# I love being able to pronounce "th"... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524 "2003-07-10T18:13:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dawne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Dawne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dawne)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524/21 "2003-07-11T12:19:38Z")
I’ve never understood how _anyone_ can roll their Rs, or whistle, come to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524/22 "2003-07-11T13:25:05Z")
My grandfather can’t pronounce “th,” despite the fact that he was born in New York and lived there until he was five (his family spoke Polish at home, and later moved back to Poland until his late teens). He sounds like a native English speaker otherwise, but that one sound defeats him. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524/23 "2003-07-11T19:13:20Z")
Actually, English has _two_ “th” sounds, recognized by the IPA as separate consonants. There’s the  “thorn” sound as found in words like this, rather, etc. Then there’s the Q “theta” sound as found in works like theme, bath, etc. Do most languages that lack one of these sounds lack the other as well? ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524/24 "2003-07-11T20:00:20Z")
Actually, the ‘th’ in ‘rather’ is referred to as ‘eth’. ‘Thorn’ was the letter used in a whole bunch of Germanic languages to represent the ‘th’ in ‘think’. Slight difference and few Germanic languages actually told between the two sounds in any meaningful way. Old English certainly didn’t; eth was used between vowels and thorn was used elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524/25 "2003-07-11T20:10:55Z")
To clarify, the distinction is that the th in “this” is voiced, and the one in “thank” is unvoiced. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524/26 "2003-07-11T20:45:57Z")
I’m taking German right now in university (in the fall i’m taking German 3) and my professor is an 82 year old chemist (with doctorate) from Bavaria. He’s been here since the 1950s or 60s, but cannot pronounce ‘th’ for the life of him (which is why he understands when we have trouble pronouncing “ch” or a proper German “r”). What _really_ makes it frustrating is that we have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For almost two semesters, I could _not_ figure out which day he was saying at any given time! You’d hear something like, “De quiz weel be next Teyursdee, but de test weel be Teyursdee.” 😃 I’ve finally attuned my ear to the fact there’s a _slight_ difference between them so I can interpret for my classmates after we get in the hallway. 🙂 [sub]I’m so happy that I have a pretty good “ch” AND I can roll my "r"s once or multiple times too.[/sub] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-being-able-to-pronounce-th/187524.md?page=1)