Weird Pronounciations
 

I was recently staying in a Nottingham hotel and, in the bar, got chatting to an American couple (from Wisconsin) who told me that the following day they were planning to visit "Belle Voir" Castle. I immediately drew a blank and then realised they were talking about Belvoir Castle. For thos not familiar I am not being pedantic - Belvoir is pronounced Beaver. We had a little laugh and then tackled some fo the other oddly pronounced places in the UK - Worcester (Wooster), Towcester (Toaster), Kirkcudbright (Kircoobry), Loughborough (Luffbra), Keighley (Keithley) and Bicester (Bister).<BR>There are, I am sure, others. What about elsewhere in Europe? the US? and are US towns named after British and European towns pronounced as the original or in a the more naturalistic American way? <BR><BR>Dan

Hi<BR><BR>heres one -<BR><BR>Ljungskile, Sweden<BR><BR>prounounced "young sheila"<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

France: Metz (Mess)<BR>Sweden: G&ouml;teborg (Yotebori)<BR>Italy: Brindisi (accent on the first i)<BR>Spain: Girona (Catalan: Jirona, not Herona as in Spanish)<BR>Germany: Sylt (Zyult)<BR><BR>

Sorry to be pedantic:<BR>ProNUNciations

Here in Massachusetts, we have many towns named after towns in England and I believe that they're pronounced the same: for instance, Worcester is "Wooster". It's easy to tell when we have a new newsperson on local TV or radio who's from out of town!

Gorinchem, The Netherlands, is pronounced "GHCHHHorrrr - GHCHHHumm" - with an absolute minimum of vowel activity - <BR>or, as Dave Barry describes the Dutch language, it should sound like you're "coughing up a looger the size of a cocker spaniel!"

In Versailles, Kentucky, the locals say "Vur-SAILS"

And Cairo, Illinois is pronounced KAY-roh. Now that I think about it, I have no idea how the Egyptians actually pronounce it!

I don't think I'm spelling this correctly, but the British pronunciation of <BR>"Cholmondsley" (sp) is pronunced <BR>"Chumley", which always amused me.<BR>Similarly, Bermondsey (Market) as "Berm-see", I think.<BR>And then there's the time I tried to outsmart myself, and lost.<BR>I had read once that in Britain, Beaulieu Castle is pronounced "Bew-lee".<BR>So recently when I was in London I assumed that "Beaufort Gardens" might be pronounced "Bew-fort", as y'all might even say in South Carolina. <BR>Wrong! in London.<BR>

And another thing!<BR>We have Gren-ich (Greenwich) Connecticut and Gren-ich Village in New York City, but<BR>Green-Wich, New York (north of Albany).

What about Anstruther in Scotland - "Anster" and Kircaldy - "Kircoddy". And in England is Southwell which is pronounced Suthall except, bizarrely, by the natives of the town who pronounce it as it is spelt. <BR>Dave

I have often wished that the dictionaries in the glossaries of guidebooks would have, along with the phonetic pronunciation of "How much does it cost?", the phonetic pronunciations of cities and towns, street names, tourist attractions, etc. I, for one, would find that far more useful than "Do you have that in another color?"

Gloucester County, Virginia is pronounced "Gloss-ter" - same as in England. And Warwick is pronounced "War-ick" - same as in England.

Elaine has started a whole new thread! How come the English Aristocracy pronounce their names in a totally illogical fashion. I suspect it's a test to see who's in the club and who's "not one of us".<BR>For instance (in addition to Cholmondley) there's also Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw) and Beauchamp (Beecham).

Grosvenor TX is Gross- vee-ner !

New Berlin, Wisconsin (accent on first syllable only) - odd considering how many people of German ancestry are in the state<BR><BR>

Dan, accent on the NEW or on the BER?

On the "Ber."

JOdy,<BR>Grosvenor in Adelaide, Australia = grove-ner......S is ignored totally.

Massachusetts: Leicester (lester); Leominster (leminster); Barre (barry); Duxbury (ducksbree).<BR><BR>In Vermont, St Johnsbury is pronounced halfway between saynt and sin.<BR><BR>In Massachusetts and Connecticut, there is a town called Granby, but the old Yankees pronounce it "Grammbee".

Actually, in recognition of its impressive per-capita income, Duxbury MA is now pronounced "Deluxe-bury."

When I lived in Toronto, a visitor from Quebec became hysterical with laughter on learning that Roncesvalles Ave. is pronounced Ron-sis-veils. I pointed out that this was a Polish neighbourhood and mangled English too. Geoffrey St. was pronounced Joff-ree. You could tell a new streetcar driver by the "Jeff-ree" pronunciation.<BR><BR>But my favourite is Avoch, Scotland, which I was surprised to learn is pronounced "och" to rhyme with loch. What happened to the Av?

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and in New Orleans, isn't <BR>it Bur GUN dy Street, and Chartres St is "Chart-ers"?<BR><BR>Then of course, here in NYC we have Houston St pronounced How-stun,<BR>not to be confused with the city in Texas that is spelled the same but pronounced Hew-stun.

In Maine, we have almost every European country name used as names of towns. However, Moscow is pronounced Moscoe.

