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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

563 replies

SailorByTheSea · 02/09/2017 22:57

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' Angry please tell me that this isn't an acceptable pronunciation? It makes me regret his name massively Sad

OP posts:
StaplesCorner · 02/09/2017 23:52

I'm not sure I can believe this! I lived in London most of my life, I was born in Mile End. Its perfectly clear to anyone how Theodore should be pronounced, why would anyone be confused and use F instead of Th? Speaking like Danny Dyer (or even Dick Van Dyke if some of the comments here are to go by!) is a choice, its not a regional dialect FFS.

I'm well into my 50s now, but the only thing I do still notice is it can still "pull" the back of my throat not to launch into full on Gorblimey mode, but I am big grown up and I know that Th does not make the f sound Hmm

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 02/09/2017 23:53

I lived in Saaf East London.Grin

nancy75 · 02/09/2017 23:54

I'm from Deptford, SE London, th/f is part of the local accent

YellowLawn · 02/09/2017 23:55

hmm, I though polish people have a problem with 'the' because articles are not used in polish (or do I mix this up with other slavic languages?)

anyway. I have a dc with name with a th. in london. dc took a while to learn to say 'th'... nickname has a sharp 't' sound though.

wrt to hearing and saying certain sounds, if you don't grow up with them then you can't,
germans can't hear the difference between certain 'a' sounds (affect&effect sound the same to them) while brits can't hear the difference between 'u' and 'ü' (which can be very amusing as it can totally change the meaning of words).

fascinating topic :)

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 02/09/2017 23:55

I'm from Deptford, SE London, th/f is part of the local accent yes it is Smile

GreatFuckability · 02/09/2017 23:56

sailor but people don't say Thee-OH-dore, in natural speech, its a very quick thee-uh-dore. that middle uh sound is called a schwa and its an unstressed syllable, and its often lost, london accent or not. so, i don't think there is much you can do!

squoosh · 02/09/2017 23:57

Don't people in the south pronounce fear with two syllables, fee-uh? So they are putting three syllables into Theodore if they're saying fear-dore. You just can't really distinguish the middle one.

MummySparkle · 02/09/2017 23:57

There was a looooong thread about the name Frances recently and some people just couldn't get their heads around the fact that people in the SE pronounce it as Frahn-ces rather than Frances with a flat A sound

Hold on... so the vast majority of people are saying 'fran-sis' and not 'Frahn-sis'?! I can imagine it as the former as my stepdad is from Yorkshire, but I always thought it would mostly be the latter. (Ignoring Americans for now) but in the U.K. How do you all say France?!

SE through and through here can you tell?! Wink

FYI I've never quite understood the inability to differentiate between 'f' and 'th'. I get that saying f is slightly easier and comes naturally as an accent, but the difference between the two sounds is immense! DH is from London and we would both say 'THEE-uh-door, but the middle syllable would have the potential to get lost if amongst a fast-paced conversation.

And whilst we're here it's a scone to rhyme with gone

MoGhileMear · 02/09/2017 23:58

Why is it so difficult to believe? It's not just London, either. I'm not British but live in the Midlands, and though adults here don't generally pronounce th as f, many children do, so Theo is Feo, think is fink etc. Annoyingly, my five year old has picked this up from his peers. I think it's a disaster for phonics/learning to sound out words and write, but I'm assuming he'll grow out of it.

Ummmmgogo · 02/09/2017 23:58

it's not a London thing. I think most of the South East of England speaks like this. it's called an estuary accent I think.

😂 at dick van dyke! this thread is hilarious!

back to the original point. op your son is clearly a young baby. in a couple of years he will call himself feardoor and you won't even notice. it's a lovely name don't regret it xx

DowntheTown · 02/09/2017 23:58

Ted is short for theodore! (And for Edward). Theodore Roosevelt for example - known as Ted/Teddy. V common shortening of the name, along with Theo.

nancy75 · 02/09/2017 23:59

Squoosh - fear only has 1 syllable, there's no u sound

SenecaFalls · 02/09/2017 23:59

In some accents "feer" is two syllables or close to it. These threads are always a revelation, with Mumsnetters coming from all over the place, and lots of regional variations.

squoosh · 02/09/2017 23:59

Well the people who pronounce it fran-cis presumably refer to the country as Franss and the people who say frahn-sis refer to Frahnce.

Want2beme · 02/09/2017 23:59

I'm a Londoner and use TH not f. I'd also pronounce Theodore with 3 syllables. Not everyone from London has the same accent. They vary quite a lot.

VinsArmy · 03/09/2017 00:00

SailorByTheSea Yes they should however where I live has a very strong dialect and people mispronounce lots of words. I used to get bullied in school because I apparently spoke posh just because I pronounced words properly. I have just asked my partner who has the local accent how it's pronounced and he said feardoor. I agree with you though and would be upset about my children's names being mispronounced. When we were picking names I would have my partner say them out loud to me so I knew how they would sound in the local area.

RandomlyGenerated · 03/09/2017 00:00

Call him Ted and it's problem solved. Theodore Roosevelt was a Teddy. Although, Theodore Bundy was also a Ted.

You aren't going to win - some people just can't say the Th sound however hard they try.

HillaryWinshaw · 03/09/2017 00:01

MummyScone 10/10 for your scone pronunciation, but you lost brownie posts for your expectation that Frances should be anything other than a short a.

squoosh · 03/09/2017 00:01

'in a couple of years he will call himself feardoor and you won't even notice. it's a lovely name don't regret it xx'

Grin Grin

That is not going to reassure the OP one bit. Not even with your lovely kisses!

Original poster
SailorByTheSea · 03/09/2017 00:01

But I am from London... Born and raised here...

OP posts:
TheCuriousOwl · 03/09/2017 00:02

A lot of people aren't ever corrected on it when they were little though. We were always told to mind our Ts and Hs. My ex boyfriend got me to teach him how to say TH instead of F because he thought it made him sound thick! If you grow up saying 'free' instead of 'three' then it's harder to un-learn it as an adult especially if you mainly hear it all around you.

GreatFuckability · 03/09/2017 00:02

squoosh in my accent (south wales) fear has two very distinct syllables. FEE-uh. in other accents its one.

mummysparkle I say France with a short 'a' like in bag or hat.

Ummmmgogo · 03/09/2017 00:02

shit! sorry op. it was genuinely meant to be reassuring.

squoosh · 03/09/2017 00:03

'When we were picking names I would have my partner say them out loud to me so I knew how they would sound in the local area.'

This has made me laugh. 'Darling come here, I need the assistance of your peasant accent for a moment'.

Original poster
SailorByTheSea · 03/09/2017 00:03

My son isn't a 'young baby' Grin he's 3 - just started nursery Smile

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