Did you have elocution lessons ?

We had it as a class in the first year of secondary school. All I can remember is being taught to say lure as if it contained a y :lyure

I used to say thee-et-ah, but at school was taught thea-ter almost as two syllables with the emphasis on the first. It was a vair posh school. ?

It was pronounced Med-Son at the hospital where I worked. (Posh, in London.)

How do you pronounce medicine?

The-ay-tre.
I thought it might be her local dialect

Callistemon21

Oldnproud

Callistemon21

I was teased because I didn't say "theatre" properly

I've pronounced theatre a certain way all my life but have doubted myself recently, listening to a friend from another part of the UK pronounce it differently to me.

I've tried, but cannot imagine more than one way to pronounce 'theatre'. Please help me out, as I probably say the wrong one

I tend to say it with a kind of sliding dipthong, my friend pronnces the 'e' and 'a' quite separately.

I don't think I have ever heard it said as your friend says it - not in English, anyway!
You life and learn, as they say

No, I'm amazed how many of you did though.

Oldnproud

Callistemon21

I was teased because I didn't say "theatre" properly

I've pronounced theatre a certain way all my life but have doubted myself recently, listening to a friend from another part of the UK pronounce it differently to me.

I've tried, but cannot imagine more than one way to pronounce 'theatre'. Please help me out, as I probably say the wrong one

I tend to say it with a kind of sliding dipthong, my friend pronnces the 'e' and 'a' quite separately.

Oldnproud I would pronounce theatre as theerter but perhaps it should be Thea-ter? ……or summat. Can’t you tell
I had elocution lessons at a private school (as well as ballroom dancing) ?

After I retired from teaching I worked at a posh hospital in central London as a receptionist. One day a Consultant was chatting to me and asked where I came from. I told him the quite run-down area in London where I was brought up. “You must have had elocution lessons ,” he said.
No, I said, I’m just well -educated !
Bl—dy cheek.

Callistemon21

^I was teased because I didn't say "theatre" properly^

I've pronounced theatre a certain way all my life but have doubted myself recently, listening to a friend from another part of the UK pronounce it differently to me.

I've tried, but cannot imagine more than one way to pronounce 'theatre'. Please help me out, as I probably say the wrong one

I did elocution, but it was nothing about changing accents or anything like that, it was more to do with having the confidence to stand up and speak. The elocution teacher was also in charge of the school play and any other drama events. She also entered teams from the school in local public speaking competitions.

I cannot describe how useful that early training in public speaking has been to me in life. It meant I joined the debating society whenI got to university and got used to standing up, saying what I thought, and holding my own in a predominantly male environment. I was good enought to represent the university in national competitions and to this day I regulalry put into use the skills I learned in my elocution lessons at school.

I was teased because I didn't say "theatre" properly

I've pronounced theatre a certain way all my life but have doubted myself recently, listening to a friend from another part of the UK pronounce it differently to me.

I had elocution lessons when I was very young. We lived in the West Riding of Yorkshire and my parents didn't want me to have a strong accent. When I go to Yorks now my friends say I sound 'posh ' when I'm at home friends there say I have a Yorkshire accent. I do say bath and path and not barth and parth

No but I have a very good friend who teaches elocution and she's always busy .
I had deportment training/lessons from a wee woman whose name escacpes me but I can clearly see her in my head

.I still find myself doing the tummy in, tail in, knees together ,shoulders down and back, head UP from the crown NOT the chin that she repeated every time .
Ihave been told countless times that I have a very "proud" walk ...lol.

Yes, in the preparatory part of my independent school.
"I wonder, I wonder, I wonder, I do
Why in the morning the sky is so blue".
I was teased because I didn't say "theatre" properly.
I have a friend who grew up in Lancashire and had to say, "Father's car is a Jaguar".

Miriam M does have the most beautiful speaking voice.
Of course there is voice and accent. Two different things. It's hard to change voice quality itself but changing accent is much easier.

I went with my friend when we were 4/5, as she had a ‘lithp’. I think my mother was glad to have an excuse to send me without being thought of as ‘uppity’!
I can still remember Meg Merrilees and ‘ Three ghosts, sitting on posts, eating buttered toasts’ ( presumably that one was for ‘lithp’ correction!)

Fleurpepper I was just thinking of that. Age 10 we moved from South Wales to the Home Counties and I went directly to grammar school. No bullying but a lot of people laughed at my accent and when I called plimsolls ‘daps’ the PE teacher told me not to be so silly. I learned quickly

Love Miriam Margolas she says it how it is

No but mum would never let us use slang or drop our t’s. When I went to grammar school everyone spoke queens English as it was called so I just carried on from there. I am not however completely accentless. You can tell I am from the South East especially when I visit there.

I don’t think anyone should apologise for having elocution lessons, it should imo be a personal choice.

I like accents of all kind but not slovenly speech.

I had a very bad stammer as a child so had elocution lessons which helped me communicate. I became a teacher and public speaker. I have been complimented on my clear speech.

I love to listen to Miriam M. I’ve read her book, which is not for the faint hearted! I enjoyed 90% of the book.

Yes, mum paid for private lessons. Not sure why as I don’t think I had an accent that she felt needed changing but maybe as in your case Jaylou she thought it would give me confidence. It had the reverse effect.

Yes in the last year of Junior school as a class and at Grammar school when we were due to apply for university.
The teachers were mainly from elsewhere and didn't want the local accent to come through in interviews.
I can remember saying" How do you do my name is ....... "and then breaking into Cumbrian when the questioning started. My parents never paid for them and I didn't for my children but they were taught how to speak and act in an interview at school.

I did, because of a slight speech impediment. Privately, every Saturday morning in a flat above a shop near where I lived. She entered
me into several poetry speaking and drama competitions.
She must have been cheap as we were not at all well off.
My second son also had a speech impediment so, to my amazement that she was still there, he had a few sessions with her too. She was quite inspiring and it's from her that I began my love of poetry.