Would you correct your 16/17 for.....

[bookworm8500]

CONSTANTLY saying 'freakin'? Freakin' this, freakin' that. It's genuinely nearly every sentence and we have much younger children in the house too.

She's also recently started to stop saying the 'th' sound, so instead of saying 'think', she says 'fink' and instead of 'thought' she says 'fort'. I ignore this.

It just sounds awful and I hate it. I thought this stage of talking badly to sound cool was over by about 14 years old, but it's stayed since sixth form

YABU freakin' unreasonable to correct her
YANBU and I would freakin' correct her too

I’m not usually one for posting but yes it is hurtful to read over and over again that someone sounds stupid for not pronouncing th. I literally can’t help it. It was not sorted when I was younger and speech therapists have said too difficult to sort now so it’s just how I speak

Freaking is one of those euphemistic semi-sound-alike words originally adopted by Mormons and certain groups of religious Christians specifically to avoid using an obscenity or profanity - in this case frigging, but similar to darn, heck, fudge, etc. She might be using it to avoid actually swearing in front of parents and younger siblings?

She has no speech impediment. That is not the same thing as lazy speaking.

I was meaning our biases generally. It hasn’t been great if I am honest to read the thread as I hadn’t realised people may not have hired me because I can’t pronounce th! People may assume I am a lazy speaker and I am not. How we speak accent or lisp does not define who someone is/their capabilities.

This

I don’t think this is the outcome the OP is looking for

All right, Hyacinth Bouquet.

There is nothing lazy about saying fink instead of think. It's an accent.

Yes, people with a lower level of intelligence do fink that.

Unfortunately it’s what we base our perceptions on, which I understand must be difficult if there’s nothing you can do to about how you speak.

It’s not an accent at all. It’s lazy speech.

In the OPs child's case it's irrelevant though as no impediment.

But it does sound crass I have to hear it regularly around here (Essex) and still makes me cringe

But in the context of this whole thread, people are saying ANYONE using Fink, Fought etc sounds "thick" and is "lazy"

Which is lazy stereotyping, incorrect and should be challenged.

How is it lazy? It what way does it take more effort to say think than fink?

It's the marker of a class and geographical accent.

But there is something you can do about your lazy stereotyping...

What you've said is basically "well it's a shame you have an impediment but you will now be shunned for it and should accept that"

This. Also I genuinely didn’t realise this perception was such a thing! I have had some light teasing over the years - especially when I was young but I thought adults would be past stereotyping me because I can’t say th. Madness

No, it's what you base your perceptions on.

But it's pure snobbery and classism.

Once you recognise that, you should be able to see that your perceptions are incorrect.

We aren’t an anti swearing household, I would probably be more annoyed by ‘freakin’ because it’s a bit cringeworthy and American.

Sadly, over 50% of tv ads have voiceovers with this kind of speaking.

Why would it be better if 100% of TV ads had voiceovers that sounded more like you speak?

It’s a substitute for saying fucking or frigging, is it not? So it is pretty inappropriate tbh.

Well arguably most of the mild expressions of annoyance etc are substitutes for words like that. So, are 'Sugar!', 'Drat!', 'Flipping heck', 'Bloomin' nora', 'Gosh darn it!' etc offensive too? Surely deliberately saying an alternative instead of something rude is a good thing?

She needs to learn about code switching! It's fun, I have 3 different ways of speaking (parents, friends, work). I'm sure most of us have done this to a degree - no swearing in front of (grand)parents etc.

Tbf I hate ‘gosh’ 🤢

The change in pronunciation I’d be challenging. Is she doing it to try to sound cool/fit in with friends? I wouldn’t like this at all. The freaking will probably change.

I say flipping sometimes... freaking was normal when & where i was a teenager (40 yrs ago).