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

I literally cannot hear the different between f and TH. I used to do a lot of speech therapy at my job, And this was one element I could never differentiate. I'm afraid Theodore and feardore sounds identical to me.

I thought this was going to be about Russian expats in London.

My ex's name is the Russian version of Theodore, which is Fyodor.

Of course, as babies, we're all physically capable of producing the same sounds. But if, as a baby, you never hear a 'th' sound, you will later on struggle to reproduce it, just as English speakers struggle with the range of x/ch/kh sounds in Chinese languages. People who presume the issue is one of laziness sound a bit ignorant and parochial, to my mind.

To be fair there is no chance he will could be continue to be called that name. No 13-year-old is going to be called Theodore.

Without wanting to get into the whole Frances thing again, I'm sure lots of Northern nans called Frances pronounce it with a flat a

And all the American ones.

It's the same pronounciation as the chipmunk film

lol @ nans are not evidence! 😂😂 I see your point squoosh!

@Hiphopopotamus - that's exactly why I explain 'fear' is 1 syllable in London... Theo isn't. How do they sound the same?

I have been trying and failing to roll my r s for 40 years now. Still can't do it and it really isn't due to lack of effort. I can't roll my tongue either and always wonder if that's related.

I can roll rs at the back of my mouth a la Francais.

Is it really a surprise that Londoners sometimes pronounce 'Th' as 'F' Have people been living in the wilderness for the last century?

I agree sock, that middle syllable schwa would be lost in most accents when speaking quickly. even in my welsh accent where fear is a very definitely Fee-uh, if i say theodore quickly it becomes thee-door.

@NowtAbout - how do you know his age?

great - it's not just about practice, though. It's much more complex than just practising a sound - you also need your ears and your brain to be in tune. A few lucky people can continue to learn new sounds well into adulthood, and to mimic them. But many people can't, and no amount of trying will help.

Too right Lrd. I have Polish heritage and the TH and F sound are indistinguishable. It's nothing to do with laziness try pronouncing some Polish words if you've never come across it before.

See I don't understand how fear can be one syllable - I keep saying it over and over and it keeps coming out as Fee-uh

Very few world languages have a 'th' (dental fricative) sound - Greek does, and English of course, and I'm sure there are others, but it's really hard for people who have not grown up hearing that sound to differentiate if from 'f' (unvoiced) or 'v' (voiced). That's why comedy French accents always have people saying 'Ze door is open' or German accents saying "Dat is not my house".

And all the American ones

Indeed. And the Irish ones.

I think you should have named him Hodor!

I pronance it as Fee-Oh-Door I have no accent though moved around to much

You DO have an accent, everyone has an accent.

I'm a teacher in the SE and the number of my 6th form, who would say 'we have a lesson Period free with you', I would say ' a free period?' I asked them to count to three to shown them one, two, free? Some students genuinely couldn't hear the difference between 'three' and 'free'.

Back to this thread even if they can't say 'th' surely the name would still be 'Fee' 'o' 'dore'?

LRD you're basically saying though that everyone in London/the SE says TH as F and therefore these children never had a chance to hear the correct pronunciation which is totally absurd.
You are making this about something entirely different by bringing other languages in to it and there is no need to be rude and call other MNers parochial!

Briefing for example has stated she says TH but her DH and DD say F. Her DD therefore hears both TH and F but has learnt F and has not been corrected to TH despite one of her parents (who I assume she hears speak🤔) saying it correctly.

It always amuses me when people claim to have no accent. Go to another English speaking country and see if the locals agree that you're an accent free zone

spoiler: they won't!

The th/f is not really can or can't - If I think about it I can say th but in the flow of a conversation it will come out as f. So sitting here now if I say the word Think I can do the th sound, but if I am talking to someone it will come out as fink

LRD Yes, i'm aware its not quite that simple. and i wasn't at all saying it was down to laziness, its just not a feature of the accent so you don't learn it. thats not laziness, its just natural.

Bruffinnot briefing*

Sorry but pronouncing th as f is just lazy unless you have a speech impediment.

And yes, consonants such as dż and dź in Polish sound the same to me - it's apparently the difference between the j in jam and the j in jeans. If I say jam and jeans repeatedly I can just about hear the difference, but it's not important in English, so the subtlety is pretty much lost on me.