jeffrx

I was shocked to hear on the news the other day that Southwark is pronounced Suthick. It got me to wondering what else in London is pronounced different from the spelling. I would appreciate any help with the following and any other neighbourhoods or main streets in Central London with surprising pronounciations. I know that Berkeley is Bark-lee, Pall Mall is Pal Mal, Leicester is Lester and Berkshire is Bark-shir, but please help with:
Grosvenor: I heard this pronounced once and all I remember was that it was not what I expected.
Marylebone: I have no idea.
Bayswater: Is it Bays-water or Bay-swater, or something else?
Islington: Is it Iss-ling-ton or Iz-ling-ton, or something else?
Aldwych: I thought it was Al-dwich, but I heard an Englishman pronounce it All-dwich.
Vauxhall, East Ham and Newham: Are the h's pronounced or silent?
Thanks for any help. I don't want to be embarassed on my next trip!

julia_t

No doubt some people will say different but I grew up in England and this is how I have always heard and learned to pronounce the following:

Southwark - Suth-uck
Grosvenor - Grove-ner or Grow-v'ner
Marylebone - Mar-le-bone
Bayswater - Bays-water
Islington - Izlington
Aldwych - Alldwitch
Vauxhall - Voxhall
East Ham - East Ham, say the H
Newham - New-am, drop the H

other surprising pronunciations are numerous, eg

Cheyne Walk - Chain-ee Walk
Chiswick - Chisick
Fulham - Ful-am
Gloucester - Gloster
Worcester - Wooster
Dorchester - Door-chester
Greenwich - Grenidge

And there are countless others too...

Have fun in Lundun!

Nonconformist

I'd say Southwark is more like Suthuhk than Suthick.

Grosvenor: Grow-venuh
Marylebone: Marrylebone
Bayswater: Bays-water
Islington: Izlington
Aldwych: All- dwich
Vauxhall: Sort of Voxall, I sort of half aspirate the h though
East Ham: what it looks like
Newham: Newum

Others I can think of:

De Beauvoir Town in Hackney (not that it's a tourist destination) is pronounced De Beaver; like Grosvenor it comes from the name of the owner at the time the area was developed)
Greenwich: halfway between Grennitch and Grennidge

A few outside London:
Hertford: Hartf'd
Blenheim: Blennim
Birmingham: Burmingum (g not sounded except in some regional acents, and the h never)
Loughborough: Luffborough
Alnwick: Annick
Salisbury: Saulsbury
Norwich: cross between Norritch/Norridge

ben_haines

Do you know the obscure vowel ? It is the vowel that English speakers use in unemphasised syllables, and is in the second syllable of Southwark and of merchant, and the third of unemphasised. You agree with us over your first four place names.
Gro has o as in oh for a heart of steel, ven has e as in henhouse, nor has o, the obscure vowel. Emphasise the first syllable

Marylebone: Mary, the girl’s name, le with the obscure vowel, bone as give a dog a bone. Emphasise the last syllable
They are Bays-water and Iz-ling-ton, with the emphasis on the first syllable. The ton has the obscure vowel.
Aldwych: I thought it was Al-dwich, but I heard an Englishman pronounce it All-dwich. I agree with my compatriot, but I omit the w. You know it is Viking for the old settlement ? They beached their longboats there when trading
In these three the emphasis falls on the first syllable, and that is often the case. Americans tend to give equal emphasis throughout. You could practice by reading poems of John Betjeman, a pleasure in itself. Please ask Google for his Harrow on the Hill, in www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/john_betjeman/, then wander among the titles. A true poet laureate.
Vauxhall silent h, East Ham sounded h and Newham silent

I don't want to be embarassed on my next trip!
Golly, you are easily embarrassed. We are a world city, and proud of it, and know that people have various habits. Nor are we entitled to get shirty: our command of languages is insecure at the least.

Welcome on your next visit.

Ben Haines
[email protected]

Josser

Salisbury is pronounced Sarum as in:

There was a young curate of Salisbury
Whose manners were quite Halisbury-Scalisbury
He wandered round Hampshire
Without any pampshire
Till the Vicar compelled him to Walisbury

and of course Hampshire is abbreviated to Hants

Dukey

T H A M E S....does not rhyme with blames.

papagena

I wouldn't worry too much about it jeffrx - I'm a Londoner and I've only just learnt from this thread that de Beauvoir town isn't pronounced as in Simone and that Cheyne walk isn't "chain". If we're going to have these counterintuitive pronunciations we can't expect everyone to be up to speed with them!

And it's always cute to hear American tourists on the Piccadilly line working out how many stops to
Lie-cess-turr square.

NeoPatrick

well, papagena, who can blame us when we've grown up pouring Worcestershire sauce all over everything and pronouncing it with all four syllables.

waring

Bealieu=BEWlee
Cholmondley=CHUMlee
Bicester=BISter

And if you are a local
Southampton=SLAMton

AnselmAdorne

Josser, I love that. I've heard my wife recite it many times.

You could add family names to this list, such as Mainwaring, pronounced Mannering, if I remember correctly.

And how did Evelyn Waugh pronounce his first name?

Anselm

Kavey

Don't forget that there isn't even consistent pronunciation across London let alone around the whole of the UK!

We have a LOT of variations in accent even in a relatively small country - just look at the arguments over the pronunciation of scones and pasties!!!!

jeffrx

Thanks everyone for the fantastic answers! De Beauvoir was the most surprising pronounciation. I feel more confident now. I know this could go on forever, but I do have one last question: the w doesn't seem to be pronounced in -wich names, so does that mean Ipswich is pronounced Ips-itch?

wasleys

jeffrx,

Ip-switch.

Michael

Carrybean

Beauchamp Place is Beechum.

Robespierre

Many surnames begin with St John - such as St John-Stevas. In this context, it is pronounced <i>sinjen</i>.

I was informed by a station agent in Salisbury (in no uncertain terms) that the name of his town was pronounced <i>saulsBREE</i>.

Neil_Oz

Josser, don't get me started on limericks involving the escapades of vicars, or this thread will be canned.

An idle question: in my city (Canberra) there's a suburb named Fyshwick, which we pronounce as spelled (FISH-wick) - except for one annoying acquaintance who insists that it &quot;should be&quot; (!) sounded &quot;fishick&quot;. I'm interested to know whether there's a UK town or suburb with the same name, and if so how it's pronounced locally.

Alec

Other placenames I can think of:
Uttoxeter (Staffordshire) = you-t&oacute;xiter
Hulme (part of Manchester) = hume
Scarisbrick (near Southport) = scares-brick
Shrewsbury = shrowzbury, though shrews-bury is also heard
Ruislip (NW London) = rice-lip
Kirkcudbright (SW Scotland) = kirkoobri
Gullane (Scottish golf town) = gullen or gillen
Derby = darby
Keighley (Yorkshire) = keeth-li
Leominster (Hereford) = lemster

twoflower

And to add to that last list:

Launceston = Lanson

daph

One of my favorites is
Beaulieu-Bouley
How do you get that out of THAT?
It's a stately home near the south coast of England. It has a good antique car collection. We keep trying to visit it but it's tough if you won't drive on the left!

nytraveler

It's true many Americans have touble with all of this - esp those not from the northeast. (We too have towns called Wooster, Gloster and Grenitch which people from other parts of the country don;t get.)

But then we have House-ton St in NYC - which is spelled the same as the city of Hewston (Houston) in Texas. And don't even start on Lu-uh- vil (Lousiville) and a host of others.