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Original poster

Teacher dialect

237 replies

MaverickGooseGoose · 08/02/2023 18:22

No doubt I'll make a mistake on this, Sod's Law and all that...

All the SLT and from what I've heard a lot of the teachers speak is sard east London dialect.

Free / three / roof / ruth / we was etc.

It's grating on me, if Roof was on the roof and needed free pounds to get off but her mum was coming to get her where was she going?

I understand dialect / colloquialisms but some of what they say/write doesn't make sense.

Anyone else as irritated as me? It's the same
on the radio now, the guy on capital is giving away free fousand pounds for free. Argh.

OP posts:
DrMarciaFieldstone · 08/02/2023 18:24

Yes, it’s grim.

Thepeopleversuswork · 08/02/2023 18:28

How much of this is actual grammatical mistakes and how much is accent?

It’s fairly easy for three to sound like free if spoken fast tbh.

“We was” there’s no excuse for I agree but there’s a whiff of snobbery about this post and I can’t help wondering if you are being honest with yourself about what is actually bothering you.

OhBitchPeas · 08/02/2023 18:31

What the fuck?

The teachers speak like that?

OhBitchPeas · 08/02/2023 18:31

And what is SLT? speech and language therapists?
THEY speak like that?!

Original poster
MaverickGooseGoose · 08/02/2023 18:33

SLT - senior leadership team.

H is guilty of free and three but controls it apart from football. He is SLT and would never speak like that in school!

OP posts:
Talipesmum · 08/02/2023 18:33

I think teachers are allowed to have accents…

elizzza · 08/02/2023 18:34

Are you talking about a specific school or all the teachers in the country?

PositiveIntelligence · 08/02/2023 18:34

as a non native speaker, I was very confused when I arrived as I was learning the language

years later I got a job at a school - not in east London but still London, and was terrified of the way people were speaking (mainly TAs tbh) - I managed to make peace with the ‘accents’ but “we was” is unforgivable

now that I work in an office, my ears are being treated better and my English and vocab is improving a lot

WhatTrophy · 08/02/2023 18:35

I work in school and we have teachers who will say "Johnny done well today" or "We was watching...."

Not just this school either. All the schools I've worked at in this area.

A dropped "H" even F for TH (Ruth/Roof) is regional, this is incorrect.

Cornelious2011 · 08/02/2023 18:35

Loads of celebs (usually Essex based) say and write in their posts, 'we was' instead of were. It really irritates me. The other things are more accent based.

NEmama · 08/02/2023 18:35

Yanbu that's ridiculous

Talipesmum · 08/02/2023 18:35

Would you expect all the Scottish teachers to speak with RP, or the Mancunian ones to lengthen their vowels? Can you really not understand them? Do they really write stuff down in dialect spelling?

VariationsonaTheme · 08/02/2023 18:37

F for th isn’t regional, it’s just lazy speech.

Original poster
MaverickGooseGoose · 08/02/2023 18:39

Talipesmum · 08/02/2023 18:33

I think teachers are allowed to have accents…

Dialect fine, when the construct doesn't even makes sense, not fine.

You can have free of those for free? So three free things?

OP posts:
WhatTrophy · 08/02/2023 18:39

VariationsonaTheme · 08/02/2023 18:37

F for th isn’t regional, it’s just lazy speech.

It is, it's an accent, a different way of pronouncing something.

x2boys · 08/02/2023 18:39

I'm from.greater Manchester, I keep.saying Three and Ruth in my head it definitely doesn't sound like Free or roof ,so it must be an accent thing .

FluffMagnet · 08/02/2023 18:42

I think a lot of people forget there are accents and dialect "down south". We was sadly being part of it. I didn't realise I did it until I was pulled up on it at university - only in speech mind you, never in writing. I was always so conscious not to pick up the local accent for fear of being perceived as thick, which is rather sad really.

Nanny0gg · 08/02/2023 18:43

x2boys · 08/02/2023 18:39

I'm from.greater Manchester, I keep.saying Three and Ruth in my head it definitely doesn't sound like Free or roof ,so it must be an accent thing .

I'm from London and it's not an accent, it's bad English.

And there's no need for it.

'Th' is pronounced 'F' (bad English)

Toddlerteaplease · 08/02/2023 18:43

My sister is called Ruth and I always say Roof! (East Midlands)

ItsCalledAConversation · 08/02/2023 18:44

I feel your pain, DD came back from school insisting it’s pronounced “eye-talic” (italic) because her teacher says so.

Girlswithgoodbodieslikeboyswithferarris · 08/02/2023 18:45

Talipesmum · 08/02/2023 18:35

Would you expect all the Scottish teachers to speak with RP, or the Mancunian ones to lengthen their vowels? Can you really not understand them? Do they really write stuff down in dialect spelling?

I’m a Scottish teacher. During teacher training, they flogged us four times every time we used our own local dialect.

user1471453601 · 08/02/2023 18:46

I speak iN the dialect of the area I was born and brought up in, unless the person/people I'm speaking to are not from that area. For example, speaking to people around here, I'd say "an all" speaking to others I'd say "as well".

it's really not difficult. I saw others do it regularly. I was a trainer in my occupation and trained people from Glasgow to essex. When they spoke to me, or I to them, we'd each use appropriate wording. But I noticed that when groups I was training were speaking to each other, they'd naturally lapse into their colloquial way of speaking.

WhatTrophy · 08/02/2023 18:47

Toddlerteaplease · 08/02/2023 18:43

My sister is called Ruth and I always say Roof! (East Midlands)

I'm a Ruth. Irish people say Root.

Aurorabored · 08/02/2023 18:48

Regional accents are normal. Teachers using expressions like ‘we was’ is a completely different issue.

Whyisitsososohard · 08/02/2023 18:48

You just sound like a snob. It's not really so bad you can't understand what they mean, is it?

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