Irish people and "th"

DebDynamite

OP, ask your colleagues to say the word "herb" and then laugh at them when they say "erb".

A Neurotic

One I'll never understand is how inner Dublin people replace 't' with 'r'.

"Ger ourr of ih!"

???

mutley18

How hard is it to pronounce th words? You southerners need elocution lessons. :P

munchkin_utd

DebDynamite wrote: »

OP, ask your colleagues to say they word "herb" and them laugh at them when they say "erb".

and ask them to say words like "lightly" and tell em to f off with their critisims about you when they pronounce that like "lie-dly"

Tornaxx

COYVB wrote: »

The word is actually aluminum in north america - they're not pronouncing it wrong, it's a whole different word

Yeah, it's the complete spelling of the word that they are wrong about!

:pac:

Brego888

The inability for some irish people to say their "th's" bugs me. My girlfriend from kilkenny being a classic example. "Tunder" and lightening or sitting on a "ledder" sofa. Having said that im from donegal some of the stuff I say is weird too.
In summation, I should get over myself.

force eleven

It is ironic that people here can drop the TH from this, that these and those, yet take the words Thomas,or Thomond, and they'll put it in, whereas its correct to drop it for those two. We just cant do what were told here

Crooked Jack

COYVB wrote: »

Things you notice when you move abroad:

1) it's easier to pronounce the th in words
2) it's easier to use local words instead of your traditional analog (like using trash/garbage instead of rubbish)
3) it's easier to drop all Irish slang

You can opt not to do any of the three above, but expect to be asked to repeat things over and over again. Sometimes due to amusement, sometimes due to them genuinely not knowing what you say. The "th" thing in particular is one you should get into the swing of very quickly if you don't already pronounce it. I occasionally go to far, th-ing things that aren't th's

Do you love thits?

Pretty Polly

dis, dat, dese and dose, dats the way the 'th' goes!

Wibbs

HalloweenJack wrote: »

I generally find Americans to be completely oblivious to the concept of different variations of English. This varies from amusement to aggression (in extreme cases).

Well kinda. I had one encounter over the phone with an American and halfway through the convo she said "I love your accent". I replied with "I like yours too"(it was that soft American accent that's hard to pin down. She actually said "but I'm american we don't really have accents". :eek:

American accents vary a lot. A Bostonian doesn't sound like someone from Brooklyn or LA or New Orleans, so I don't buy the "not exposed to different accents" notion. I reckon the coworkers are just being dicks

Also, I've never heard any Irish person trying to make a th sound in a place where it doesn't belong, I find it hard to believe that this happens.

It's very common. Try to find someone, anyone who doesn't say "heith" when they mean "height" Thongue instead of Tongue is common enough too.

Fratton Fred

My sister in law does this on purpose, I'm sure of it. Dis, dat, dese, brudder, tink etc.

She even claims that she taught school was where you are thought tings.

Its just laziness, it's got nothing to do with accents, because she has the exact same accent as her six brothers and sisters who don't do it.

1ZRed

In fairness it annoys the shit out of me too, especially considering the majority of those people who can't pronounce "th", and say things like "shtick", can't even speak Irish, so they've no excuse that they could say "well it's not my first language".

I never understood whenever I saw farmers from the middle of the country on RTE who had such shit English either. All you do is speak English day in, day out, why haven't you grasped the proper pronunciation yet?

looking_around

Yep, In my experience majority of Irish don't pronounce th right. ! As a kid, I was bullied for saying them right! O_O

Lived in Shannon and Limerick most of my life, and the majority of them say tree for three. (one of my pet hates that, ..missing the th on other words don't bother me as much)

who the fug

Throws Z into the mix, runs away laughing like

Esoteric_

I have a few American friends, who are still baffled that I DO pronounce 'th' properly. They used to always ask me to say 'thirty three,' expecting me to say 'turty tree,' and are still sorely disappointed that I speak correctly. :pac:

DebDynamite

force eleven wrote: »

It is ironic that people here can drop the TH from this, that these and those, yet take the words Thomas,or Thomond, and they'll put it in, whereas its correct to drop it for those two. We just cant do what were told here

What are the rules though? How do you know when you're supposed to drop the TH sound from a word beginning with TH?

looking_around

DebDynamite wrote: »

What are the rules though? How do you know when you're supposed to drop the TH sound from a word beginning with TH?

