Strangely Pronounced Place Names

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Give examples of places that aren't pronounced as you'd think by looking at the place names.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 20:56 (twenty years ago) link

e.g. in kent there's a place called Wrotham that is pronounced Rootum.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 20:57 (twenty years ago) link

slough

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 13 September 2003 20:58 (twenty years ago) link

Beaulieu pron. Bewly
Leicester pron Lester
river Ouse pron Ooze

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:00 (twenty years ago) link

Des Moines=Da Moin
Prescott, AZ=locals say Press-kit

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:01 (twenty years ago) link

Prudhoe, Northumberland is "prudder" to the locals and only "prue doe" to the announcer on the railways.

I wonder whether Leicester and Towcester were ORIGINALLY pronounced as spelt and only became Lester and Toaster over the centuries?

It's odd how Boise is pronounced the same way as the guy in Only Fools & Horses who's married to Marlene.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:04 (twenty years ago) link

today, I heard on the story abt the Theakstons taking charge of their brewery again from S&N that the place where they brew is pronounced Mass-ham rather than Mash -um which makes sense given that the suffix is 'ham' but I'd still always thought of it as Mash-um, possibly because with the brewing connection I automatically think of "mash tun".

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:07 (twenty years ago) link

milngavie=mull-guy

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:09 (twenty years ago) link

I only recently found out from a colleague who comes from Abbey Wood that Erith is pronounced "Earith"

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:13 (twenty years ago) link

i've never understood why Gillingham the place in Kent is pronounced with a soft g, yet all the ppl i've met called Gillingham pronounce their name with a hard g.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

I've never considered Erith to be pronounced funny, but now you mention it, I guess it is.

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:17 (twenty years ago) link

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:18 (twenty years ago) link

but that's pronounced how it's written.

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:22 (twenty years ago) link

There are a few villages in the Tyne valley which have names that end "ingham" when it's pronounced "injum" rather than "ing-ham" for some bizarre reason. Bellingham is one of them.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:25 (twenty years ago) link

Gloucester = Gloster
Worcester = Wusster
Bicester = Bisster
Tewkesbury = pronounced Chucksbree by the locals
Cherwell = Charwell

― C J (C J), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:41 (twenty years ago) link

Kirkudbrightshire = Kear-koo-bree-sheer

― C J (C J), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:43 (twenty years ago) link

didn't that go in '74?

there doesn't seem to be consensus abt Shrewsbury

SHREWS or SHROWS?

actually, mark s to thread!

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:44 (twenty years ago) link

Govan = Guh-van.
Loch Lomond = Loch Low-mond (not Loch Lahmond where 'a' is a quick stabby 'o' sound.)

― David. (Cozen), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:46 (twenty years ago) link

Kirkcaldy is something like 'curcoddy', isn't it?

Shiphay near Torquay is 'shippy'.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:49 (twenty years ago) link

Ypsilanti

Ip-seh-lan-tee

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:56 (twenty years ago) link

Culross (in Fife) is pronounced Coo-ris
Avoch (north of Inverness) is pronounced Och

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 13 September 2003 22:23 (twenty years ago) link

Earl Spencer has insisted to us local commoners for ages than Althorpe is pronounced "al-trop".

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 13 September 2003 22:32 (twenty years ago) link

Also, Anstruther in Fife is Ainster to the locals. And Findochty (between Inverness and Aberdeen, and birthplace of crap Z-list celeb of the 80s Isla St Clair) is pronounced Fin-ech-itty.

Scotland is full of place names like this, but I don't think of many of them as being strangely pronounced as I'm used to pronouncing them the way they are meant to be pronounced, and the spelling seems incidental.

Does that last paragraph make sense? It doesn't look right written down, but I know what I mean.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 13 September 2003 22:38 (twenty years ago) link

Regina SK is pronounced ree-jy-na, not ruh-jee-na as Regina is the rest of the world 'round. I'm of the opinion that we're the ones in the wrong. As usual.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Saturday, 13 September 2003 22:51 (twenty years ago) link

like elizabeth regina.

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 13 September 2003 23:02 (twenty years ago) link

zactly, though the city was named after victoria regina

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Saturday, 13 September 2003 23:04 (twenty years ago) link

In Tidewater Virginia, Norfolk = nor-f*ck. And I'm not sure if this a name of anything other than a W&M dorm, but Taliaferro = tol-li-fer.

― j.lu (j.lu), Saturday, 13 September 2003 23:04 (twenty years ago) link

Quesnel, I guess would sound stranger if it was pronounced as it's spelled like kwezz-nell instead of kwe-nell.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Saturday, 13 September 2003 23:09 (twenty years ago) link

My hometown of Port Hueneme (California) is pronounced why-NEE-mee. It's allegedly a native American word. I would've guessed hew-NEEM.

