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'm from Kent, where the well 'ard gangstas like to pretend they're from saaaf landan innit.

Fear is one syllable, to rhyme with here, near, clear, are people actually calling your DS feardoor? that would really piss me off! it's obviously said Thee-uh-door.

Oh and frances is said frarn-sess, france is frarnce, dance is darnce and prance is prarnce. only ants and pants have an ants a.

To those trying to phonetically spell words in an SE accent, it's best to use Fraaahnce, not Fraaarnce.

Indeed. MN can be a very non-rhotic-centric place.

To those trying to phonetically spell words in an SE accent, it's best to use Fraaahnce, not Fraaarnce
South East has more than one accent you know, I definitely say arr like a pirate, not ah like I'm having my tonsils checked

I definitely say aaarr like a pirate that's brilliant!

Fear is one syllable, to rhyme with here, near, clear

in my accent, all of those words have 2 syllables. except here, which we garble in our own special way here in Wales.

sparkly you say france as FraRnce. with a pronounced R in the middle?

I have said France so many times tonight I don't even know how to say it anymore

'Oh and frances is said frarn-sess, france is frarnce, dance is darnce and prance is prarnce.'

In your accent.

And you do know that you shoving an r in the middle of a word to describe prounciation means absolutely nothing to someone with a rhotic accent?

'I have a German friend who genuinely can't hear the difference between v and w, so she says wegetables and willage.'

I love it!

Pronouncing Th as F is absolutely not due to physical inability in the vast majority, just lack of education in how to do this when younger. It may be that's how the parents spoke and so is passed on.

Personally it boils my blood and I think it sounds awful. All little children pronounce th as f to start with, it's much easier. It took about 6 months with DS and explanations with a mirror that to make the th sound you must start with your tongue between your teeth, totally different mouth movement to the lip and teeth sounded f.

Every time he said f for th, I'd say it's a TH so start with your tongue. It was a frustrating few months when he was about 4. He now says Th without even thinking about it.

Currently doing the same with DD and she's half way there.

I personally consider it a huge advantage to a child to be able to pronounce their language correctly. Regional or not, Th is NOT correctly pronounced F. [shudders]

Amazed at how angry my accent can make some people, wonder what will happen when I mention leaving the g off the end of words ending ing

South East has more than one accent you know, I definitely say arr like a pirate

You pronounce a hard R before the n in France and dance? I've never heard that in any accent. Whereabouts are you from??

GreatFuckability dammit, I'd put that many examples in the hope at least one was the same everywhere, is deer any better? and yeah, I say france with an r in the middle, not france with an ah sound.

squoosh Yes, in my accent and no I didn't know that, sorry, but ah is a totally different sound in my accent to the sound i was trying to describe.

Well as an Irish TH-er I probably don't meet some people's acceptable standard either. I bet £5 that any Irish person living in the UK has been told at least once that the way they pronounce 33 is amusing/lovely/weird!

Sparkly I always think these threads would be much easier if there was a little button where we could just upload recordings of our voice saying particular words!

We definitely need sound!

We definitely need sound!

We really do. I work in a vaguely related field and have never heard of any British accent that pronounces dance as daRnce with a rhotic R.

Blueberry yes. And Kent/Sussex, but thinking about it I've never met anyone outside the community I come from who says france, dance etc the way i do.

Squoosh that would really help.

nope, deer still has two syllables. DEE-uh.

I am enjoying this thread so much!

Although I actually feel a little stupid for not realising that an accent which would turn 'Theodore' into 'feer-door', with people unable to hear the difference, really exists...I always thought that films + TV shows which had characters speaking that way were laying it on far too thick! (Mental apologies to all the actors & presenters I've written off as a bit crap / trying too hard to sound 'not RP' .)

I've lived in lots of parts of the UK - although not the SE - and thought I had a reasonable idea of the different accents and patterns of speech heard. Off to track down some London & SE speech recordings now and continue my education .

so does that make thalia falia
thelonious felonious
and i wont even get into the francis thing

theodore means gift of god
and is a beautiful name when pronounced correctly.thee-o-door

If you can't say your f's and th's, you can't say fairer than that then.

Theodore should definitely be pronounced with three syllables and sounds beautiful when it is.

I feel you Sailor

Urgh. I got called cafe (kathy) growing up and asked for sausage and chips please. My name is Kathryn, but people are lazy and say f not th. (Manchester) my neighbour had a son whose name was nathan nettleton. She pronounced it nay-fun net-ul-un. I remember how grossly common/lazy it sounded when she said it. I hate it enough when people text speak with fort instead of thought, fink for think, sumfin for something etc. Its even worse when tbey actually SPEAK like that too.

Ex SALT here. This is hurting my head Great is doing a wonderful job of explaining but as usual no one is listening.

I have a cousin in Co. Roscommon,RoI, called Theodore Mary pronounced Tee ow door.
All of my male cousins over the age of 50 have the second name Mary