Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 May 15 - 01:49 PM

Walsall district of - Caldmore - pronounced calmer.
Northants - Coggenhoe - pronouced Cuckno
Northampton - Duston, in Northampton pronounced Dusson, in Duston pronounced Duston!
Staffs, Peak District - Ilam - eye lamb not 11:00 hours!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST,LynnH
Date: 12 May 15 - 01:39 PM

Ilson, Heena/Eyna, Bradda, Ossley, Tidsa, Utcheter, Traal.........= Ilkeston, Heanor, Bradwell, Horsley, Tideswell, Uttoxeter, Trowell.

Then we've Derby(UK) pronounced Darby and Erewash (Valley,river,canal) is most definitely not pronounced Earwash!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: alex s
Date: 12 May 15 - 01:32 PM

In Northunberland "-ingham" is pronounced "ing jam", as in BellingJam, OvingJam etc.
A weird one-off is Lebanon Street in Burnley - the old-timers call it Leebanyon Street

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 15 - 01:15 PM

Victoria, BC (Canada) has a suburb called Esquimaux, which is presumably the French for 'eskimos', but the locals call it Ess-kwye-morx.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Mark Clark
Date: 12 May 15 - 01:04 PM

I've long assumed the U.S. to be the worst offender when it comes to pronunciation of place names. I still remember picking up our French foreign exchange student at the airport and asking about her flight. She said they went through customs at Day-Twah'. It took me a minute to realize that she was using the correct pronunciation for the city we know as Dee-Troyt (Detroit).

Examples off the top of my head include…

• Maa' drid (Madrid)


• Tra po' la (Tripoli)


• Ver sales' (Versailles)


• My' lun (Milan)

I'm sure the complete list is very long.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 15 - 12:44 PM

Here in Indiana we rejoice in multitudinous place
names from the Old World and ancient history, and
place names from historical figures.

There's Milan, (of course a version of the Italian
city, Milano) which becomes MY-luhn in Indiana, rather
than Mi-LAHN.

The French nobleman who was such an important help to the
American revolution is honored by the name of Lafayette,
Indiana. But that name is variously pronounced as
Lay-fee-ETT or Laugh-ee-ETT, and I have occasionally
heard it as Luh-FAY-et.

The city name "Carmel" which you may see on a map of
California, is Car-MELL there, but in Indiana it's CAR-m'l.

The Indiana county named Terre Haute ("high ground"),
which should be more or less Tair-uh Hote, becomes
Tair-hut or Taira-hut, and sometimes (with tongue in
cheek) "Terrible Hut".

Peru, Indiana, is often spoken of as Pee-roo.

Both the city and the university named Notre Dame
abandon any attempt at "Note-ra Dahm", and are almost
universally rendered as "Noter Dayme".

And lots of other weird and wonderful place names which
escape my present memory. Some of them will come back
to me later, and I'll post them at that time.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Megan L
Date: 12 May 15 - 12:37 PM

Splott to confuse matters further the Leigh in Orkney is pronounced lay.

Milngavie is Millguy, Strathhaven is Strayven,Cullross is Cueross and my favourite was an old neighbour who told us he had been born in fifty and grew up in afart which translated as Foot of Dee (Aberdeen) and Aford

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 12 May 15 - 12:13 PM

Appletreewick in Yorkshire=Aptrick

A lot of longer local names are abbreviated in common speech and even on road markings

Bridlington is usually Brid
Withernsea is With

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 May 15 - 12:10 PM

I'll be seeing some friends in "Congerton" (Cheshire), next week - Congleton to you.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Splott Man
Date: 12 May 15 - 10:58 AM

Leigh in Surrey is pronounced Lye, but just a few miles further East, Leigh in Kent is pronounced Lee.

Splott Man

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 15 - 10:54 AM

The Town Name plate for Woolfardisworthy in North Devon has , underneath the name and in brackets Woolsery which would seem to be how the locals pronounce it .

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 12 May 15 - 10:53 AM

Plaistow in East London is pronounced Plah-stow as opposed to the usual Play-stow. We also have Katherine Road pronounced eye-ne, and Balaam Street pronounced Bay-lam. In nearby Barking Movers Lane is Mow-vers rather than Moo-vers. These pronunciations are being eroded.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 15 - 10:43 AM

Launceston is interesting. In Cornwall, it is pronounced Lawnston, or Lanston. However, the town in Tasmania, named after the Cornish town presumably, is pronounced exactly as spelled.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 May 15 - 10:41 AM

Not exactly pronunciation: as a child, our shopping was done in Barnstaple. Which, confusingly to outsiders, was referred to by locals as Barum.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:57 AM

Covington, PA is Cuhvington, not Cahvington, after our sister city in KY.

Wellsboro is Wellsburra, not Wellsbohroh. (PA)

Lancaster, PA is LANC'uster, not LanCastEr.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST,Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:52 AM

Barnoldswick=Barnick

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: r.padgett
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:48 AM

Dodworth and Cudworth near Barnsley, Sth Yorkshire

Doderth, Cuderth

Ray

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST,SqueezeMe
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:42 AM

The New South Wales (Australia) town of Canowindra in pronounced Canoundra.

Goonoo Goonoo (NSW) is pronounced Gunner Gernoo.

Cairns, in Far North Queensland? I tell American friends that it is pronounced the way a Texan would describe the containers that beans are sold in....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:35 AM

Wehn I lived in Kent, "Speldhurst" could be "SpeldHARST".

Round here, Norfolk we have

"Potter heigham" - "potterum", "Weybourne" - "webburn" and "Stiffkey" - "stookey".

Of course areas can have there differences as to what is correct. I was born in Shrewsbury which like my mother born and bred there pronounce "Shrowsberry". I gather my grandmother (mothers mother) from Westbury might use neither of these, using "Salop" for the town.

The largest portion of my own life was N Wales so whlie not a Welsh speaker, I can say things like "Dwygyfylchi". Some English want to call a village I once lived in as "Pie dew" (it's spelt Pydew and more sort of "pud ow").

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:15 AM

Forgot to say: my mother was born in "Loowestarft" (Lowestoft) in Suffolk, and often visited "Narch" (Norwich) in Norfolk as a youngster.

Pronunciation as heard from her.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:15 AM

Thornton Heath is Forntneef.

LFF

Subject: Folklore: Local place names - local pronunciation
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 May 15 - 09:12 AM

I've put this under the "Folklore" heading, because I think local dialects and ways of pronunciation fall generally into that subject.

Down here in Sussex (UK), there are place names in the locality, the speaking of which mark out a local from a "foreigner" (anyone not local), and which aren't obvious from the spelling. The "local" pronunciation can vary from what might seem the obvious pronunciation in several degrees of difference - from slight variations in stress to real dialect variations. So, for example:

The "ly" ending to a word is usually stressed and pronounced as "lie" - as in Ardingly and Chiddingly ("Arding-LIE", "Chidding-LIE").

Sussex name stress is often on the last syllable, though this is dying out as ageing population dies and more newcomers arrive. So Seaford is pronounced "Sea-FORD", not "SEA-ford".

Alfriston is pronounced "OLL-friston", and the weirdest (and oldest) Sussex variations I know are for Heathfield, pronounced "Heffle", and Burwash, pronounced "Burrish").

Just come back from seeing a friend in Southampton this morning - though he pronounces it "Suth-AMP-ton!

I've been to Puncknowle, in Dorset, to find it pronounced "PUNN-ell" - that marked me out as a foreigner immediately...

What are your local pronunciations and variations - UK and US - and elsewhere?