to want to reintroduce the letter T into the English language?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

That's it really. Sick of glottal stops. Was sitting behind a woman on the train the other day, who was going through the alphabet with her daughter (Na'alie, sister Ka'ie) saying "Wha' le''er is tha'?"

But I think I am fighting a losing battle.

'although in my house t seems to have been replaced by L lately, as in 'shall I gell it' or 'thats beller' etc.'

imoverhere - My DD2 STILL does this sometimes.

This thread is making me laugh a lot. My mother brought me up very firmly where correctness of speech was concerned. Hence I do talk rather in the manner of a 1950's News Announcer. My own DD's however, have embraced the Teesside accent with a passion since we moved here.

YANBU - dd keeps dropping her ts.

She has started saying 'aincha' too.

Having spend the last few months helping prepare teenagers for acting exams I can wholeheartedly sympathise.

I speak with a broad accent. However my diction is fairly good, you can have good diction but still speak with an accent.

YANBU. I detest this habit. And while we're discussing the subject, may I also mention my other pet hate? It's pronounced as aitch not haitch.

LOL

I'd love someone to ask my 90yr old Grandad who is S London born and bred why he "sounds like he can't be bothered to speak properly"

oh dear god i am tempted to put a "missing - the letter T" poster up in our house such is the glottal stopping that goes on. i feel like 'enry 'iggins correcting everybody all the time

and speaking of regional variations and dialect, it drives me potty when i ask my dcs what they have done at school - "i done..." It's I DID, dammit.

i'm going to be driven out of mn now aren't i...

I grew up in the SE with plenty of people who were born in London - I don't recall any of them dropping their t's! Being S London born and bred doesn't mean you automatically have to drop your t's - it's your choice.

Well I guess that a lot of people are judging my family as being quite lazy, sloppy types then

Although I really don't think it's rare to find a glottal stop on the Old Kent Road (not last time I visited, anyway)

My mum is obsessed by "good" diction. As a primary teacher she would correct children if they said "mulk" (perfectly standard in the local accent - am also a bit guilty, as is she if she ever bothered to listen to herself).

Cue a generation of Leithers saying "meelk", but of course only in front of loony Mrs Spurtle...

and all those people in their "twennies"

It is TWENTY!

And to all those traffic report people it is not the M twenny five...arg!

The same Leithers that say Scoa'lan maybe?

I hate this so much, like REALLY hate it when T is left out, and the k/g thing, and the f/th thing too.

I do something kind of about it when ds does any of the above. I tell him he can go and live on a council estate . I know that sounds terrible, I used to live on a council estate...does that make it ok??? And it is a joke. runs away and hides

I hate to hear someone say mulk, though meelk isn't exactly an improvement either.

I've been so sad
Since you said my accent was bad
He's wearin' a frown
This Caledonian clown

I'm just going to have to learn to hesitate
To make sure my words
On your Saxon ears don't grate
But I wouldn't know a single word to say
If I flattened all the vowels
And threw the 'R' away

Some days I stand
On your green and pleasant land
How dare I show face
When my diction is such a disgrace

I'm just going to have to learn to hesitate
To make sure my words
On your Saxon ears don't grate
But I wouldn't know a single word to say
If I flattened all the vowels
And threw the 'R' away

You say that if I want to get ahead
The language I use should be left for dead
It doesn't please your ear
And though you tell it like a leg-pull
It seems you're still full of John Bull
You just refuse to hear

Oh what can I do
To be understood by you
Perhaps for some money
I could talk like a bee dripping honey.

I'm just going to have to learn to hesitate
To make sure my words
On your Saxon ears don't grate
But I wouldn't know a single word to say
If I flattened all the vowels
And threw the 'R' away

Sorry...couldn't resist

(well they didn't quite say meelk, but they overcompensated because they didn't really know what they were saying wrong. Which was fair enough imo, because they weren't saying anything wrong.)

I had to turn off Tommy Zoom the other day for not pronouncing his 't's. I have indeed turned into my father.

So now people have to change their accents to please others? Don fink so

What a load of wank

You want your dc to speak correctly? Fine, raise them to. No problem with that

But FFS don't raise them to judge another person by how they talk. That's very sad indeed

what is this inability to pronounce the 'th' sound? why do people say 'fink' instead of 'think'? is it some sort of speech impediment? can it be treated on the NHS? it drives me insane and makes people sound uber thick IMO.

Or should that be uber 'fick' ?

I say fink and I'm getting first class marks on my degree course, so accent is no indication of stupidity. I also have better things to do than be bovvered by other peoples accents. I live in London, therefore I have a London accent. What kind of crap is this?

well, they do say degree courses have been very dumbed down though, don't they? they let all sorts do them nowadays. In my day it was the intelligent few.

but what is actually problematic about saying 'bothered' as opposed to 'bovvered' ? is it a physical impediment or just laziness?

Nice Donnie

DH cannot pronounce 'th' he pronounces it as 'f' as he has a speech impediment. Sorry it drives you insane and makes him sound uber thick. I'm sure the trauma of being bullied through his childhood for it will cheer you up though.

Oh and he has a degree too. Christ they'll let any old ficko in now.

mine have learnt to call the letter H Haitch from school which winds dh up (snigger)

ds also has problems with his speech. He can't say his rs and struggles with his pronounciation but I'd like to think he says most of his ts!