Weird pronunciations
 

I know we've talked about this before, but I couldn't find the thread!

So -anyway - some names, of people and of places, defy the uninitiated with their weird and wonderful pronunciations. So, I found this list of British place names and thought I'd throw it out to youse guys.

Many ofthese I did not know how to pronounce properly. Some of them have a distinct local pronunciation that differs from the national pronunciation. Some of them you'd hae to either live nearby or have heard them on the news to have the first clue :P

So, how would you pronounce these place names?

Auchinleck
Barnoldswick
Berkeley
Bicester
Birmingham
Cambois (people outside Northumberland actually refuse to believe that it isn't pronounced "camb-bwah")
Cholmondeley
Cirencester (in fact, any name ending in -cester.)
Cogenhoe
Culross
Edinburgh
Harwarden
Kilconquhar
Leicester
Loughborough
Shrewsbury
Stiffkey
Slaithwaite
Towcester
Warwick
Woolfardisworthy
Worcester (or even better, Worcestershire)
Wymondham


From http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fun:British_English

Can we have some odd place names from over the pond too?

There's a major street here (and a lesser-known municipality outside the city) spelled Manchaca, pronounced "Man-shack."

Nearby is Bexar "bear" County.

I like that. It makes sense, you can see how it evolved.

That one too, you can see how it has become shortened and the syllables run into each other.

I think my favourite from the above list is a great example of that effect: Cholmondeley - pronounced chumley

Woolfardisworthy for me every time! Also, same part of the world, Beaminster (maybe I made it up but I think it's pronounced Bumster!)

Schuylkill : sku-kill

Hahahahah love it.

This one is a surname and, frankly, is taking the piss just a little:

Fetherstonhaugh

Anyone care to throw out a guess as to how that one is pronounced?

A not so near by community here in KY has the name Chalybeate. It's pronounced kuh-LEE-bee-uht.

There's also Moutardier...I've never heard it pronounced, but, for fun, I pronounce it Mutter Dear (Mother Dear).

Going the other way, there's Gamaliel, pronounced locally as guh-MAIL-ya.

feather-stone-oh?

I was always perplexed why Mackinac Island is pronounced Mackinac IS-land. Just kidding. It's pronounced Mack-in-aw. How do you get 'aw' from 'ac'?

Yeah, you'd think, wouldn't you?

It's actually 'fanshaw'.

No - I have no idea how that one arose.


And incidentally, te one Limey mentioned - Woolfardisworthy - is pronounced woolsree

Here's another odd surname:

Marjoribanks

anytakers? :P

omg...based on the previous two I'd say: muffler? ;)

"Munks?"

hehehehe excellent guesses both :)

Marshbanks

From just round here
Delhi, Saline, Milan and Lyon. None of them pronounced the same as their more commonly known namesakes. '
From the UK: Tintwistle and Alwick are your starters for 10 from Northumberland.

A couple more...

Hunstanton

Keswick


BeforeI go, any takers for these?

Pishill

Penistone. (Already featured in another recent thread).

Alnwick

Hmmm. Ok, I'll have a bash at a couple of the ones from your way:

Deeli Sarn, mulan, loan.

I already know Tintwistle - so I'll let someone else guess that one.

Ecellent thread.

As the website quoted doesn't give answers that I could see, I'll give a few tries:

Auchinleck - o-kin-LI
Barnoldswick - BARN-sik
Berkeley - BARK-li
Bicester - BIS-ter
Birmingham - BRUM-a-jem ;)

yeah, I can't trype.

you gotta pinch your nose when you say it, though

Spot on :) Though some pronounce it burk-li

Close - OKH in Lek -

Some pronounce it Barnolsick - but most and especially the locals - Barlick

*grins*

Ya'd think since w call 'em Brummies

BUR mingum (tho burmingm really, as that last syllable is thrown away) - the local accent usually renders that BER mingum

Dani brumajem is a local name, but not used so much these days since outsiders picked up on it. Sorry I missed your guesses at mine, mulan was the only one that was close

Ha! Goes to show. Most people in the UK don't know how to pronounce names on the other side ofthe hill :p

It's like Sowerby, near me. I assumed, and if you look at a pronunciation guide it will tell you that it is pronounced SOW-er-bi

But call it that and you're instantly marked as a tourist :p Because locals all pronounce it SAW-bi

I had a boyfriend there who was brummie born and bred and used it disparagingly. Only the grandparent generation used it naturally and they're probably all gone now.

So, why do you guys even have an alphabet? :lol:

re Birmingham, my information was that paste jewelry/gems (or by proxy anything fake) is called brummagem because Birmingham was a centre for its procduction. True?

a few more guesses:

Cambois - KAM-bis (by any who don't pronounce it as French?)
Cholmondeley - cholm-LI (I always wondered about that one)
Cirencester - SAI-ren-ster
Cogenhoe - COE-NOE
Culross - (has me stumped)
Harwarden - HAR-den
Kilconquhar - KIL-war
Leicester - LES-ter
Loughborough - LOU-ba-ra

Edinburgh, Shrewsbury, Keswick: been there, so I leave those to someone else.

I live in Ilakdieanngelkieooytha. We pronounce it "oh-HI-oh"

I once visited Ahtyooeiklegnnaeidkali. They pronounce it "OH-hi-OH"

Shouldn't that be "HO-ih-HO", then?

Not in polite society.

(just another example of pronunciation not turning out the way you think it should)

I lol'd!

Luffbrah

Never heard that about Brummagem Scryv, it's certainly a center for real jewelry, so it wouldn't be surprising....


oooh look what I did with the spelling there! jewellery :rolleyes:

Braughing.

BRAFF ing or BRAW ing?

BRAFFing.

Sounds nasty, do you need a Kleenex? ;)

One word - so much to love.

In St. Louis, there's a street named Goethe. Correctly pronounced it's ger-ta (or thereabouts).

As you can guess, the locals don't pronounce it like that. They use go-thee (with a th like thing).

There's Spero Kereiakes Park, in Bowling Green, KY.

Kereiakes - kerr-ee-AH-kuss