pronunciation

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, Janette <jnferr at ...> wrote:
>
> >
> > Geoff:
> > I think the difference between the voiced and unvoiced 'th' is a tiny
> > difference between the tongue positions. The unvoiced 'th' has the
> > tongue slightly further forward .
> >
> > Referring back to my comments on teaching the other day, you'll
> > particularly hear sloppy speakers with Cockney  or other similar
> > London accents pronounce 'thousand' or 'thirty' with the 'f' sound
> > - 'fahsend' or 'firty' - but 'this' or 'that' will be correct....
> 
> 
> montims:
> Really?  When I worked in the City, and lived in Whitechapel, I had a lot of
> cockneys in my office, and spoke to others while shopping and so on, and
> they would say Viss and Vatt if they said fahsend...  Beigels of course were
> pronounced BYEgels.

Geoff:
That was never the case in Wandsworth where I lived for over 40 years- or 
Morden where I taught. Perhaps my examples fall in my "other similar 
London accents" category.

Your speakers sound as if they might also belong to the Jewish community 
which is fairly strong on that side of the city. Also, my dictionary tells me 
that 'beigel' is a Yiddish word; the spelling I usually see is 'bagel'.