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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
GibbonWithAnAppleBobbingBibOn · 12/10/2009 18:01

ballonslayer

The teacher is planning a surprise Christmas performance of "Pygmalion" for the parents, and was reading the part of Eliza out loud because none of the children knew what a real Cock-er-ney is supposed to sound like. As they have all been driven from your local area by a baying mob with pithforks.

How's that sound?'

BexJ78 · 12/10/2009 18:08

it it nothing to do with being snobby about regional accents. you can speak perfectly correctly with a strong regional accent. Anythink is incorrect. I think that it would be slightly less 'wrong' if she said 'anyfing', but it is the 'k' on the end which is the worst feature!!!

urbantwitcher · 12/10/2009 18:11

I grew up in cockney London and also said anyfink, nuffink etc. It changed when I went to uni and met people from all over and all our accents have kind of merged into standard english now.

QueensShilling · 12/10/2009 18:20

Of course YANBU!

PixiNanny · 12/10/2009 18:25

I'm from the South East (Essex unfortunately) and found that a lot of the girls (and the rare boy) in my area training to work with children could not speak properly for shit. I would not allow my future kids to go to them in any environment as they'd come home saying 'wa-er' and the rest of it. Yes I'm being poncy but I lived in Essex for 18 years and managed to leave it a well-spoken person, it's not difficult!

I've found in Gloucs the childcare professionals' (?) language skills are amazing, and generally their way with children is much better on the whole

BTW, I'm fine with regional differences (such as the barth/bath, etc) but not pronoucing words properly as a childcare professional is just ridiculous. There is a 't' in water and 'h' in horrible.

YANBU imo

alysonpeaches · 12/10/2009 18:28

Im from Yorkshire, I did supply teaching in Essex, in reception class a little girl said to me "You dont speak very well do you?". So I told her there was no R in bath.

Ive just moved to a different part of Yorkshire, and it annoys me when my children come home from school saying dirty without the 't' "dir-ee" and naughty without the t "nor-ee". I have no idea where they get it from as I grew up round here and we didnt say that. Im starting to suspect someone at school, too.

CloudDragon · 12/10/2009 18:34

though I hate anyfink, even though I used to say it as I child, having moved up North I now hate hospical yet would never worry about the DCs teacher having it.

I personally prefer them to know that accents come in many different forms, and so do teachers.

Not the preserve of the middle class to teach.

In fact if they started saying 'oh gosh' I would find that equally annoying and yet still wouldn't mind.

MarthaFarquhar · 12/10/2009 18:38

ROFL at use of "common" to describe my accent.

I think you'll find that the "u" term is "vulgar".

girlsyearapart · 12/10/2009 18:40

haven't read whole thread but think it was goldensnitch who said her dh says ff for th. Mine does that too dd copies and also said scoo- er for scoo t er the other day.

Really winds me up!

My nephew in year 1 had a teacher who pronounced the letter H haitch instead of aitch which we all see as the 'right' way to pronounce. Still driving my sister crazy and my dn is in year 4 now.

We live south west london btw.

happypiglet · 12/10/2009 18:41

I don't care what 'class' the teachers are...I just expect them to teach my child properly. I wouldn't expect them to teach that 2 add 2 is 5 so therefore I wouldn't expect a Reception teacher who is teaching my child phonics to say 'one, two, free, four, five' or 'nuffink'.....its not an accent it is lazy language.... presumably they spell the words right? (although don't get me started on that...)...all teachers are degree educated regardless of class!!!!

holytoast · 12/10/2009 18:55

oh dear, did the nasty teacher forget she was meant to be a robot and act like a human being? bad teacher, to your cupboard.

Get over yourself. Your child knew it wasn't right, therefore hasn't been damaged for life.

stillstanding · 12/10/2009 18:55

I don't understand why the whole debate re "bath" has come into this ... that is an accent and is very different to "anyfink", "innit", "bovvered" etc.

No one is saying that teachers need to speak in some sort of 1950's BBC accent but there is a difference between having an accent (which we all have regardless of where we come from) and using "lazy speech" or slang. No place in a classroom (unless in some sort of Little Britain satirical way which is conceivable, I guess).

AlliterateAndTitillate · 12/10/2009 18:57

People can dress it up any way they like. Deep down they think it sounds common. That is what their issue is. I think if it were a different regional accent, people would not be so quick to be outraged.

