Pronunciation of water

[Machiavellian]

To me it's wor-ter. I keep hearing 'wor-eh'. Is this not lazy? Why is the t being excluded? Am I being snobbish for thinking it sounds so lazy and uneducated?

When I was teaching phonics in Scotland it was easy because we pronounced the words as they were written so card was c-a-r-d but am always interested how it works in England when they'd say cahd.
It's the same with the wh sound - we pronounce both letters so wheel, whale, but this sound doesn't appear to exist in England as they'd say weel and wale.

I also used to hate reading children's books where there were rhymes like farmers/pyjamas or scarf/giraffe.

It's obvious when it's a non-rhotic speaker showing the pronunciation of something by using an R which, to them, is perfectly sensible.

It's not that obvious at all, which is the problem.

If you have a rhotic accent you learn why those with non-rhotic accents do it, but often there'll be a few posters on a thread who haven't come across it being used to represent a lengthened vowel previously.
Using it has a tendency to derail a thread. It hasn't exactly helped OP get the answers she needs on this one.

I never used the word ignorant. At the very worst I might go unimaginative! I’ve aleast understood that this is what they’re doing, because I’ve grown up in an English speaking community abroad so am (apparently!?) broad minded when it comes to accents. I know what they mean. But I maintain it’s not a particularly standard way of trying to explain pronunciation using normal letters. All those threads end up very confused. This is something I’ve noticed on Mumsnet in particular. IME online it is more standard to use H for vowel length and I’m racking my brains trying to think if I’ve ever seen R used as vowel length but I don’t think so. I went and looked up Tolkiens appendices to LOTR but he explained in a different way so no luck. ;)

Would like to point out that I just noticed that it’s easy on my phone to make an ā so that is what I’d propose

Also to get back to OP - I think an added R in Water sounds unusual! The final R I pronounce in my accent, but I’ve never heard anyone say war-ter. But the intrusive R is v mysterious to me.

@SoupDragon I've bern told on here that I mispronounce words because I'm a rhotic speaker. I tried to point out that it was due to my accent but to no avail 🙄

In England it’s c ar d. Same as in c ar or f ar. It’s a digraph.

Wh is just pronounced w.

I don't think anyone has said you mispronounce words, or at least not without tongue firmly in cheek.

But if using a non-rhotic R in car or park is a perfectly acceptable regional variation even though it differs from the global norm (and it is of course perfectly acceptable), then so is using a glottal stop for the T in water or university.

I'm a Brummie.

I say 'war-tah'

I agree to an extent, but I think there's a difference between a regional accent and somebody from the shires speaking mockney

All the birthday cards with tigers and dinosaurs on them that say “Have a Roarsome Birthday!”

Had to think quite laterally to work that one out. I find it hilarious that “Roar” and “awe” are pronounced so similarly in much of England.

Finally it makes sense 😅
I obviously don't have your skill for lateral thinking@HotCrossBunplease!

I've just bought this very card - and didn't realise roarsome was meant to sound like awesome 🤦‍♀️ (am Scottish)

Agree with @RaraRachael that it's frustrating to read rhyming children's books that don't actually rhyme in my accent!

As for the OP, definitely waw-ter for me. It's just as odd to me to add an r in the middle as to drop the t.

It doesn’t really work because they write “a Roarsome” when it would be aN Awesome but I’m fairly sure it’s meant to be a pun!

Here was me thinking it just meant a birthday full of roars 😂

for those who are still confused about how Scots pronounce ur.

My mind is now blown WRT Roarsome birthdays. This remind me of all the teenage mags (J17, Jackie etc) that had 'lurve' stories. Meaning, of course, an extended vowel sound to indicate soppiness and possibly the reason why MN uses an R to extend a vowel sound. But everyone I know in Scotland pronounces the R in lurve 😂.

@JaninaDuszejko hang on, now this has really blown my mind - you're not supposed to pronounce the r in lurve?!? 🤯

I pronounce the r in lurve. Not Scottish- can't be much less Scottish without falling in the sea.

@HotCrossBunplease I saw that very card on Moonpig and said to my OH "Well that's lost on anybody Scottish"

@WickieRoy it was on another thread that I was told I was mispronouncing words and I can assure you it wasn't tongue in cheek - you know those kind of people who are always right - even when they're wrong.

OMG mind blown re “lurve” (veteran of 1980s teen mags!). I always thought you said it like Lurpak 😂

Oh yeah I get it all the time on here. Haitch, gotten, bring/take, Santa etc etc etc.

OMFG. Mind blown.

I pronounce the R in lurve but it never occurred to me where it came from.

Also mind-blown!!!
It makes much more sense in a non-rhotic accent 😁
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lurve

Oh yeah I get it all the time on here. Haitch, gotten, bring/take, Santa etc etc etc.

I'll also add "Can I get" to your list.

It always makes me laugh at a certain time of year when all the "Why are we using American terms like Hallowe'en and Santa" when we've said that for ever.

Well, just catching up with this thread. It’s fascinating ! Every day is a school day 😀

Oh yes you certainly can. Imagine walking into a coffee shop and saying "Please may I have...", sure you'd have to leave from the mortification.

The new winner on Countdown has what I would call a Geordie accent. He's been on 2 times. On the repeat this morning the crucial conundrum was 'vegetated', which he got.
He didn't pronounce it the way I would do, as I don't come from the NE. I would make more of a 't' sound. However, he didn't say 'vege'a'ed' either, or 'vegeda'ed'. He said the word with those two consonants not being missed out, but lightly pronounced and somewhere between a 't' and a 'd' sound.

He sounded absolutely natural. Someone up thread has dared to mention the word affectation. The glottal stop has been a part of the speech pattern (if that's the right term) in certain parts of the UK for ages - forever for all I know - but I think it's been a trendy affectation lately, which has been embraced by people who think it's attractive, but wouldn't naturally use it.