I pronounced Guerneville as Gurney-ville once because I had heard that's how the locals say it, but when someone repeated the name they used Gwairn-ville (French-ish). I detected some scorn.

And finally, many months ago I remember someone being gently mocked here for not knowing how to pronounce Leicester ("How else would you pronounce it?), and now even the Brits admit it's not as one would guess.

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 14 September 2003 00:15 (twenty years ago) link

Anyone who comes to Louisiana with a little knowledge of French will end up laughed at; anyone with a lot of knowledge will probably be very irritated.

Burgundy: bur-GUN-dee
Chartres: CHAR-ters. Actually, the /r/s are not really pronounced, but they're there in spirit.
New Orleans: noo OR-lins (there are a lot of ways to say this, but the point is the contrast with --
Orleans (as in Orleans Avenue or Orleans Parish): or-LEENS)
Calliope: CAL-ee-ope
Terpsichore: TERP-suh-core
Metairie: MET-uh-ree, sometimes MEH-tree
Tchoupitoulas: chop-uh-TOOL-iss, although this one is famous for its variation from neighborhood to neighborhood (which is the case with a lot of New Orleans street names)
Bonnabel: BON-uh-buhl. Rhymes with "Carnival" as pronounced by Bostonians.
And Tulane is TOOlane, not tooLANE, unless you're a student there.

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 14 September 2003 00:16 (twenty years ago) link

What about that Nagadoches one, Tep? Or is that in Texas?

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 14 September 2003 00:55 (twenty years ago) link

Oh hell, I always get that one wrong. If I remember right, there's one in both LA and TX, but they might be spelled slightly differently. The Louisiana one is pronounced something like "NACK-a-dish." For years I thought they were talking about some entirely different place.

(Of course, for years I thought "choir" was a synonym of "quire.")

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 14 September 2003 00:58 (twenty years ago) link

Only one I can think of is Berwick, a suburb of Melbourne, its pronounced "berrick".

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 14 September 2003 01:06 (twenty years ago) link

Isn't Melbourne pronounced Melbin, and Brisbane Brizbin? I would have said Mel-born and briz-bane a few years ago.

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 14 September 2003 01:18 (twenty years ago) link

Bellefontaine, Ohio = 'bellfountain'
Newark, Ohio = 'nerk' (there's a branch campus of Ohio State University there and they have t-shirts that say 'OSU-Nerk')

― Jeff Wright, Sunday, 14 September 2003 01:43 (twenty years ago) link

wagga wagga, NSW = wohgga not waaaga

― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 14 September 2003 01:52 (twenty years ago) link

I think I've mentioned before that Berlin, New Hampshire, is pronounced "BURL-in." Cause of World War II. They had a vote at town meetin.

(That's not quite "not pronouncing it as it's spelled," but it's "not pronouncing it as you'd expect.")

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 14 September 2003 02:10 (twenty years ago) link

My parents used to live in a small city in Wisconsin called "New Berlin". It was pronounced "BURL-in" as well.

― kirsten (kirsten), Sunday, 14 September 2003 02:14 (twenty years ago) link

Was it cause of the war, too? That would actually make a cool book. All these re-pronounced Berlins.

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 14 September 2003 02:16 (twenty years ago) link

NYC's Houston St. (pronounced How-stun, not Hee-yoo-stun like the city)

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 14 September 2003 02:17 (twenty years ago) link

"Melbourne" seems to get diff pronounciations depending on where someone is from. Melburnians often say "mahlbin" but swear they don't - but I'm from NSW and I can hear the difference, ie Sydney people say it as "mehlbern" or "mehlbin".

No one ever says "brisbayne" unless theyre an american tourist =)

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 14 September 2003 03:45 (twenty years ago) link

There's a New BURL-in in New York, too.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Sunday, 14 September 2003 03:51 (twenty years ago) link

whakatane nz = fuck-a-taan-ay
true!
also
taupo nz = toe-paw
tauranga nz = toe-runga
whangarei = fung-a-ray
the 'r' is rolled, like an 'l'.
theres more, but i cant be bothered writing them all :-)

― donna (donna), Sunday, 14 September 2003 05:01 (twenty years ago) link

Yreka

― smoky topaz (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 14 September 2003 05:03 (twenty years ago) link

etobicoke: prounounced etobicoh, or even tobicoh.

― sand.y, Sunday, 14 September 2003 05:16 (twenty years ago) link

Godalming = Goddle-ming

― C J (C J), Sunday, 14 September 2003 06:44 (twenty years ago) link

Heysham - Heeshum

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 14 September 2003 06:48 (twenty years ago) link

Leominster = Lemmster

― C J (C J), Sunday, 14 September 2003 06:53 (twenty years ago) link

Maryland = Mer - uh - lind

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Sunday, 14 September 2003 07:32 (twenty years ago) link

ilxor

― David. (Cozen), Sunday, 14 September 2003 09:23 (twenty years ago) link

Habrough
Happisburgh
Strathavon
Alnwick

Anywhere in the Western Isles that now uses the Gaelic spelling - Steornobhagh (formerly Stornoway), for example.