DadAtLarge · 12/10/2009 18:58

I agree that it's not an accent thing. If that's how the teacher usually speaks I'd complain to the Head. It's bad enough having to correct the nonsense kids pick up in the playground without having to un-teach them what's done in the classroom.

But it can get a lot worse than "anyfink". A secondary school teacher came in for some flak for posts in this thread she started. Some schools would argue that there's a shortage of teachers and they've just got to take what they can get.

TheMitsubishiWarrioress · 12/10/2009 19:07

I don't think it is about the teachers being 'robots', or not human. The teachers in DD's school are a very eclectic bunch of characters and are a fabulous set of role models for her. It is possible to make yourself unique by the way you use the language, it doesn't mean that speaking it correctly has robbed you of your identity.

It would be a little worrying if the ONLY thing they had going for them was the fact that they pronounced words properly.

So when my DS says 'gerrus a drink u watter', I do insist that he repeats it, but a-nun-ci-at-ing cor-rect-ly.

I was born in a housing estate in Coventry and bought up in Derbyshire, we were a very poor family, and I am not by any means a snob. I think the English language is beautiful, with it's colourful dialects, but have a personal appreciation for it being spoken well.

Bucharest · 12/10/2009 19:09

For the nth time, it's nothing to do with accent. It's simply incorrect use of the English language (like the Alesha Dixon insisting on saying "you was" all the time threads....)

hatesponge · 12/10/2009 19:10

with respect, it has little to do with class. I come from a very poor working class background - yet both my parents knew how to prnounce words and to hold a knife and fork (off topic - but another bugbear of mine)

My schoolteachers 20+ years ago spoke 'properly'. They enunciated, and prnounced their words correctly. They had a decent command of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Sadly I can't say the same for most of my DC's teachers, one of whom I have heard use the word 'aint' . I find it very hard trying to get my sons to speak correctly when all around them, including teachers, dont.

And anyone who says it doesn't matter - send your child for interview at an Oxbridge college, or with any of the big City instutiions, and see how far they get speaking like that......

CantThinkofFunnyName · 12/10/2009 19:11

Personally, I think it's very wrong that teachers do not use t's, th's etc when teaching. Dialects, I believe, have nothing to do with this. They are, as kitty rightly said earlier, "teachers".

I did have a little chuckle to myself today when DD (6) told me that she had to correct her teacher for not pronouncing her "th's" and used "ff's" instead - tee hee!

But, because I correct the children at home, I wouldn't get too worked up about it - just have a little moan now and then

hatesponge · 12/10/2009 19:12

pronounced

i may speak correctly, however my typing leaves much to be desired

star6 · 12/10/2009 19:17

YANBU
I'm a primary teacher. This is appalling.

FishInMyHair · 12/10/2009 19:23

(This is one of the reasons I did not want to call my daughter Beth.)
I taught a boy called Ethan. When a visiting WPC asked him for his name he replied Efan. They both got a bit confused when she kept calling him Efan and he was unable to pronounce it correctly for her. I had to jump in as I could see he was getting frustrated.

notunique · 12/10/2009 19:23

Hmm, I am in two minds about this. Being a teacher myself, I am very careful at how I pronounce my words when I address my class. I'm from the South but live in the North so my students think I'm generally well spoken anyway.

I do think that you are making it into a bigger issue than it really is though. I knew a very competent and very popular secondary level mathematics and science teacher who couldn't pronounce "r"s at all so "three" would be "thwee", "range" would be "wange", "rank" would be... Do you think that she should not have been hired for the job?

Anyway, is your dd's teacher good at her job? I agree that though not correct, it hasn't done your dd or yourself any harm has it? I would be more concerned if she was using bad language in the class tbh.

valhala · 12/10/2009 19:25

YANBU in the least.

I wonder what her response would be if you pulled her for it and said that you found it unacceptable for your child to be taugh by someone who can't use the English language properly?

happypiglet · 12/10/2009 19:27

Hmm maybe its different with a speech impediment ... and is teaching maths at secondary school a whole different ball game to teaching children phonics and reading in Primary school?? Where sounds really do matter...a great deal....
Plus my experience was that my child was referred by the school to a SALT in Reception for mispronouncing 'th' as 'f' when at least 3 of the staff do.....slightly hypocritical!!!!.......

star6 · 12/10/2009 19:28

notunique a speech impediment is one thing, an accent like that is another... and it's just well known that this isn't the correct way to pronounce those words. If someone had speech issues preventing them from saying "th" and "g" properly, then that would be so different.

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