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".