― caitlin (caitlin), Sunday, 14 September 2003 10:22 (twenty years ago) link

Meikleour (Perthshire) - pronounced McClure (like Troy!).

Strathavon

I forgot about that. Actually spelt Strathaven < /pedant>, it's pronounced Straven.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 14 September 2003 10:54 (twenty years ago) link

Clerkenwell = Clarkenwell
DEvon = DeVON
DORset = DorSET
HAWorth = HOWorth
BirmingHAM = Birmingum
NottingHAM = Nottingum

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 14 September 2003 11:04 (twenty years ago) link

TottenHAM = Tottenum

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 14 September 2003 11:06 (twenty years ago) link

Magdalen Coll. pron. Maudlin

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 14 September 2003 11:06 (twenty years ago) link

Everywhere in Wales to tread.

― mei (mei), Sunday, 14 September 2003 16:24 (twenty years ago) link

DEvon = DeVON
DORset = DorSET

I think someone's been winding you up.

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:39 (twenty years ago) link

In North Carolina, Fayetteville is pronounced "fedt-vulle" by older locals.
Louisiana is pronounced : "loose-ee-anna"

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:41 (twenty years ago) link

Maryland = Mer - uh - lind

Where in Maryland are you from? Supposedly in the classic Maryland accent it's "Bawl-mer Mer-y-lin."

― j.lu (j.lu), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:49 (twenty years ago) link

Louisiana is pronounced : "loose-ee-anna"

Once in awhile you'll hear (local) people get into fights over whether it's "loose-ee-anna" or "weeze-ee-anna," which is just weird :) I think it's a Shreveport-and-points-north vs. New Orleans-and-points-south thing.

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:01 (twenty years ago) link

Where in Maryland are you from? Supposedly in the classic Maryland accent it's "Bawl-mer Mer-y-lin."

That pronunciation was explained to me by an old highschool friend from North Carolina (who HATED the way we foreigners pronounced it Mary-Land). The way he pronounced it, the second and third vowels should probably be schwas, "Merələnd"

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:15 (twenty years ago) link

Yep, In Southeast NC it sounds like "Marri-lunn" or "Marilyn" but the city was pronounced "Bawlt-tuh-mawr" with the accent on the last syllable.

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:20 (twenty years ago) link

Phuket, Thailand = Poo-Ket rather than the mildly hilarious fuck-it
Missouri = ive heard native missourians call it like Missouruh

― phil-two (phil-two), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:24 (twenty years ago) link

in kentucky, the town of athens is called aye-thens. also tragically, versailles is pronounced ver-sails. it is quite depressing.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link

the Washington state pronunciation book:

Spokane = "spo-CAN" (not "spo-cane")
Puyallup = "pee-yallup"
Issaquah = "issa-kwah"
Mukilteo = "muckle teo"

Oregon (these are VERY IMPORTANT! You could be arrested in the state otherwise)

Oregon = "Ori-gan" (not "Ore-GONE")
Willamette = "wi-LAM-met" (not "Willa-met")

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:43 (twenty years ago) link

Launceston, Tasmania seems to be pronounced "lonston" by locals

― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:47 (twenty years ago) link

The lesson from most of these seems to be that English favors the schwa, and things will drift that way over time. (Which I guess is obvious, but it's kind of cool to see it confirmed.)

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 15 September 2003 00:00 (twenty years ago) link

More like "OR-ih-gun". A schwa, basically. "Orygun" is how the "clever" rear window appliques spell it ("UNIVERSITY OF ORYGUN", etc.).

Isn't Puyallup something closer to "pwee-all-up"? Except maybe two syllables?

― Chris P (Chris P), Monday, 15 September 2003 00:21 (twenty years ago) link

well, next time, include directions on how to make schwas (schwae?) on ilx then goddamit.

as long as it's not "Pooya Lip", I think anything goes for Puyallup.

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 15 September 2003 00:46 (twenty years ago) link

puyallup is pronounced pyew AL up

― ron (ron), Monday, 15 September 2003 05:45 (twenty years ago) link

ps hi b whats hap

― ron (ron), Monday, 15 September 2003 05:46 (twenty years ago) link

The one that's F'd with me the most so far...

Peabody (massachusettes) = (pronounced) PEEB-dee

...where did teh 'o' go?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 15 September 2003 05:48 (twenty years ago) link

Launceston's a good one because even people who live there can't agree how to pronouunce it but neither version (Lawn-son / Laarn-son) sounds like Launceston.