Nebraska:<BR>Plattsmouth="Platts-mith"<BR>Louisville="Louisville" (not like the one in Kentucky)<BR>Norfolk= "Nor-fork"<BR>Kearney= "Car-nee"<BR>Beatrice- "Bee-at-truss" with the accent on "Bee"<BR><BR>Iowa:<BR>Des Moines="Duh-moin" not "Dez-moinz"<BR><BR><BR>Maine:<BR>Bangor="Bang-gore" not "Bang-or" or "Bang-er"<BR><BR>Oregon:<BR>The Dalles="The Dals"<BR><BR>South Dakota:<BR>The capitol, Pierre="Pier"<BR>Lead="Leed"<BR><BR>Virginia:<BR>N orfolk="Naw-fick"<BR><BR>Washington:<BR>Puyallup="Poo-yall-up"<BR><BR>Wyoming:<BR>Dubois="Doo-boyz"<BR><BR>Louisiana:<BR>Houma=Darned if I know...<BR><BR>Michigan:<BR>Sault Ste Marie="Sue Saint Marie"<BR><BR>

In Texas Madrid is MAD-rid, but then Texas is replete with strange pronunciations:<BR>Refugio = Ree-FYOOR-ee-oh<BR>Mexia = Muh-HAY-uh<BR>Bexar = Bare<BR>Lamesa = Luh-MEE-suh<BR>DeLeon = DEE-lee-on<BR>Palestine = PAL-us-tee<BR>Elgin = EL-gun<BR>Lake Buchanan = Buck-AN-un<BR><BR>And here in Las Vegas, it's Nuh-vad-uh, not Nuh-vah-dah (also easy to spot new newscasters from out-of-state).

A few more from Massachusetts: Holyoke (hoy yolk); Indian Orchard (inneeyunor cherd); Amherst (am urst - in New York, it's pronounced am herst); South Hadley (sow thaddlee). And you can always tell a new guy 'cause he says "north hampton" not "nor thampton".<BR><BR>Then you get into the Indian names, and all is lost...

And the true tests for newbie Boston TV and radio announcers: Woburn (Woo-burn) and Haverhill (Hayv-rill).

On second thought, Woburn is actually Woo-b'n.

Iraan, Texas is pronounced "Ira - An"

Guess I'll throw in the one in Louisiana that I think just about tops the list, but first, for the earlier poster, Houma in Louisiana is "Home-ah." Now, for the one that takes the cake, try your pronunciation of Natchitoches, oldest settled city in the entire Louisiana Purchase. <BR><BR>Give up? It's pronounced "NAK-a-tosh."

Hawick in Scotland- Hoik<BR>Jedburgh in Scotland- Jedhart<BR>st. boswells in Scotland- boasals

Georgia:<BR>LaFayette--luh FAY' et<BR>Houston County--same as NY--house-ton<BR>Albany--all BIN' ee<BR><BR>Florida:<BR>Matlacha--matt luh SHAY' <BR>

In Mass: Billerica = "Bill Ricker"<BR><BR>Lima, Ohio = "Lie-ma"<BR>Chili, NY = "Chigh-ligh"<BR><BR>Chicago re:street names:<BR>"Goethe" = "Go-thee"<BR>"Mozart" = "Moe-zart"<BR><BR>WHole state of Wisconsin is "Wi-Scons'n"<BR><BR>But for those in UK: how do you pronounce "Slough"?

Slough is to rhyme with plough; where as a snakes sloughs (sluffs) off its skin.<BR><BR>There are people up there confusing pronunication with local names (which is OK- it's fun) like Anstruther and Ainster. But two good Scots ones are<BR><BR>Milngavie- Millguy<BR>Garioch-Geeree<BR><BR>On the local/pronunciation split, there's a village near here called Auchleven. Pronounced Premnay (it's the parish name, but it doesn't half confuse the incomers)<BR><BR>

Nebraska:<BR>Plattsmouth="Platts-mith"<BR>Louisville="Louisville" (not like the one in Kentucky)<BR>Norfolk= "Nor-fork"<BR>Kearney= "Car-nee"<BR>Beatrice- "Bee-at-truss" with the accent on "Bee"<BR><BR>Iowa:<BR>Des Moines="Duh-moin" not "Dez-moinz"<BR><BR><BR>Maine:<BR>Bangor="Bang-gore" not "Bang-or" or "Bang-er"<BR><BR>Oregon:<BR>The Dalles="The Dals"<BR><BR>South Dakota:<BR>The capitol, Pierre="Pier"<BR>Lead="Leed"<BR><BR>Virginia:<BR>N orfolk="Naw-fick"<BR><BR>Washington:<BR>Puyallup="Poo-yall-up"<BR><BR>Wyoming:<BR>Dubois="Doo-boyz"<BR><BR>Louisiana:<BR>Houma=Darned if I know...<BR><BR>Michigan:<BR>Sault Ste Marie="Sue Saint Marie"<BR><BR>

Okay, if it's not Sue Saint Marie and Duh Moin, someone please tell me the right way to say it!<BR>Also, is Mos-coe wrong? That's how the Beatles said it "the Mos-coe girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind..." Thanks : )

Down Under we say Briz-bin for Brisbane, and Keahns for Cairns.

In upstate NY:<BR>Valatie = Va -LAY-shuh<BR>Watervliet = Water-vuh-leet<BR>Coxsackie = cook-sock-key