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Original poster

WRT accents and rhyming games on the internet

43 replies

flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 08:04

We have a southern accent in our family. I'm not snobby about accents, but DD2 was playing a BBC Bitesize game last night about rhyming, and it had "what rhymes with 'should'"? and then it had three choices, none of which, IMO, rhymed with "should" until I realised the voice-over had a northern accent and that the answer was "mud"!

It has really, really annoyed me. Not because it's northern, but because there is no way my DD would have worked it out herself!

AIBU to be annoyed about this? Are there other rhyming things that would be different depending on your accent? Are there any rhyming things that would work regardless of your accent? And if so, shouldn't these games use those words? How else can rhyming games (in books or anything) work for all children?

OP posts:
sleeplessinstretford · 14/07/2009 08:16

right, I am struggling here to work out why mud doesn't rhyme with should?? what does mud rhyme with if not should? (and please don't say 'dad' as if mud rhymed with Dad they'd have the same vowel sound in the middle wouldn't they?

your sincerely
a lady in the north..

Original poster
flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 08:19

Do you really not know how mud, and nut, and umbrella are pronounced 'down south'? I know enough to know it rhymes with 'should' in the north!

Not really sure how to say how it's pronounced as anything it rhymes with will be pronounced the same for you - someone who knows about writing out pronunciations help me out here!

OP posts:
squeaver · 14/07/2009 08:24

Ok I am confused. And I am a Scot in London.

Should rhymes with could and wood

Mud rhymes with thud and bud Dad rhymes with sad and fad and bad

sleeplessinstretford · 14/07/2009 08:24

goes a bit bernard right on
isn't it lovely there's a game that we northerners can play in our native tongue...

TheOddOne · 14/07/2009 08:25

When my DS1 was doing speech therapy i had to do a list of rhymes beginning with T and C i.e. Cat, Tat etc.

I am from the north and put Tassle and Castle and got told off .

Original poster
flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 08:26

It's not about northerners and southerners, it's about accents and children learning about rhyming!

Squeaver - you're right, for a southern accent, but for a northern one, mud, thud and bud all rhyme with should!

OP posts:
TheOddOne · 14/07/2009 08:27

And when i say could it rhymes with mud.

Original poster
flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 08:28

But if your DS is growing up with your accent, TOO, then he should have learnt that tassle rhymes with castle!

What's annoying is that the game writers/book writers/whatever just assume that all children will have the accent of the writer.

OP posts:
CurlyCasper · 14/07/2009 08:28

Never mind just down south. Mud and should are completely different sounds where I'm from in Scotland

to me it's not 'mood' (which would rhyme with should) its muhd.

The 'same vowel in the middle' thing is a but naive. The English language has many word that sound the same which are written differently and many which are written the same and sound different.

cough, rough, bough = cof ruf bow!

I don't think the Beeb game is fair - although it depends on what age it's aimed at. I think a little knowledge about different accents and dialects would be a good thing.

I also believe people should be taught to be able to speak clearly and make themselves understood wherever they are. I would not dream of using my home (reserved for one side of the family) dialect in my English workplace. No-one would understand me.

Think telephone voice and apply to other situations...

Original poster
flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 08:29

I think we all say 'could' and 'should' the same way - it's the words with 'u' in the middle that sound different - it's a very short sound if you're from the south, but I can't work out how to describe it for anyone from the north who, apparently, has never heard a southern accent

OP posts:
TheOddOne · 14/07/2009 08:30

If he could have spoken at the time he would have said Castle and Tassle rhymed. Prob not now he's at school though - he has quite a posh accent much to my amusement (now live in Shrops - which is a bit west country and a bit plum English).

Original poster
flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 08:32

Curly - I would pronounce 'mood' not like 'should' but like 'Mooood'

I agree with what you're saying, but this rhyming game is an early KS1 literacy one - so it's about learning to read, and about what different letter combinations sound like. A bit pointless if your own accent means you say 'muhd' but the games assume you say it like 'should'.

OP posts:
TheOddOne · 14/07/2009 08:32

The one time this has wound me up is when my DSs thought the baddie in Tommy Zoom was called Pollooho - iyswim. I kept saying no it's Polluto as in Pollution but they wouldn't believe me......

sleeplessinstretford · 14/07/2009 08:42

flamingo-thanks for your input,i'll go find myself a southern accent and then i'll be sure to talk proper.
*i live with a wiltshire boy and was HORRIFIED when the baby said 'barth' the other day instead of bath'we live in the north and therefore our baby should be northern...
i think it's good that regional accents are represented by the bbc-we pay a licence fee up here too you know and we don't all speak like the queen/peggy mitchell

CurlyCasper · 14/07/2009 08:42

Fair enough - at KS1 that's a bit hard to them to grasp. Guess it's the joy of the internet age/red button age (which I'm assuming this is). If it was a tv programme they could broadcast in an appropriate accent for each area. Somehow I can't see them marking web pages "for the northerners" "for the southerners" "for those Scots"!

I really don't know what the answer is flamingo

At the end of the day, we'll all have different accents, and perhaps this is something children should be taught more about when they are a bit older (let's not confuse them at KS1). After all, many social conflicts stem from ignorance.

squeaver · 14/07/2009 08:56

Lol at "those Scots".

I vividly remember spending hours on here trying to explain my different pronunciations of pork, port and fork.

Original poster
flamingobingo · 14/07/2009 09:58

Oh FFS, sleepless! READ THE THREAD!!! Where the fuck have I said that one accent is better than another, or that different accents shouldn't be portrayed on tv, or that my children should only be exposed to pre-approved accents!

Get that chip off your shoulder and stop assuming offence when there isn't any!

Sorry that that is such a stressy response, but I am beyond pissed off that someone thinks I'm being offensive when I am absolutely not! I am talking about how teaching phonics and rhyming works with different accents.

OP posts:
TrillianAstra · 14/07/2009 10:05

Ir's not barth, it's bahth actually.

So I guess there's no such thing as 'BBC English' anymore, if a BBC game thinks that should rhymes with mud.

Fimbo · 14/07/2009 10:11

Another Scot here - waves to Squeaver.

Please can you tell me how to say should so it rhymes with mud?

I don't think I sound particularly Scottish nor have that strong an accent but English folk say I do. I was picked up on the way I say blue on Friday at Sports Day.

No is also another good one.

Thunderduck · 14/07/2009 10:13

I can't understand how mud rhymes with should either.

TrillianAstra · 14/07/2009 10:18

I think (and it took me a few goes to work this out) that you have to pronounce the vowel sounds in both should and mud to rhyme with wood (as in forest).

random · 14/07/2009 10:19

What rhymes with should down south then

Puzzled of leicester

Fimbo · 14/07/2009 10:22

Is it shud?

Should rhymes with could, wood and food.

UnquietDad · 14/07/2009 10:25

Can I just say I always enjoy the way Nicola Sturgeon pronounces "Sw-ayyyyne Floooooo." It's the one thing which livens up a grim news report.

TrillianAstra · 14/07/2009 10:26

Should approximately rhymes with wood and good. Not with mood (long oooooooo). Or with mud (short uh).

And not with mould either

You can hear a computer lady say should and mud. Just click on the little speaker icon next to the word.

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