An increasing number of British people don't pronounce the word 'three' properly - these maps explain why
That is likely going to make it easier for us all to communicate in the future, but it comes at a cost: We're gradually losing the entertainingly difficult-to-understand brogues of unreconstructed Scouse, Geordie, or Glaswegian.
The most surprising sign of this shift is that large swathes of British people now pronounce the word "three" incorrectly. Or at least, differently - but certainly not the way it is written. Sixty years ago there was broad agreement on how that word was said properly. Now there isn't.(More on the "three" controversy later.)
Business Insider spoke to Tam Blaxter of Adrian Leeman's research team at the Cambridge Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, to find out what's going on. The Leeman team has constructed an amazing app, called English Dialects, which asks you to choose the "correct" pronunciation for dozens of common English words. The app collects the results to enhance its database of spoken English variations. Best of all, the app calculates where you grew up based on your answers - with a creepy level of accuracy. You can download the app from Apple or Google.
The team used the data - 30,000 responses - to create these maps which show where you live depending on how you think different words are said.
- I quit McKinsey after 1.5 years. I was making over $200k but my mental health was shattered.
- Some Tesla factory workers realized they were laid off when security scanned their badges and sent them back on shuttles, sources say
- I tutor the children of some of Dubai's richest people. One of them paid me $3,000 to do his homework.
- Bitcoin scam case: ED attaches assets worth over Rs 97 cr of Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty
- IREDA's GIFT City branch to give special foreign currency loans for green projects
- 8 Ultimate summer treks to experience in India in 2024
- Top 10 Must-visit places in Kashmir in 2024
- The Psychology of Impulse Buying