Them instead of those

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

Drives me nuts. Why do people say this? I suppose it's colloquialism? But it looks stupid.

Look at them legs
I remember walking past them houses
Remember them spiders

Aarrgghh!!!

When I was about 8 I said, "That's them." A school teacher in the family corrected me, in a kindly way!! THOSE are THEY.

Agreed - I wince when I see this!

It's a regionalism. Life would be dull if we all spoke using RP!

Is it new? I noticed it about 18 months ago and have now realised DH and I are the only ones who say those.

It's neither new, nor a regionalism.

It's just incorrect.

Most children, when beginning to speak, will use "them" instead of "these" or "those" because a) it's one word so they don't have to think about it. B) "M" is usually one of the first sounds a child produces.

Obviously most grow out of it.

It's a regionalism

If a whole region of people say it that way it becomes part of their normal speech patterns/dialect etc

I personally switch between the two depending on how local I'm being 😁

The one that really grates on me is done instead of did. I done this, they done this etc. You did this, they did this, not done. Drives me mad when I hear it or see it written down!

Was and were as well. I think it’s lack of education and living around people who speak the same so it’s reinforced. Also reading the internet instead of proper books.

The other noticeable one round here is everyone says what instead of that.

"The book what has a bear in it."

DD (4) does it and I correct her every time but she's surrounded by others who say it. She's okay on those and them though.

You must run in illiterate circles!

That's another child language acquisition "thing".
"What" becomes hard-wired into a child's brain very quickly (think of all the W questions, and young children!) Their brain starts to notice that "what" is used in different contexts. "What are you doing?" "He asked me what I was doing" etc.
Then they need a relative pronoun (that, or which) but "what" seems to fit in there, so for a while they use "what". It will pass when they hear enough examples of sentences with "that" or "which".
Another one is go-ed instead of went. Children initially hardwire the irregular forms. Then they learn the -ed regular ending. So, they rewind and start applying that to all verbs. You tend to get a period where they'll use "went" followed by one where they use "go-ed" before going back to "went" once their brain is happy that they weren't initially wrong.
Listening to children's speech in the early acquisition years is fascinating.

That's really interesting @PAFMO thank you. Good to hear that the 'what' will pass. I try not to pull her up on other things (like the delightful singular childrener 😍) because it will all piece together in time. But with so many people saying 'what' I think I have to keep correcting that one or it will sound normal.

That's the strange thing @Tort, lots of them are very intelligent and at least two of them have said oh god yes, I'd NEVER write it like that. So they realise it's incorrect and don't use it in work comms but say it day to day 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Love "childrener" 😄

Imaginary shoe shop...

"I don't like those shoes, but I do like them"

This sums up how I think most people get it wrong. Occasionally I'm guilty of this too

It’s part of several regional dialects in the UK, such as NW England. Also, the use of past participles instead of present in some verb tense constructions is an aspect of some regional dialects ( I was stood v I was standing).

RP is an accent. You can still say them instead of those using received pronunciation.

This is an interesting article on it. If it was good enough for Alan Bennett... forum.wordreference.com/threads/them-instead-of-those.157805/

I must be from a region where this would be perfectly acceptable. It would probably have a stress on “them” indicating comparison. It’s also completely clear to both speaker and listener when the speaker is pointing to or next to two pairs of shoes. Language does not exist in a vacuum that excludes context of other senses such as sight.

Alan Bennett's character said that, not Alan Bennett himself.

Them is not a replacement for those.

Incorrect: I like them apples.
Correct: I like those apples.

(From the same article).