Pronouncing theatre...

[Werehalfwaythere]

Ok ok, I realise this has probably been debated many times before but -

AIBU to massively cringe when I hear people say "thee-et-er" instead of "theer-ta"?

Live in the south east and it just seems ridiculous that people who otherwise speak in a normal south eastern accent say it like that. To me, it sounds like a hyacinth bucket moment! My boss was telling me about her upcoming trip and I couldn't focus at all beyond the cringe!

@queenmeadhbh that's blown my mind too! 😳

My mum used to pronounce it 'thee-et-er' if it was referring to an operating theatre,but pronounced it 'theer-ta' if it was relating to say,The Theatre Royal. I always found it a bit odd.

Theerta abd theeeter doing the same when I say it

I say thee- yuh- tuh. I am probs dead common. You would be cringing all week. I’m from north wales.
my Nan is from London and says Barth for bath. She also says thee- Etta. I’ve always laughed at her for it. As a family we must be the height of cringe 🙈

i click on every single pronunciation thread to see the chaos caused by those with non-rhotic accents (usually SE English people) failing to comprehend that their use of “R” when attempting phonetic spelling is completely batshit crazy to everyone except those who speak like they do. And the ensuing “oh the r is silent!” No the R isn’t there - remember the “Barth” thread??

I click on every pronunciation thread for the rhotic arguments too. But really, there's nothing inherently batshit about representing the 'ah' sound with 'ar' if they sound identical in your own accent. There's just as much failure to understand the point of view of non-rhotic speakers by rhotic speakers as there is the other way around.

But what baffles me is both sides' apparent unawareness of the issue, and their inability to conjure up in their head how the word sounds when an English/Scottish/Irish person says it. I mean... surely we've all heard all those accents umpteen times?! Mind you, I am a languages teacher. Maybe other people don't think about pronunciation quite as much as I do .

I used to.have a friend who pronounced it thayter. Now that was annoying.

Poor letter R, so mistreated by so many <sniff>

Fuck. I’ve been calling it The Atree (pron ‘a tree’) for the longest time.

Oh well, no need for drama I guess.

But what baffles me is both sides' apparent unawareness of the issue, and their inability to conjure up in their head how the word sounds when an English/Scottish/Irish person says it. I mean... surely we've all heard all those accents umpteen times?! Mind you, I am a languages teacher. Maybe other people don't think about pronunciation quite as much as I do.

I don't think they do. I had a conversation recently with a workmate explaining the difference between her non-rhotic accent and my rhotic accent and she literally couldn't distinguish any difference in the way we both said murder (she does the southern lengthening of the vowels and not pronouncing the r whereas I roll my 'r's) I've had the same conversation with my Scottish family, they didn't realise most English people don't pronounce the letter 'r'. It is quite funny.

And in @abominablesnowman 's IPA transcriptions, in neither is the letter 'r' in theatre pronounced although everyone with a rhotic accent would pronounce it. It's more like /ˈθi(ə)tɚ/

So the perfectly correct pronunciation of a word by people whose accent is different from yours makes you cringe?

Right.

thousandyears

It's not spelt that way though

you’re right I’m not sure what I was trying to say there - I mean I do in my head but didn’t come out right written down!

I'm quite convinced that people hear with their accent. (If you get what I mean!) So I think people with really do hear an "r" in Recieved Pronunciation long vowel "a". Also does help that Julia Donaldson rhymes "laugh" with "scarf".

Production threads always enjoyable. (If you ignore they utter idiots who can't seem to comprehend there are different accents or different pronunciations to their own that are also acceptable. ) I read these threads and find myself say the words over and over again, pronouncing each one slightly differently each time. Ending up not sure how I pronunce the words 🤣.

The "barth" thing confused me for the longest time. I understood that some English people don't pronounce the Rs at the end of words, but I thought Rs in words were always pronounced. I just couldn't understand why people were adding Rs into words. Never heard anyone say "barrrth" in my life.

Then there is my Birmingham friend who says bu'ah for butter and the classic bo'oh o wo'ah. What did consonants ever do to you, England? 😂

Also, it's thee-eh-tur.

I’ve never heard it pronounced theer-ta. There is no “r” in the middle but there is an “r” sound at the end 🤔

I say the 3 syllable pronunciation. It's not pretentious, it's northern.

@queenmeadhbh your posts on this are like a breath of fresh air 😍

I always click on these threads too for the same kind of reason but could never have put the point across so beautifully.

I hate threads like this. I lose so much of my time repeating the word out loud, trying to remember how I usually say it. "The-uh-ter. Theeta? Thear-ta. Theeeeeuuuuhhhhhturrrrrrr."

I'll be doing this all day now.

Yes, re: hearing with accent! It just frustrates me that if they actually took a second to break down the sounds they would realise that their mouths are
in no way pronouncing an r the way they do for ready, break, etc. And then all this talk about silent Rs pushes me over the edge - how can something that is not there be silent!!! 🤣😋

AIBU to massively cringe when I hear people say "thee-et-er" instead of "theer-ta"?

My XH used to keep going on about me saying it like this. He was a twat.

For what’s it’s worth, when I say “theatre” and “later” they rhyme.

Me too - I'm sitting down just randomly trying to hear the difference and figure out what people may mean, muttering under my breath also trying to work out how I would write down the way I pronounce it phonetically. If someone were to walk in I'd look like I'd finally lost my mind. Ffs, time to get off here and do something useful!

So thee ate err? Or are you non rhotic so thee ate ah?

I think I've understood OP and tried to explain it.

Mainstream pronunciation is with the emphasis on the first syllable, but some people (who can seem pretentious to me) put the emphasis on the second syllable (both versions have three syllables)

so

OP says THEE-utt-uh
and she doesn't like people saying thee-ETT-uh

Both versions have 3 syllables.

Rhotic or non-rhotic makes no difference.

I know what you mean OP, its the emphasis, or almost theatric flourish of the second syllable that gets a bit pretentious. Its definitely a 3 syllable word though.

Mind you, down here in Somerset, we all "go down the fear-terr"

In Castle Donington, in Leics but 'near Derby' where I have family, they say 'burrer' for butter.