Other favourites from the Celtic fringes:
Mousehole
Quernmore.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 15 September 2003 07:49 (twenty years ago) link

Crich = Cry-ch

Whatstandwell - whazzel

Belvoir - Beaver

― chris (chris), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:18 (twenty years ago) link

someone the other day tried to suggest that keighley was pronounced keely rather than keith-ly, i didnt like this suggestion at all

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:20 (twenty years ago) link

Belvoir - Beaver

this fact was used by the writers of my uni newsletter who had a character called Belvoir the Bursar's Beaver whose pic would appear in each issue with a speech bubble saying something mundane but useful, e.g. Belvoir the Bursar's Beaver Says "Don't Forget to Return Your Library Books Before the End of Term".

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:25 (twenty years ago) link

Gareth, that person was a fool.

― chris (chris), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:36 (twenty years ago) link

DORset = DorSET

I think someone's been winding you up.

dorset street in dublin is pronouced door-SET but i thought that this was the only place in the world this happened.

― angela (angela), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:41 (twenty years ago) link

phibsborough=fizz-bara

― angela (angela), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:42 (twenty years ago) link

Southwick pron. "suthick"

― robster (robster), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:28 (twenty years ago) link

I was born in Napliss Merlin, which in Ann Arunnel (rhymes with funnel) County. (Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland)

Druid Hill Park in Baltimore is pronounced Droodle Park. There is a lovely town northeast of there called Havre de Grace, pronounced Haverr duh Grayce. Taliaferro as Tolliver is fairly common throughout Maryland and Virginia.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Monday, 15 September 2003 11:04 (twenty years ago) link

Two personal favourites are Milngavie (pronounced Mul-guy) near Glasgow and Hawick (pronounced Hoik) which is also in Scotland. Us poor DQ operators have to put up with a lot of names like that.

― Rob M (Rob M), Monday, 15 September 2003 11:16 (twenty years ago) link

cj:
>Tewkesbury = pronounced Chucksbree by the locals

being one of said locals (lived there first 20 odd years of my life) i can confirm this 8)

andy

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 15 September 2003 12:03 (twenty years ago) link

Street in Chicago called Paulina, pronounced Paul-eye-na. Also Melvina (oh, what a lovely girl's name!). And yes, I know all about Lunt.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 15 September 2003 12:09 (twenty years ago) link

Des Moines=Da Moin

Damm those tricky French.

My favorite was Robbie Street in Halifax, pronounce it like the name and no one will know what your talking about since to them its always been ROWbe threet.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 15 September 2003 12:53 (twenty years ago) link

I love how Kentucky has towns named for famous Euro cities, but pronounced all wrong here, like, in Kentuckyspeak, Versailles = vur-SALES and Athens = AY-thuns. Ha ha.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 15 September 2003 14:37 (twenty years ago) link

There is a vur-SALES in Missouri too! Also a nuh-VAY-duh (Nevada). Also see Indiana's MY-lun (Milan).

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 15 September 2003 14:43 (twenty years ago) link

London tube stations ahoy !

Plaistow - PLAH-stow
Highgate - High-gt (with the schwa as in Harrogate rather than the "ei" in Moorgate, Aldgate, or even Watergate)
Holborn - HOE-bn
Marylebone - Marlybone

And as a TEFLer, I take evil pleasure in hearing students and tourists confused by "Tott-num" Court Road and "Lester" Square !

― darren (darren), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:29 (twenty years ago) link

Isleworth, which is Ise-ill-worth, rather than the Ile-worth I always thought it was.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:54 (twenty years ago) link

Perhaps I am getting my Liza Doolittle training from the wrong person? Who, by the way, pronounces Marylebone as Marylebone.

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 15 September 2003 21:05 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.babycenter.com/i/feeding/sweep.gif

― Dada, Monday, 15 September 2003 21:07 (twenty years ago) link

two people mentioning milngavie!?!??!
anyway: drymen, pronounced drimin

― joni, Monday, 15 September 2003 21:18 (twenty years ago) link

is Theydon Bois Theydon Boys or Theydon Bwah?

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 15 September 2003 22:07 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

God, bad American pronunciations of perfectly good European names tick me right off. My-lun indeed. Tsk.

Some places in Northern Ireland -

Lough Neagh = Lock Nay Biggest lake in the British Isles, fact fans.
Doagh = Doke
Coalisland = Cull-EYE-lun to the locals
Armagh = Arr-MAH
Omagh = OH-ma
Castlereagh = cassel-RAY
Ballymoney = BALLAH-money
Ballymena = BALLAH-meena

BUT

Ballyclare = BALLEE-clare

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Friday, 4 March 2005 11:41 (nineteen years ago) link

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