Did you have elocution lessons ?

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) ?

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.

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

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

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

How do you pronounce medicine?

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

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. ?

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

We couldn't afford butter, so I think elocution lessons were out of the question.

I never had elocution lessons but I went to some lengths to rid myself of my Liverpool accent when I was teaching at a university because the international students would not have understood me! I now speak what is called "received" English but I can drop back into broad Liverpudlian when required. I sometimes have fun answering the phone or the doorbell in a "scouse" accent and pretending to be the housekeeper!

nadateturbe

We couldn't afford butter, so I think elocution lessons were out of the question.

Fleurpepper

LOL no. But for kids from rural, and especially northern regions, passing the 11+ and going to Grammar School required them to change accent and even syntax, or they would be bullied mercilessly. Melvyn Bragg, who grew up in Lancashire explains that very well in his book on the English language.

Melvyn Bragg didn't grow up in Lancashire he grew up in a town called Wigton in West Cumberland and his parents had one of the local pubs The Blackamoor. He went to Nelson /Tomlinson Co-ed Grammar school in the town. One of my friends was there at the same time and our school played them at Rugby though he had left by the time I was there.

Yammy

Fleurpepper

LOL no. But for kids from rural, and especially northern regions, passing the 11+ and going to Grammar School required them to change accent and even syntax, or they would be bullied mercilessly. Melvyn Bragg, who grew up in Lancashire explains that very well in his book on the English language.

Melvyn Bragg didn't grow up in Lancashire he grew up in a town called Wigton in West Cumberland and his parents had one of the local pubs The Blackamoor. He went to Nelson /Tomlinson Co-ed Grammar school in the town. One of my friends was there at the same time and our school played them at Rugby though he had left by the time I was there.

Apologies, that was from memory.

Makes no difference to the subject of this thread. Kids from rural areas were put under great pressure to speak 'proper' flat rp when going to Grammar School.

I moved from Tipton in the Black Country at age 12 to Newcastle-under-Lyme and I was enrolled in the Orme Girls' School. I remember the interview with Miss Smith (headmistress) like it was yesterday. "Yes, we will accept Madeline, but we really HAVE to do something about that accent". Elocution lessons once a week after school, but not private - no payment involved. I remember chanting "Miss Tudor went to Tewkesbury on a Tuesday".

Callistemon21

Yes, but not private ones. We had elocution lessons in the first year at senior school.
Can't have our gels letting the school down with their local accents!

Same here Callistemon and deportment lessons. I can still remember balancing a book on my head and Miss Scott saying “Nice straight backs gels”. Not unlike physio sessions sometimes

Yes, at school, but only those who chose to pay for them. Like Monica’s, they weren’t really about accent (I never had a local accent because my parents and friends didn’t) but about having the confidence to stand up and speak in public. We recited poetry and competed at local festivals. I learnt a lot of good poems, and I loved every minute.

No, but teaching second language students for years has left me (a Norfolk dumpling) with a surprisingly poshish accent. All that enunciation to be clearly understood has stuck it seems.

No but dil has and her accent is like the NZ version of Queen’s English, mine accent is common as muck sadly

Oh, and we took The Poetry Society’s exams. I’ve got the Gold Badge!

Kids from rural areas were put under great pressure to speak 'proper' flat rp when going to Grammar School

Not just kids from rural areas. Any accent considered ‘common’ was frowned upon. An unpleasant English teacher belittled me in front of the whole class in my second day at grammar school.

Blossoming

^Kids from rural areas were put under great pressure to speak 'proper' flat rp when going to Grammar School^

Not just kids from rural areas. Any accent considered ‘common’ was frowned upon. An unpleasant English teacher belittled me in front of the whole class in my second day at grammar school.

That’s awful. Things like that stick with you, don’t they. I was humiliated at school (very poor but went to a very good school). I never understand how teachers could be so insensitive back then

Fleurpepper

Yammy

Fleurpepper

LOL no. But for kids from rural, and especially northern regions, passing the 11+ and going to Grammar School required them to change accent and even syntax, or they would be bullied mercilessly. Melvyn Bragg, who grew up in Lancashire explains that very well in his book on the English language.

Melvyn Bragg didn't grow up in Lancashire he grew up in a town called Wigton in West Cumberland and his parents had one of the local pubs The Blackamoor. He went to Nelson /Tomlinson Co-ed Grammar school in the town. One of my friends was there at the same time and our school played them at Rugby though he had left by the time I was there.

Apologies, that was from memory.

Makes no difference to the subject of this thread. Kids from rural areas were put under great pressure to speak 'proper' flat rp when going to Grammar School.

I agree with you, Melvyn Bragg speaks elecuted English . As I said in another part of the stream a lot of the teachers were not local in our Grammar Schools they were there because it was near the lake district. They often could not understand us when we talked together which probably accounts for the fact that we were taught how to say "How do you do", and our names properly, they corrected us all the time and made life a misery if you let them.
Luckily most of us were proud of the way we spoke and still can use it. I think it is more acceptable these days to have a regional accent.

People are still insensitive to grown ups who they consider common, based on their accent or colloquial speech patterns.

Yammy

Fleurpepper

Yammy

Fleurpepper

LOL no. But for kids from rural, and especially northern regions, passing the 11+ and going to Grammar School required them to change accent and even syntax, or they would be bullied mercilessly. Melvyn Bragg, who grew up in Lancashire explains that very well in his book on the English language.

Melvyn Bragg didn't grow up in Lancashire he grew up in a town called Wigton in West Cumberland and his parents had one of the local pubs The Blackamoor. He went to Nelson /Tomlinson Co-ed Grammar school in the town. One of my friends was there at the same time and our school played them at Rugby though he had left by the time I was there.

Apologies, that was from memory.

Makes no difference to the subject of this thread. Kids from rural areas were put under great pressure to speak 'proper' flat rp when going to Grammar School.

I agree with you, Melvyn Bragg speaks elecuted English . As I said in another part of the stream a lot of the teachers were not local in our Grammar Schools they were there because it was near the lake district. They often could not understand us when we talked together which probably accounts for the fact that we were taught how to say "How do you do", and our names properly, they corrected us all the time and made life a misery if you let them.
Luckily most of us were proud of the way we spoke and still can use it. I think it is more acceptable these days to have a regional accent.

Yes, we met a school friend of Melvyn Bragg and he spoke "elocuted English" - still had an accent but spoke clearly and distinctly.