Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be aggrieved at the loss of 'th'.......

43 replies

AzureBlueSky · 10/08/2009 22:49

It drives me potty! Secretively though, as my sister's kids, her husband, my friends children (in the main), and a number of my friends, all do it.

E.g: Baff/Bath....Fink/Think...Free/Three etc...

When I hear 'th's' dropped it makes my teeth itch. Also my 2.5 year old son does it, and my DH tells me off for trying to correct him.
He (my son) now wanders around the house saying 'baff/aff/aff'.
AIBU? Should I just let it go?

OP posts:
Thunderduck · 10/08/2009 22:50

YANBU.

liahgen · 10/08/2009 22:51

where I used to live in West London, they say

"acrossed" the road WTF?

No you silly mare, it's across the road. Used to drive me nuts

Polgara2 · 10/08/2009 22:57

Oh this drives us mad too! Dh works with someone who calls his little boy 'Maffhew' all the time.

Also was listening to a cd of dd1's (12) when this song (can't remember which one) said 'sorry I misleaded you' ...what? Even dd1 commented on it - thank goodness!

Scorpette · 10/08/2009 23:02

I hate it when people say 'paffetic' or even 'prafettic' instead of 'pathetic' - seems to be really common mistake (emphasis on the common...).

naturopath · 10/08/2009 23:03

yanbu

Doodle2u · 10/08/2009 23:04

YANBU and do NOT let it go.

triffictits · 10/08/2009 23:05

YANBU it drives me insane...i 'fort' i could get over it but i cant!

LetThemEatCake · 10/08/2009 23:06

YANBU - awful.

Also - Was you? was you really??

eeeerrrrrggggh

Snorbs · 10/08/2009 23:08

YANBU at all. Good diction is important.

bronze · 10/08/2009 23:09

Don't let your DH boss you. Winds me up too. They seem to say I done here which ds1 is starting to say. It drives me potty

mrsruffallo · 10/08/2009 23:13

YABU
Is that all you've got to worry about?

cat64 · 10/08/2009 23:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

MrsMellowdrummer · 10/08/2009 23:44

Many children aren't able to produce the /th/ sound until they reach 6 or 7 years old. That's developmental, so it's a bit mean (and fruitless) to correct them when they're so much younger. Personally, I would be more worried about potentially making a young child self conscious about their speech.

PuppyLoves · 10/08/2009 23:45

Its also a regional thing refered to many times on MN.

So YABU as for some people its akin to an accent

mamas12 · 10/08/2009 23:51

I totally agree with you. To teach your child the correct pronouciation is just a normal part of childrearing imo.
As long they know the right spelling and way to say it and then decide to pronouce it wrong, at least they know it's wrong. I know my dcs speak differently at school 'wiv' heir fiends but normally at home and that doesn't bother me because they know what's what.
A few months ago I embarrassed my ds in a sports shop after asking shop assistant where the thermals are he repeated fermals and I corrected him by saying no, THermals.
It went straight over his head but I felt a lot better for it.
Help you son in a life skill which will stay with him.

mamas12 · 10/08/2009 23:52

sorry about the spelling mistakes just had to get it down (slight rant there)!

MrLSG · 10/08/2009 23:57

Teenage son of a friend was not amused when our 2yo started calling him Dick (Nick). Also Fork is currently Dork - must have a D-fettish.

higgle · 11/08/2009 00:11

Ds1 & 2 have always done "Maffs" at school, and it annoys me to distraction.

junglist1 · 11/08/2009 07:58

You aint got no choice luv you gotta let it go

Hassled · 11/08/2009 08:04

DS3 has verbal Dyspraxia and really struggles with "th" - tends to use a "f" sound instead. This is something the speech therapist has tried to work on - but when I've mentioned it to other people (his 1 to 1 at school, friends etc) their reaction tends to be "Well, what's the problem? Does it really matter?". Yes, yes it does.

Kayzr · 11/08/2009 08:06

I live in Yorkshire but orginally from Norfolk. It drives me mad!! DH is always saying "Baff" Arghhhh!!! Now DS1 says it. But I suppose there isn't anything I can do as it is just their accent.

tkband3 · 11/08/2009 08:15

DD1 had a friend at school called Faith...she, and her whole family, pronounced her own name 'faif'. When DD1 came home saying she'd played with Faif, I tried to correct her pronunciation. She couldn't get to grips with it for ages and ended up calling the little girl 'Thaif' .

DT2 currently has a problem with the 't' at the end of words which drives me nuts!

piscesmoon · 11/08/2009 08:18

I wouldn't make a big thing of it but I would automatically correct it each time.

GoldenSnitch · 11/08/2009 08:19

Hey! I'm from Yorkshire and say Bath!!

My DH is a southerner and says Baff and free and fought - drives me nuts.

His Mum says he couldn't pronounce Th when he was younger so she never pushed it but as he can pronounce it if he thinks about it now, I'm not sure it was ever anything but a late development of the sound (I had heard it can take till children at 6-7 too) and then laziness.

DH now gets the mickey taken out of him at work and is constantly embarrassed by it

Our 2yo DS now says Ff for Th and I will be correcting him until he learns to say it correctly. Including speach therapy if that's what it takes. I don't want him being 32 and ambarrassed because of his speech!

DH's Mum has also taught all of her children to say "I done it" rather than I did it - drives me absolutely crackers!!!

nikki1978 · 11/08/2009 08:27

My daughter is nearly 5 and she cannot say 'th' yet - she has had speech problems though. I do correct her sometimes but since she cannot physically say it there seems little point really. Your son is quite young so maybe he can't say it yet either. As long as you are just echoing his words back to him and not saying "no thats wrong, say it like this" I don't see why it is a problem to correct him.

When older kids/people say it though it drives me mad too