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Chris -- 2018-04-11
For those living in speech communities where ‘th’ can be sounded as ‘ff’, the word ‘threat’ as in ‘threat of violence’ could be interpreted as ‘fret’, as in worry. That there is only one Google citation worries me not a jot; one good example of relevant usage keeps me quite happy. Fortunately there are eggcorn hunters about who suffer less from the curse of self-deception and if they should point out that inaccurate spelling is everywhere, including, quite possibly, my lone example, I must reluctantly agree.
I have used violence or the fret of violence so that I could get my own way in life. But I turned my back on all that. I accept poverty as the price for …
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/352912.html – 56k – Cached
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Another brilliant find, Peter. The Google construction “no fret of” might yield a few more examples. Here’s one…
closetcase.co.uk – blogThe managers and directors at the company have said that there is no fret of us losing our jobs, but its not as if they are going to own up to that if it …
www.closetcase.co.uk/blog.php?date=all&phrase=all – Similar pages
And, would you believe talk about a serious fret???...
FONES – Therapeutic productsDue to the fact that the germs mutate constantly, the infection from animal to humans poses a serious fret. HIV for instance has spread over the last 20 …
www.bwl.admin.ch/themen/00507/00515/index.html?lang=en – 18k – Cached – Similar pages
Last edited by jorkel (2006-11-28 14:52:30)
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I’ve got a couple more to add to the pile:
i think that we need the nuclear weapons because we can’t see frets in the future, and we can’t tell who will be a fret to the UK. Nuclear weapons are are way deterring other contrys from attaching the UK
http://www.oursecuritychallenge.com/ind … ents/feed/
Hi Manda, well it may because your rabbit may think your boyfriend is a fret to him so what you need to try and show your rabbit that your boyfriend isnt a fret.
http://experts.about.com/q/Rabbits-703/aggression.htm
Peter—are there certain regions of the UK in which this substitution tends to occur?
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Yes Pat, the phantom eph was, I believe, a feature of traditional Cockney dialect and seems still to be centred on London and adjacent areas but can be found almost anywhere, particularly amongst the young; ‘yoof’ culture and TV soaps like ‘Eastenders’ are helping spread its use and the dialects of some English-speaking immigrants already possess it.
It is easier to articulate an ‘eff’ sound than either of the ‘th’ sounds (this & that are frequently sounded as viss & vat or diss & dat) but its seemingly inexorable spread I watch without enthusiasm.
It was part of working-class speech but distinctions are less rigid than they were and some middle class folk flirt with lower class dialects to appear cool, or less privileged.
I’m afraid I’m not particularly well-informed on this matter as the South East of England is an area I have found very easy to avoid, but I’m sure others can provide a much more accurate picture.
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Thanks for the details, Peter. And for the phenomenon itself—this isn’t a substitution I would have thought to go looking for.
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