Londoners: questions on pronounciation?
Dec 19th, 2006, 12:39 PM
#83
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What I said was:
"British "cester", "chester" etc towns get their name from the post-Roman habit of describing places as "where such and such a 'castrum' (Roman camp) was". Offhand, I can't think of any whose post Roman name is very like the word the Romans had used."
I didn't say "Offhand I can't think of any Roman town whose post Roman name is..."
"British "cester", "chester" etc towns get their name from the post-Roman habit of describing places as "where such and such a 'castrum' (Roman camp) was". Offhand, I can't think of any whose post Roman name is very like the word the Romans had used."
I didn't say "Offhand I can't think of any Roman town whose post Roman name is..."
Dec 19th, 2006, 12:40 PM
#84
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>Offhand, I can't think of any whose post Roman name is very like the word the Romans had used.<
And what about Bath - didn't the Romans call it Bath and this word became the English word for bathing. I may well be bonkers about this!
Dec 19th, 2006, 01:52 PM
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PalenqueBob,
Re Wales.
I don't know of a Beaumarchais Castle there, do you mean Beaumaris (or Biwmaris in Welsh)?
If so English pronunciation tends to be Boe-marris, Welsh Bew-marris.
Llandudno perhaps needs some caution. I think we can safely say the second and third syllables are did-noe.
For the Llan you will hear, variously, thlan, flan and klan. My own experience with locals is that they tend to pronounce it chlan, where the ch is somewhere between the ch in a Scottish loch and a th.
Michael
Re Wales.
I don't know of a Beaumarchais Castle there, do you mean Beaumaris (or Biwmaris in Welsh)?
If so English pronunciation tends to be Boe-marris, Welsh Bew-marris.
Llandudno perhaps needs some caution. I think we can safely say the second and third syllables are did-noe.
For the Llan you will hear, variously, thlan, flan and klan. My own experience with locals is that they tend to pronounce it chlan, where the ch is somewhere between the ch in a Scottish loch and a th.
Michael
Dec 19th, 2006, 03:17 PM
#88
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WOW! I've never started such a large post before! It's been really fun reading all the replies. Thanks. If anyone would like to give a basic lesson on how to pronounce Welsh names, please do!
Jeff
Jeff
Dec 19th, 2006, 03:26 PM
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Dec 20th, 2006, 01:19 AM
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And what about Bath - didn't the Romans call it Bath and this word became the English word for bathing. I may well be bonkers about this!>>>>>
Bonkers it is Bob. The Romans called Bath Aqua Sulis. (Sulis was the goddess)
Bonkers it is Bob. The Romans called Bath Aqua Sulis. (Sulis was the goddess)
Dec 25th, 2006, 08:15 PM
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Not to get off on a tangent, but I blame a Brit for a frequent mispronunciation that I hear in my corner of the world. There is a town and a county in Texas named after Texas Revolution hero Jim Bowie, both of which, are pronounced Boo--ee. However, anyone whose more familiar with pop music than Texas history tends to pronounce the name in the fashion of the British pop singer, David Bowie (Boh--ee).
Dec 25th, 2006, 08:46 PM
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Jeff - With respect to Welsh names, it is fairly easy as, unlike English where you can go reading in Reading and used to be able to hover from Dover, Welsh is phonetic. You just need to know that the Welsh alphabet (called "yr wyddor"
has 28 letters (with ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, th and rh as single letters - but no x, v, z, j, k or q).
Many people complain that Welsh has a lack of vowels, but it must be remembered that the language has 7 vowels (a, e, i, o, u, w and y) and not the 5 of English.
Quickly also, ff is a pronounced as a hard f whereas a single f is a v! I could go on!
As for London pronunciation - there is no T in London (!) unless at the start of a word and "th" is pronounced "fffff"!!
Also (thanks to a Mr Graham Chapman), Mr Raymond Luxury-Yacht is pronounced "Throat Wobbler Mangrove".
has 28 letters (with ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, th and rh as single letters - but no x, v, z, j, k or q).Many people complain that Welsh has a lack of vowels, but it must be remembered that the language has 7 vowels (a, e, i, o, u, w and y) and not the 5 of English.
Quickly also, ff is a pronounced as a hard f whereas a single f is a v! I could go on!
As for London pronunciation - there is no T in London (!) unless at the start of a word and "th" is pronounced "fffff"!!
Also (thanks to a Mr Graham Chapman), Mr Raymond Luxury-Yacht is pronounced "Throat Wobbler Mangrove".
Dec 25th, 2006, 11:26 PM
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<<<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)>>>
I am born and bred Hackney and I have never heard this pronounciation ever!! I can only think this is a recent change, to make sound more upmarket and people from outside the area know no different, so call it this. I really can't accept this as being right as real locals do not use this. There is a local school called De Beauvoir and believe me, we all referred to it as 'De Bo-vwar' as we did 'De Bo-vwar' Square. If you were to say De Beaver to a trader down The Waste they wouldn't have a clue what you were on about.
I am born and bred Hackney and I have never heard this pronounciation ever!! I can only think this is a recent change, to make sound more upmarket and people from outside the area know no different, so call it this. I really can't accept this as being right as real locals do not use this. There is a local school called De Beauvoir and believe me, we all referred to it as 'De Bo-vwar' as we did 'De Bo-vwar' Square. If you were to say De Beaver to a trader down The Waste they wouldn't have a clue what you were on about.
Dec 25th, 2006, 11:59 PM
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The pronunciation of Theydon Bois, a French-sounding name, has been anglicized. One hears it pronounced "boys" rather than the French "bwa" when riding the Central Line to the east of London.
Dec 26th, 2006, 04:50 AM
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>In one of the Martha Grimes novels an American asks the butler, Ruthven (sounds like Rivven), why his name isn't spelled the way it's pronounced. He responds: "It is."<
She stole that from P G Wodehouse.
She stole that from P G Wodehouse.