__
actually, I think it's cause the last two are names, and names can get away from general pronunciation rules

Frank Lee Midere

1ZRed wrote: »

In fairness it annoys the shit out of me too, especially considering the majority of those people who can't pronounce "th", and say things like "shtick", can't even speak Irish, so they've no excuse that they could say "well it's not my first language".

I never understood whenever I saw farmers from the middle of the country on RTE who had such shit English either. All you do is speak English day in, day out, why haven't you grasped the proper pronunciation yet?

Dubliners tend to be worse on this.

Surveyor11

WilyCoyote wrote: »

Just stop saying three. Go from two to four. Problem solved me auld china!

Or use another language, like "trois" or "drei"

Frank Lee Midere

It's funny that the OP mentioned New York which is one city which has a non traditional American accent and one where people drop their ths or replace them with a d. At least working class people do. American blacks tend to use the D for th as well. I be rollin, Dey be hating.

It's also unusual for Americans to mention accents, all immigrant cities have tonnes of accents, you could hardly survive by getting annoyed by some of them.

hfallada

It depends on where you are from in Ireland. I am from Dublin and all my friends are really well spoke and would actually correct each others grammar at times. But this I moved to a school with a lot of people from Ballyfermot and I couldn't understand a word for the first 3 months.

In Ireland your English is perfect and proper or no one outside your county can't understand you

Inbox

I hate when people say Arrland instead of Ireland!!

Frank Lee Midere

hfallada wrote: »

It depends on where you are from in Ireland. I am from Dublin and all my friends are really well spoke and would actually correct each others grammar at times. But this I moved to a school with a lot of people from Ballyfermot and I couldn't understand a word for the first 3 months.

In Ireland your English is perfect and proper or no one outside your county can't understand you

I'm not convinced.

Davidius

1ZRed wrote: »

I never understood whenever I saw farmers from the middle of the country on RTE who had such shit English either. All you do is speak English day in, day out, why haven't you grasped the proper pronunciation yet?

Sure people saying things wrong to each other day in, day out is how accents, dialects and languages come to be.

Frank Lee Midere

I agree about accents but tree vs three annoys me too, though I am sure I slip into it. One thing Irish people should do, when in positions of trying to communicate, is enunciate. I enunciate the f*ck when on conference calls to the US. I slow down as well.

beano345

NIMAN wrote: »

No, its just you Dubs, the rest of us can speak fairly well.

I always wondered why you folk can't pronounce the 'th' - have they not been teaching infants how to pronounce words using phonics? If so, then you ain't listening in some parts of the country!

obviously you have'nt been around ireland too much!

1ZRed

Davidius wrote: »

Sure people saying things wrong to each other day in, day out is how accents, dialects and languages come to be.

It's also how horrible accents come to be as well. The Dublin accent being one of them.

It's not difficult to pronounce the words properly and it sounds so much better when you do.

Surveyor11

Ask them to pronounce "aluminium", "Caribbean" and "route". Ask them to explain why they spell the likes of labour, harbour and parlour without the "u". Ask them why they will "write you" rather than "write to you". And their calendars, days and months are reversed. Casues no end of confusion when dealing with American companies.


That'll learn them.:pac:

NTMK

Surveyor11 wrote: »

Ask them to pronounce "aluminium", "Caribbean" and "route". Ask them to explain why they spell the likes of labour, harbour and parlour without the "u". Ask them why they will "write you" rather than "write to you". And their calendars, days and months are reversed. Casues no end of confusion when dealing with American companies.


That'll learn them.:pac:

mentioning the metric system aswell causes them an untold amount confusion.

jimmybeige

Dr hoRse wrote: »

and to answer the point, as far as I'm aware we don't have the soft th in Irish so it has possibly stemmed from there

I don't think that explains it really. People in Connemara, Irish speakers, often pronounce Irish words starting with "T" as "th" i.e The word Tá would be pronounced "Thaw" there.

I think it's just a weird habit we have. My parents pronounce the word three as "tree", but pronounce the word trash as "thrash". Makes no sense.