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

Saying ‘free’ instead of ‘three’ is something I associate with little children learning to talk, not a regional variation. They’ll also say ‘thothidge’ for sausage and ‘wabbit’ for rabbit.

Want to challenge me to an English test? I can guarantee I'd run rings round you

Maybe so, but you still wouldn't be pronouncing things correctly, and it'd still make you sound thick. It's like Limer says: it sounds like a toddler learning to talk. Babyish and silly.

I am just glad that lots of people don't pronounce their THs. I have spent years being so embarrassed by inability to do so. I think I'm just going to embrace it now!

If a person's pronunciation of your name differs from how you would pronounce it, and it irritates you, you are perfectly within your rights to correct them. Some names I wouldn't bother with (Eastmidsmummmy 's example of Jane, which sounds no different in my mancunian accent to most London accents,as far as I can tell) but if I was a Katy, I wouldn't let a French person repeatedly call me Katty banana.

I once heard an accents expert talking on radio 2. He was really interesting and one of the things I remember him saying was that in capital cities, people speak faster so accents evolve to deal with that. I think the 'F' for 'th' thing could fall into that bracket couldn't it?

I find accents really interesting. Had a great conversation with a Scottish neighbour talking about how they say their Liverpudlian cousin's name 'Carl'. They had given up trying to pronounce Carl in their accent, as it has a rhotic 'r' (so almost like Carol but with a rolled 'r'). They call him 'Cal' which is what Carl in a Liverpudlian accent sounded like to them. Makes sense really.

Three vs free. I am now discussing this at my mums. Have discovered I can actually do the thing with my tongue on my teeth to say three that you are all talking about. But if someone said both words to me, and I wasn't looking at their mouths move, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two, so maybe I'm doing it wrong

Saying ‘free’ instead of ‘three’ is something I associate with little children learning to talk, not a regional variation.

Isn't it lucky you happened on this thread and had a chance to learn something new!

The British Library has some quite good pages on regional pronunciation variations of both vowels and consonants if you want to learn a little more about different regional accents so you can further challenge those incorrect preconceptions.

I really wouldn't want to be anywhere near Limer and dolcezza99 - they sound like insufferable prigs.

@u2 of course you shouldn't be embarrassed!!!! most of us wouldn't even notice because that's how we talk too xxx

and I say most of us because as this thread has shown it is normal in a wide variety of locations around the UK.

Eastmidsmummmy 's example of Jane, which sounds no different in my mancunian accent to most London accents,as far as I can tell)

Compare someone saying Dave on Corrie to someone saying Dave on EastEnders.

I dunno, it's quite useful. One of the most brilliant people I ever hired has a very strong Estuary accent. She worked her way up from admin and is incredibly clever and talented.

People like some on this thread are foolish enough to judge her intelligence and skill based on her accent. Great for us because she wipes the bloody floor with them without breaking a sweat.

The insufferable arrogance of people .The assumption that if anyone does something different to you, makes them wrong is hilarious.

Oh god, it's the Frances thread all over again.

When my Dd was in Year 3 I asked if teachers would correct my Dd if she said 'vuh' or 'fer' for the 'th' sound. They said they wouldn't so I did. Constantly. I felt very mean but she didn't get too upset. In took about 10 days. She's really happy I did that now. It's too late for Dd's friend who's mum 'fought' it wasn't a fair 'fing' for me to do. Where we live it isn't usual to mix these sounds up and it is noticeable.

I haven't rtft (sorry) but it's just an example of Estuary English - there's loads written about it:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English

So you can't really regard it as "wrong" just a regional variation.

Eastmidsmummmy I think I'll just use the example of all the real human beings around me, rather than corrie, but thanks for helping to understand what a Mancunian accent is.

I think I'll just use the example of all the real human beings around me, rather than corrie, but thanks for helping to understand what a Mancunian accent is.

Well, given you said you couldn't tell the (very clear to me) difference in the pronunciation of 'a' in Jane between the two, giving you an example isn't exactly unreasonable.

I also said I was a Mancunian. I didn't mention that I live in Manchester near other Mancunians though, so sorry about that.

If it's me being stupid, and not hearing something which you do, why would coronation street help?

Three is 'free'in London so not surprised

My son came home from school talking about a boy called "Fleedor". I thought maybe he was Russian and it was Fyodor or something but no, my son was adamant it was definitely Fleedor.

It took about 6 months for me to realise he was talking about Theodore!

Eastmidlandsmummy I think I'll just use the example of all the real human beings around me, rather than corrie, but thanks for helping to understand what a Mancunian accent is.

No problem. Happy to help. Now you just need to listen to some real human Londoners and you'll discover they pronounce things differently.

If it's me being stupid, and not hearing something which you do, why would coronation street help?

No one said you were stupid.

I thought it was a reasonable suggestion of easily available things that would be likely to have similar/the same words in the two accents.

Three is 'free'in London so not surprised

Well no. Not all Londoners say it that way. I know few people who do and I've had all my forty something years as a (south) Londoner. There is no blanket dialect accent for London or the south east or the south west. They vary, just like the north of the country.