A teacher who pronounces library as "liberry"

[Anonymous]

My English teacher in my sophomore year of high school pronounced it "liberry." I'm 48 and still remember that.

It's a dialect. I also remember the things we did in that class. I don't remember my other high school English classes. Dialect or no, she did some things right. It's okay to be exposed to other ways of speaking, even if you don't want your kids to copy them themselves.

[Anonymous]

It is 'Houston' because 'hou' in Dutch always sounds like 'how' and never 'hyew.' I am a black woman who was born and raised in Georgia. Some Southerners, black and white, say the word that way, but in our house we went to the lie-brair-ie, never the 'liberry.'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you care, OP? It has no bearing on her ability to teach your children.

Personally, I love the regional accents of the US and hope that we don't lose them as we move to a broader standardization of American English.

NP. It’s not a regional accent. It’s a sign of being educated, which is exactly what you don’t want from your kid’s teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP this is a true story.

I can still remember in vivid detail when I was in early ES and my dad made fun of one of my teachers because she called a wreath a “reef.” He also made comments about her education and intelligence.

I didn’t have the framework to understand the racism and classism involved, but I knew my dad was looking down on a person I loved and respected in a way that didn’t seem fair.

I still remember this and I’m 40. It honestly still makes me think less of my dad. I love him and forgive him all his flaws, but this episode sticks in my mind. And I am perfectly capable of pronouncing “wreath” correctly.

So maybe there are more important things to think about here than the pronunciation of “library.”

Thanks for sharing that story -- it resonates with me, especially what you wrote about understanding that your dad was looking down on your teacher even though you didn't have the vocabulary to explain why. Kids pick up on these cues...

As another poster said, we need to treat each other with a little grace. And yes, there are more important things to think about than a mispronounced word, whether it's liberry, reef, or nucular.

We just keep lowering and lowering the bar. Yes, the person teaching your kid should be able to pronounce wreath correctly, assuming they don’t have a speech issue. Especially if they’re teaching elementary school children who are learning speaking (sounding out words), pronunciation, etc.

Your dad was not tactful, but he was also not incorrect in his observation. Plenty, if not most, of Black people pronounce their words correctly, btw.

Jesus.

[Anonymous]

Meant to say reading instead of speaking, above.

[Anonymous]

I had an elementary school teacher who used to say "simyutaneously" for "simultaneously". It was weird but not a big deal in the grander scheme of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you care, OP? It has no bearing on her ability to teach your children.

Personally, I love the regional accents of the US and hope that we don't lose them as we move to a broader standardization of American English.

NP. It’s not a regional accent. It’s a sign of being educated, which is exactly what you don’t want from your kid’s teacher.

It is a regional accent. I know a lot of people who say liberry where I’m from, as well as warsh, and pitcher (picture).

Why wouldn’t you want your child’s teacher to be educated? I don’t understand that. Is it a common expression or figure of speech, not wanting to show signs of being educated? I would think you would want your child’s teacher to be educated and show signs of it.

[Anonymous]

Ever thought that when slaves were brought here, their mouths were adapted to a whole other language with making sounds Europeans could not make? And with language, culture, family ties, ancestors stolen, perhaps old linguistic patters did not fully adapt? That's what I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you care, OP? It has no bearing on her ability to teach your children.

Personally, I love the regional accents of the US and hope that we don't lose them as we move to a broader standardization of American English.

NP. It’s not a regional accent. It’s a sign of being educated, which is exactly what you don’t want from your kid’s teacher.

It is a regional accent. I know a lot of people who say liberry where I’m from, as well as warsh, and pitcher (picture).

Why wouldn’t you want your child’s teacher to be educated? I don’t understand that. Is it a common expression or figure of speech, not wanting to show signs of being educated? I would think you would want your child’s teacher to be educated and show signs of it.

Obviously, a typo. You’d of course want your kid’s teacher to be educated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you care, OP? It has no bearing on her ability to teach your children.

Personally, I love the regional accents of the US and hope that we don't lose them as we move to a broader standardization of American English.

NP. It’s not a regional accent. It’s a sign of being educated, which is exactly what you don’t want from your kid’s teacher.

It is a regional accent. I know a lot of people who say liberry where I’m from, as well as warsh, and pitcher (picture).

Why wouldn’t you want your child’s teacher to be educated? I don’t understand that. Is it a common expression or figure of speech, not wanting to show signs of being educated? I would think you would want your child’s teacher to be educated and show signs of it.

What region is this accent from? Why is it just black people from said region?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ever thought that when slaves were brought here, their mouths were adapted to a whole other language with making sounds Europeans could not make? And with language, culture, family ties, ancestors stolen, perhaps old linguistic patters did not fully adapt? That's what I think.

Unbelievably stupid and racist. Give black people some credit, please. Most black people speak properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better than teachers who don’t know the difference between then and then or led and lead.

Huh ?

There are so many poorly educated people on DCUM. If we have to explain it, you wouldn't understand anyway.

+1

Unfortunately, a lot of poorly educated teacher’s too…thus the issue being discussed.

Teacher's?

+1 LOL! There are several folks on this board who THINK they're so well educated and have the audacity to correct the rest of us. Some of them even toss around words like MAGA, ignorant, and moron to describe posters with whom they disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't care what fragile black people think. If it's badly spoken English, it's badly spoken English. I'm not going to give them any more of a break than I'd give a West Virginia hillbilly.

Fun fact: there is no governing body of the English language. Ergo there is no concept of “badly spoken English” just different dialects. A mid-Atlantic teacher who says liberry is no worse than an AAVE-speaking teacher who says axe is no worse than a Scottish teacher who says bairn instead of baby is no worse that a posh Oxford professor who says runnin’ is no worse than an Indian who says brinjal (or indeed an American who says eggplant) for aubergine. They’re all equally valid because they’re all speakers of English. You want a curated language? Move to France.

"I ain't got none," or "They be in the drawer," or "Her and I will look for one" is an acceptable response by a teacher to a student's request for a pencil?

You don’t seem to understand the difference between grammar and pronunciation. Perhaps you can get a teacher to explain it to you.

If the above bolded statements are true, then neither grammar nor pronunciation matter.

[Anonymous]

There is a pronunciation guide in the dictionary for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you care, OP? It has no bearing on her ability to teach your children.

Personally, I love the regional accents of the US and hope that we don't lose them as we move to a broader standardization of American English.

NP. It’s not a regional accent. It’s a sign of being educated, which is exactly what you don’t want from your kid’s teacher.

It is a regional accent. I know a lot of people who say liberry where I’m from, as well as warsh, and pitcher (picture).

Why wouldn’t you want your child’s teacher to be educated? I don’t understand that. Is it a common expression or figure of speech, not wanting to show signs of being educated? I would think you would want your child’s teacher to be educated and show signs of it.

What region is this accent from? Why is it just black people from said region?

It’s mid Atlantic. I’m from (a 98% white) upstate NY town where a lot of people say liberry. Contrary to some of the options on this thread there are American accents/dialects that are not AAVE. (I have no idea if liberry is also AAVE, since as previously mentioned I grew up around very few black people.)