Tasmania question
 

How do the Tasmanians pronounce "Launceston"?

Don't know how Tassies pronounce it, but other Aussies say:

LAWN-ssess-tin

Pronounced fast, all in one go, not separated out into distinct syllables. I did that only to show you the pronunciation and the syllable on which the emphasis is placed.

More about Launceston.

I said to pronounce it LAWN-ssess-tin.

But I forgot to take into consideration the American pronunciation of "lawn."

The "lawn" syllable in Launceston is more like the man's name, Lorne (without the R of Lorne being pronounced, of course).

Tasmanians pronounce it..

LON...ceston

It's often a good way of telling a mainlander from a local.

>>>>>>It's often a good way of telling a mainlander from a local.<<<<<<

Thanks for the tip, John. It'll come in usefully if I ever want to travel to Tassie incognito.;) But then of course the rest of my speech might just blow my cover anyway. I'm dismal at affecting another accent.

By the way, would you agree that the following are correct ways of pronouncing other Australian place names?

Melbourne = MELbin (not two equally emphasized syllables as in MEL-BORN)

Cairns = CANS

Ayers Rock = Airs Rock

Well, I pronounce "Cairns" as written (cair = care), but as a mere southerner may be corrected by a local. I've certainly heard people say "cans". You're right about Melbourne and Ayers Rock, although Uluru is now preferred in the latter case.

Judy, don't even try an Australian accent. If Meryl Streep can't get it right, nobody can. Although I did hear an English actor come pretty close once, simply by using a fairly neutral southern English accent, which comes pretty close to what's known rather snobbishly as "educated Australian".

Possibly the worst cinematic effort was a 1959 Hollywood film of the Ray Lawler play "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" (released in the USA as "Season of Passion") in which Ernest Borgnine, John Mills, Anne Baxter and Angela Lansbury tried their hands at Australian accents. The result was a bizarre melange of Brooklynese, Cockney and something quite unidentifiable. With apologies to Dave Barry of the Miami Herald, this movie was last seen being used to torture terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay. If it's at your local video store (unlikely), resist the temptation.

PS, I can't do Canadian either, apart from pronouncing "house" to rhyme with "dose". [Here I get the chance to use a little smiley face .... :) ]

Canadian "house" sounding like "dose"?? Do you mean like a dose of medicine? We pronounce "dose" like "dose" kids better behave or else." Well no, they only say that in the movies.

Better yet we say "house" like "douse" as in put out a fire. But then again, it all depends on how Australians pronounce dose and douse. How about a Canadian house sounding like "how" with an "s" on the end?

I guess this could be never ending ... but interesting.

Forgot to mention that "Brisbane" isn't pronounced "Briz-bayne" - as with Melbourne (Melb'n), the second syllable is unstressed, so it comes out as "Brisb'n".

USNR, further queries are welcome, but in return I'd really like to know why that city in Texas is "Hyoos-tun" when the Manhattan street is "House-tun".

Neil

I guess for the same reason "Dalhousie" is pronounced "da-loo-sie" or "dal-how-sie" depending on where you are.

I'm not that easy to fool, Michi, I know where Dalhousie is. At least, I do now.

In the event that any travellers find themselves in Derby (Western Australia), it's pronounced as written (i.e. not "Darby"). Likewise Jervis Bay, New South Wales - not "Jarvis". The "Al" in Albany, WA is pronounced as in "You can call me Al", not "Awlb'ny", like the capital of NY State.

And if any travellers get really lost and find themselves in Goonoo Goonoo, it's pronounced "gunna g'noo". If I knew why, I'd tell you.

A little off topic but how do you pronounce "Worcestershire" in Oz? I've heard just about every pronounciation known to man here in Canada; mostly in reference to the sauce. I may need to know for the 75 meals (not including snacks), I intend to eat on my trip to Australia.

Michi, sorry, just read your earlier post - yes, I meant "dose" as in medicine, but at this point I think I'd better quit while I'm behind.

Anyway, in Australia "Worcestershire" is usually pronounced "wooster-sher", more or less.

By the way, Canadian, Australian and Austrian posters can take a bow - I just heard a news report that "The Economist" magazine's annual survey of the world's best cities in which to live has given equal first place to Vancouver, Melbourne and Vienna. I think (repeat think) that last year Vancouver also topped, with Sydney and Geneva close behind.