosity isn't about saying different th- words differently, because that's regional variation in all its glory

As I said up thread, I used to have northern vowels, but now seem to have adopted more RP pronunciation via osmosis after living in London for so long (although get me talking to another northerner and the Mancunian vowels come tripping right out!)

My curiosity is in not hearing any difference between thirsty and firsty. I'm very aware of how I say some words differently, but I've never not been able to understand how my pronunciation differs from RP

It's the posters saying they don't understand how thirsty could be said any other way than firsty that I find fascinating

user what do you mean nobody pronounces things incorrectly?

If I tell you my name is Patrice, and you insist on calling me Patrick, you are saying it incorrectly.

I understand that certain pronunciations are regional, but if someone tells you how to say his / her name, and you say something different, that is wrong.

"Speaking properly" - THERE IS NO 'SPEAKING PROPERLY' - yes, there is a correct spelling but not a 'correct' pronunciation. Most pronunciations are a hodge podge of the original language it came from and outside factors like accents.

I can pronounce the "Th-" sound, but it just doesn't occur to me to bother. If I'm thinking consciously about how I speak, it trips me up. With my voice, if I said "Th-irsty" it would sound weird, same as if I said "Barf" instead of "Bath"

It doesn't make me lazy, it's just my accent and the fact that I don't feel I have to change it for snobs.

Stupid thread.

Everyone has an accent. Accents are different.

People across the U.K., let alone across the world, pronounce words differently. Names are words.

My Yorkshire relatives pronounce the name Jane different to my London relatives. This really isn't news.

@Saynotocarrots

Did you even read my posts??? You are missing the point.

I am on about people accusing people of saying things incorrectly JUST BECAUSE they pronounce them with a regional accent.

Of course I know calling someone Patrick when their name is Patrice is wrong.

That is not even remotely the same as what I was saying.

"Speaking properly" - THERE IS NO 'SPEAKING PROPERLY' - yes, there is a correct spelling but not a 'correct' pronunciation.

Actually, there is. If, to use an example from just now, someone's name is Jane, and you pronounce it, say, "kane", because in your accent Js are pronounced like Ks, then you're wrong, and so is your accent.

That's not snobbishness. Just correctness. And people who insist that things like this are "regional" are just being too lazy to pronounce things properly.

Oh, and this Eliza Doolittle who doesn't pronounce her words 'correctly' and dares to not change her accent is an English teacher with 20 years experience, so there.

Nobody has ever suggested I'm not capable of my job because I say "Laff," "Baff" and "Free/Firsty"

You may be capable at your job, but you're still pronouncing things incorrectly, even using completely the wrong letters, in some cases. I'm surprised as an English teacher you're incapable of seeing that, but whatever floats your boat.

Thank goodness you're not my children's teacher, if you cannot see that it is incorrect to pronounce "thirsty" as "firsty", Babycham. It doesn't make you sound "proud of your roots" as another poster alluded to. It just makes you sound thick. Or "fick", perhaps.

(Born and raised on a council estate in the northwest, still capable of speaking properly.)

I'm not missing the point user. Calling a northern Frances Frahnces is still pronouncing her name incorrectly, even if the reason is entirely your accent.

I know an American Anya, who I call Ohnya because that's how she says it, even though in my accent it sounds like Anne-ya.

Languages are not rigid so there is no 'correct'.

They evolve and live.

There is a pronunciation deemed correct at any given time ( it would not be deemed correct in the past and will not be in the future) by self appointed arbiters only.

OP I think you're wrong with 'The uh door'

Surely it's 'Theah door' ?