Pronunciation

Accents and dialects are fine but it is embarrassing if you can't understand a strong one and you have to ask them to repeat what they said a few times.
I can't stand SecUtary instead of secretary and FebUary instead of February.
It also drives me mad when people put a 'T' on the end of thousand (Ann Robsinson for one)

A fellow EFL teacher in the Middle East used to say ‘we was’ and reacted very stroppily when someone (not me, I hasten to add) suggested that she should change it to ‘were’ when teaching, since it was confusing for her students who were nearly all sponsored by their employers, were expected to take - and pass - exams, and would be marked down for such mistakes.

Her attitude was that if it was good enough for her…..
She was a stroppy type in general, though.

I hate to hear 'haitch' for the letter 'h'.

Glottal stops. My bete noire. Radio 4 is full of people dropping the 't'. I hate it but i'm told it's a fashion. To me it distracts from what the person is saying, and often it is very interesting and I miss half of it by repeating the words complete with the 't'!

I am often told I am posh because of the way I speak, I'm not, I just speak received BBC English which is heard and understood the world over. This is what I tell my French friends when they ask me about pronunciation.

We have a lot of fun when I'm explaining about 'h'. I use Professor Higgins method of 'In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire etc....' They think it's hilarious. Squirrel is another word they laugh at!

One friend on a foreign holiday met some most unpleasant people who called her posh. Another person told her just say 'Posh? You obviously mean that as an insult. How about I call you common, how does that sit?' I wish I had the nerve to say that when I'm called posh.

I don’t think this is to do with local accents, saying twen’y is just sloppy pronunciation. I’m irritated by people on radio missing out Ts all the time. Where Americans pronounce T as D (DADDA for data) it’s become commonplace in Britain to simply drop the T altogether.
Crazes come and go but much faster now, thanks to social media and broadcasting. We now have Ay instead of Uh as the indefinite article, “He had Ay sandwich and Ay cup of tea”
also strange stresses ( usually American) like VaccINE, GENN-ome, MISSel etc
You can’t stop it, just shout at the radio.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bankhurst, I’m another who winces at ‘haitch’. However a Gdd (6) has started saying it ? - it’s evidently come from her lovely and very good teacher. Still, she’ll have a different teacher in September so ?.

Not pronunciation with this one just the irritating “Can I get a coffee?’ said in a coffee shop !! To quote another “You pays your money you takes your pick !” ( yes I know that is totally incorrect grammatically but just sums it up). Hello fellow Wearsider Harrigran and I’ve never used “gan”or “why aye” either .

If you want a job as a television presenter why not have some elocution lessons so that everyone can understand you.
I am from the NE and often get taken for a Geordie, I am not, I am a Wearsider and I have never said " gan " or " why aye " in my life. I have friends and family who live on Tynside and in Northumberland and they do not use lazy slang either. Language is more about the person than where they come from.

Call me a snob if you like, but should we have an education secretary who says ‘reckernise’ for recognise?

The early hard pronunciation of Cicero can only be speculative as we don’t know exactly how the Romans pronounced it. The softer ‘Chi-che-ro’ is later Medieval Latin and British pronunciation is ‘Si-ser-o’ - think Cell Block Tango in ‘Chicago’!

There was one commentator at the Olympics who insisted on talking about ‘ath-e-letes.’ Where did the extra syllable come from?

I hate criticism of the way people talk. When I was at grammar school, especially at first, everyone laughed at me because of my broad accent. But I wouldn't try to change it, because the people who mattered to me - large family, local friends - would have felt I thought I was better than them (no-one else from my school went to the Grammar). I do love listening to the BBC English of radio 4 presenters (& guests too). Not JRM though.

The correct pronunciation of Cicero in Latin is with a hard "c"; therefore it is pronounced KIH-keh-roh. Cicero is often also pronounced as CHIH-cheh-roh or SIH-seh-roh. The reason for these differing pronunciations is because of the different varieties of Latin used.
www.pronounceitright.com › ... 'Different types of Latin!' Still, all in the name of harmony Lucca and Blossoming

Could have been worse.
Firty.

Used to have to avoid one of the checkout staff at my supermarket who would say "Twenny"!!

Miss adventure, I agree and that’s the trouble, some teachers are not being good role models. Of course we all have accents including me and that’s our heritage and I’m proud of that accent. This is about accurately pronouncing words, not about our gorgeous accents, it’s easier for children to spell and read accurately if they pronounce their words correctly. It’s not about being posh or elitism. We have a brilliant language, let’s embrace this free gift of language.

Grandmadinosaur
I’m from Lancashire; we pronounce year as ‘yeer’, not yur. It’s a shame that the Lancashire dialect is disappearing; luckily there are local poets who keep it alive. The South East Lancs. accent is being transformed into a kind of Oasis-style Manc twang.?
Rylan Clarke is annoying in the way he pronounces ‘Britain’. (Does he actually have any talent??)
I love regional accents (especially Geordie), but sloppy speech is a different matter.

what a charming place name.
far better than in glos, upper slaughter !
or even worse lower slaughter.
one of the first women priests in the church of england whom i met was stationed there, so it stuck in my mind.
she was a sensible middle-aged plus woman, and wore a pale green stock. years ago now. i drift off into reverie, as usual. sorry.

I asked an older Essex woman where she came from, as I couldn't place her accent.
It sounded a cross between Devon and Australian.
I got short shrift off her; she told me hers was a "proper" old Essex accent.
She came from Little Wakering.

Copper3
Is that the whole of Essex?
Can you hear the difference between, say, Southend and Maldon.
Or wivenhoe and Burnham on Crouch.

I don't even know what it means when people complain about haitch or aitch. What about Huh

Bankhurst

Regional accents are fine with me, but I can’t stand ‘haitch’! The word for the letter h is ‘aitch’. Not sure why or how this habit began. Anybody have any thoughts?

Oh yes, that makes me cringe too. Hate it even more when I hear it on radio or tv.

i was waiting for the haitch to be mentioned.
why does it bother people.
i remember someone at work, one of the officers, slagging off an admin asst because she said haitch.
i pointed out that most people say it like that and have no awareness at all that they have committed some sort of crime by doing so.
that is the pronunciation that they have received.
why is it regarded in this way. why are people looked down on for saying haitch. i think it's nonsense. perhaps a way of feeling superior. how does it adversely affect anyone else.

Please may I add here...I like most regional accents (apart from Essex and E.E...sorry folks, just sounds lazy to me) and my family are not 'posh'. I just want someone who is being paid a massive amount of money to 'present' to be able to pronounce the English language clearly! Do you think they got the job because they are attractive by any chance?
Going off to hide behind my settee now...