What is the correct pronunciation of Islay?
 

DH is a Scotch drinker and has thought he was correctly pronouncing it

eye lay all this time and now he's not so sure, from some book he's reading.

It is sort of 'Ila' or 'eye la'. (long I - short A)

agree with jansisj on this,having visited the island the locals certainly pronouce it that way.

I live in Glasgow and janisj is pretty spot on....(when we go to the Islay Inn, that's how it's said...!)

From the horse's mouth, so to speak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT4j5on_dY

This is the one that was going round the back of my mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a5HCyWRyMc

Donovan pronounced it "eye"-"lay" (both long vowels) in his 1967 song Isle of Islay (on the album A Gift from a Flower to a Garden)...but of course, he constantly took liberties with pronunciation for artistic reasons. :-)

SS

So how do you pronounce Penicuik?

'penny-quick'. Stress on first syllable.

'penny-cook' stress on cook

actually....ignore what I said about stress, but pronunciation is correct

My daughter's father in law is formerly teacher and administrator at Penicuik High School, and Allihutch and Stfc are both sort of right.

The first syllable, accented, is indeed pronounced "penny". The second syllable is pronounced somewhere between "quick" and "cook". If I had to represent it for other Americans, I would say something like "kook" [like wow, man], but there is a little glottal in there. But representing Scots sounds in Amerispeak is a very inexact art.

They visit here a lot and are constantly amused by our pronunciation of Scottish names -- Bucchleuch ("Buckloo") being the most notable. Our favorite in the opposite direction is the Edinburgh bookseller "Menzies", pronuounced "Menghis," closely followed by Milngavie ("mulguy"). They do note that so many damned Englishmen are attending Scottish universities that you do actually hear people saying "Menzies" as it is written. Country going to the dogs!

Perhaps Penny-cuke would work...(cuke shortens the oo of kook)

Thank you all for coming through.

I trust you never have to learn to pronounce cirrhosis

Sassy_cat's got it!

By Jove, s/he's got it!

Absolutely!

With thanks to Prof Henry Higgins, aka 'Enery 'Iggins.