The Missing Letter T

[follyfancier]

is it just laziness now?
I first noticed it with Beetroot (bee- root)
but now its every word with a T in the middle
butter, later , tattoo etc.

[Atheist]

It's a longstanding phenomenon, arising from local accents and ease of pronunciation (it's a bit hard-going to touch the back of your front teeth with your tongue). It's a glo'al stop. e.g. bo'oo (for bottle). This is how Latin gradually changed into French, Italian etc. Nothing to worry about (apart from the distaste one feels to hear such stuff).

[Atheist]

Pe'er Pedan' will probably explain it better'an I can.

[barry1010]

Some dialects have always been like that, it's called the glottal stop, a good example is the Cockney dialect

[Atheist]

Barry; I've already told you that it's a glo'al stop!

[barry1010]

Atheist, it took me more than than three minutes between our posts to type my reply

[Atheist]

Sozza, Bazza. Wha'a pra' I am!

[Mamyalynne]

Tattoo without T would be - aoo

[KARL]

This is an English language phenomenon. In other languages r still sounds like a local R, s sounds like an S and t like a T. The glottal stop, which is basically a truncated grunt of sorts, has been endemic for many, many decades (perhaps centuries - I wasn't around) in some regions, certainly it has been widespread in large parts of Scotland. I noticed its spread onto the spoken media (radio / TV) in three or four decades ago, particularly in the name of Scotland (notice that those who don't use the glottal stop anywhere else will say Sco'land - a perceived conformity with the "natives"). Increasingly, it seems to me, aberrations in pronunciation (lore and order, coming sickth, etc.) have gained fashion appeal, the grunt included. The most extreme example of the grunt I have come across is ho' - 'el (where ' represents the stop/grunt - hotel to you and me).

I spent a few years in Western Africa where I came across pidginised English - native English may be headed in that direction. I think it is a sort of "cool" jargonation/distortion, not laziness.

[Atheist]

Mamy, for some reason the 't' at the beginning of the word has been retained, probably because even the lazy-tongued need to make themselves understood. examples. "OMG! You 'osser'!! OMG! You 'urd!" etc.

[Atheist]

There's also the missing letter L.
Bristoo (instead of Bristol)
Bo'oo (instead of bo'l)
Li'oo (instead of Lille)
Li'oo (instead of Lyon)
we'w (instead of well)
and so it goes.

[barry1010]

People from Belfast just miss out the middle of words - Norn Irnd