Dropping her T’s

[Stick0rTwist]

My daughter has just gone into Yr1 and is an articulate child, relatively smart with a love for reading.

We moved her to a new school in the new year and have noticed since then she has started dropping her t’s when saying many of her words, like water, better, bottle, little etc.

This gets corrected consistently at home as although we don’t speak the queens English (and are not snobbish by any stretch of the imagination) we would prefer her to speak properly and not get into bad habits speech wise.

Over the summer holidays she was fine, but I’ve noticed in the two days she’s been back her speech has reverted back.

So here’s the AIBU - would I be unreasonable to mention this to her teacher? Or would I sound like a massive snob 🙈

Sounds dramatic but it’s even making me want to move her school again as this was not a problem at her old school at all. Its been a direct result of moving school as it started the week we moved.

@MasterBeth , You seem to be comparing a dialect with the standard language.

Given that language is for communication, if the scouser is communicating with someone who is not a scouser, the King's English is more correct.

@Yellowlife . Apostrophes indicate possession or contraction.
You can argue that some people find it acceptable.

1970's means belonging to 1970. It doesn't mean 1970-1979.
CD's mean belonging to the CD. The plural of CD is CDs not CD's.

Well it was done in my school. Speech and drama lessons and in trouble if caught using slang or dropping t etc even in the playground

Exactly this. I'll sound like the grammar police, but as a freelance editor and copywriter, I really get annoyed when people don't know the difference between these.

When someone writes "do's" or "don't's", I think it looks really odd with extra apostrophes 😳

I agree regarding 1970s and CDs. No apostrophes are needed or appropriate. Though I believe 1970’s was often written in the past, that is no longer regarded as standard.

I’m talking about situations where people need to write something like ‘dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s’. Including apostrophes means the phrase reads better than ‘dotting the is and crossing the ts’. Capitals aren’t really appropriate here as you don’t dot an uppercase letter i, or cross an uppercase letter t.

Some publications advise using ‘i’s, some use italics, but using an apostrophe in this situation is certainly not incorrect and some publications use that. There is no general rule in this situation as you seem to think, though publications use their own style guides of course. Clarity for the reader is the important thing.

I learned to have a school and a home accent. Tell your dd to talk properly at home, and she can adopt whatever survival mechanism she needs at school.

I speak RP these days, but can still switch to saaf London in a jiffy.

@CrostaDiPizza Just to add, I think using the apostrophe in dates (1970’s) may still be considered standard in American English, but I’m not sure about that.

I doubt it. I'm an editor too and my sharp-eyed american colleague would disagree with you.

Anyway, it is nothing to do with glottal stops.

Okay, I’m not sure about the American usage. We do seem to have moved away from glottal stops 😅

Honestly giggled when I saw this post, especially when you said Midlands.

I'm from a Welsh borders town in the North of the Midlands. The T's in Butter, letter and water are silent letters.

I now live down south. My daughter and I have many many discussions over accents. There is no r in path, glass or bath. She is adamant that the T's in butter, letter and water are in fact not silent.

My nephews are growing up in the same town I was born in. They agree with me. My SIL was raised in London, she agrees with my daughter. Their family has similar Micky taking to myself and my daughter.

It really doesn't matter...other than Micky taking rights.

Absolutely spot on. I teach this to children in school.

Oh my god... you sound insufferable 🤦🏼‍♀️

yes!

Oh do pipe down, sweetie. Or don't, as you choose, because your attempts to be pompously condescending to mask your enraged fury are quite amusing :)

Yes, I find it annoying when someone is completely correct and I have no comeback of any kind but wish I had. I find that shutting up at that point is best, but sorry you found the fact that I was completely correct so insufferable you couldn't help yourself.

Also, thank you for drawing attention to my post, I do hope people keep quoting me as I very much want my post to be easy to find, and preferably one of the last comments on the thread :)

I spoke like this as a child and when we arrived in New Zealand when I was 7 a friend's mum used to pull me up for it. My friends thought it was funny how she was teaching an English girl to speak English. Funny enough my parents didn't speak like this so I must of picked it up from school.

I've heard one street away can make a difference in England. Lol

Maybe she is getting it off a friend she is hanging out with.

I’d be furious if a teacher starting correcting children’s accents in the class. Like WTF. No regional accent is “wrong”

Please don’t correct your small child’s speech either. It will dent their confidence. They will likely end up speaking like you. If it is so important to you, you need to move your child to a school where everyone speaks the accent you like.

It may impact spelling ability at this age though.

Me too. If I'm speaking to an American I immediately go into an American accent. It's really weird because I can't normally do accents to save my life normally. I have to actually explain to them that I am not taking the mick. I just can't help it.

I get that point. If you are Irish or French and speak differently no one is going to think less of you, they know that you are speaking with your own countries accent, but speaking your own language poorly is different.

They would be fine as that is their accent. Very different to speaking your own language poorly. Similar to how people get allowances when English is a second language.

I can only imagine the teachers laughing at your request.

Honestly, she’ll grow out of it.

I know what you mean. I consciously learnt how to speak with a New Zealand accent as I hated standing out at school.