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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be miffed that dd2's teacher says 'anyfink'?

279 replies

kittywise · 12/10/2009 07:07

dd2 came home the other day saying that her teacher had said 'anyfink' and 'that wasn't right was it'?

I said that it wasn't right.

She's a primary school teacher fhs. She should be able to pronounce words properly

OP posts:

jasper · 12/10/2009 07:24

YANBU.
But it would be a good time to discuss regional accents

Original poster

kittywise · 12/10/2009 07:25

She has a very neutral accent actually, we are in the SE!

OP posts:

purepurple · 12/10/2009 07:37

But isn't anyfink quite typical of the SE?
Teachers are, after all, only human.
So, yes, yabu.

LeonieBooCreepy · 12/10/2009 07:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CarmenSanDiego · 12/10/2009 08:01

yanbu but you'll probably get flamed

DorotheaPlentighoul · 12/10/2009 08:02

Is the SE accent "neutral"? not a region like anywhere else?

Not trying to be rude, just confused (I am not British, and I live in Scotland). I know about RP etc, but assume that isn't what you mean if she says "anyfink" (which would annoy me too!).

juuule · 12/10/2009 08:03

Yanbu.

cory · 12/10/2009 08:04

How can an accent be "right" in the sense that a fact is "right" or a moral judgment is "right"?

What I tell my ds is that there are different types of accent and that I want him to be able to use both the local and the educated accent because it can be a real disadvantage in a job interview if you are unable to use anything other than a broad local accent. I never say the local accent is "wrong". Accents are not facts.

Tombliboobs · 12/10/2009 08:05

have you heard it yourself or are you just going on what your DD thinks she heard in a busy classroom?

Is she a good teacher?

Is she generally well spoken?

Or is it just this one word that has offended you so much?

Cluckyagain · 12/10/2009 08:06

This would annoy me intensely but nuffink you can do unfortunately

DorotheaPlentighoul · 12/10/2009 08:08

But surely saying "anyfink" is not really to do with one's accent, but rather it's an actual mispronunciation? Unless there are accents that don't have the necessary diphthongs?

Or isn't it?

cory · 12/10/2009 08:13

It is not a mispronunciation: it is a type of sociolect. A mispronunciation would be if one person had a faulty idea of what other people in her neighbourhood are actually saying. If everybody in the neighbourhood speaks like that, then her conception of what people say is clearly not faulty. It is either a regional dialect (governed by region) or a sociolect (governed by social class) or (most likely) a combination of the two. It is not beyond the wit of a school age child to understand the concept of sociolects.

DorotheaPlentighoul · 12/10/2009 08:17

NyeEve · 12/10/2009 08:18

Its common and incorrect.

two offences there.

Original poster

kittywise · 12/10/2009 08:22

the dc's goa to a very middle class village school, all the teachers are well spoken and standards are high. I guess this is why it stands out so much.
I've no doubt the head would be horrified and the teacher (NQT) should know better.

OP posts:

GoldenSnitch · 12/10/2009 08:26

We live in the SE too - although I am originally from Yorkshire so I don't proclaim that my accent is perfect either .

My DH was born here and has apparently always had issues pronouncing "th" and says "ff" instead. Three is free, anything is anyfing etc... When he was younger, his Mum put it down to an issue with his tounge and never encouraged him to learn the "th" sound.

Now, at 32, he works in the Midlands and actually gets the mickey taken out of him at work for his mis-pronounciation!! And it's not that he can't say "th" either - if asked to he can make the sound, but years and years of not being asked to means that "ff" is his automatic response.

DH tries really hard when in the house but our DS already says "ff" for "th" in lots of words. He's only 2.7 now so a bit little to correct but I make sure I pronounce the sound correctly when I speak and I hope he grows out of it.

After all, as my DH and this teacher prove, what can seem like a harmless accent when you are a child can negatively affect the way people percieve you at work as an adult and I don't want that for my child.

Tombliboobs · 12/10/2009 08:27

Presumably the teacher regularly speaks to the Head though, either individually or at meetings and would have picked up on such speech in her 'middle class village school?'

As I asked, did you hear it yourself, or heard anything like it?

positiveattitudeonly · 12/10/2009 08:27

One lady at our bank says "twen-ee" "thir-ee", "for-ee" ect. Winds me up every time!!

I now let the deaf old ladies go in front of me if its my turn and she's next. They smile sweetly and think I am lovely for being generous!
One day I will have to tell her. ALthough its a C&G, they're closing I think!

Boys2mam · 12/10/2009 08:30

Yes I would be miffed too.

I'm from the North East and if my son came home telling me his teacher had said 'ner' or 'wae aye' (which we seem most most known for) I would be straight down there. I understand we need to teach our kids about accents and dialects but I do not want my 5 year old speaking like this, I correct him at home and you would hope that this would be the case at his primary school!!

cory · 12/10/2009 08:34

Ds (9) deliberately drops his t's into a glottal stop as an act of rebellion against his middle class parents. I think my job is not to ban the glottal stop per se but to make sure that he can actually pronounce the letter t and that he knows when it is advantageous to do so. I don't necessarily insist on him standing out from his mates if he doesn't want to, but I don't want him to be on the level of the young man I saw at a graduation ceremony a few years back: he received his diploma from the hands of the Vice Chancellor with an appreciative Cheers! Someone had clearly forgotten to tell that young man something.

But I am happy for ds to be bilingual when it comes to sociolects: he is already bilingual when it comes to languages, so why not?

WurzelBoot · 12/10/2009 08:36

Is it possible that the teacher heard a child saying 'anyfink' and asked the class as a whole which was right; 'anything' or 'anyfink'?

In those circumstances the teacher said 'anyfink' perfectly reasonably.

It's certainly not the worst thing I've heard of a teacher saying to children!

GibbonWithAnAppleBobbingBibOn · 12/10/2009 08:37

Middle class village school? She said anyfink?

See the head, demand she is dragged by the hair from the classroom, given 40 lashes and made to write 100 lines (in her own blood obv)

123andaway · 12/10/2009 08:42

My daughters teacher is from the Midlands. We live in the SE. My daughter said bath yesterday, when of course the proper Queen's English pronunciation is barth. She must have picked this up from her teacher, who is quite obviously not speaking properly. Should I complain to the head?

YABU

Original poster

kittywise · 12/10/2009 09:17

I haven't heard her say it personally!

I don't care about regional accents at all a long as they're comprehensible. But anyfink is just plain wrong!

OP posts:

Original poster

kittywise · 12/10/2009 09:20

Cory, I agree. I much as I personally hate the the glottal stop and the f/th k/k business, as long as the people speaking like that know when it is appropriate/ not appropriate to do so then that's fine.

OP posts:

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