Trivia: Place names that you're not sure how to pronounce

[AY1975]

Can you name any place names in the UK that:

(a) you're not sure how to pronounce
(b) you struggle to pronounce correctly
(c) are often mispronounced
(d) you've heard being pronounced in more than one way
(e) are pronounced differently from how they are written

Two places on the Cambrian line spring to mind here. Machynlleth is "Ma-hunc-leth" but to an English person it looks as if it is "Ma-chin-leth", and Pwllheli is "Pwathelly" but a lot of English people think it's Pwelly or Pfwelly.

 

[telstarbox]

Alresford, Lyminge, Leominster, Bures, Ruislip.

 

[theageofthetra]

Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells. Both pronounced TUN...

Alnwick confuses many.

 

[adrock1976]

a) Slaithwaite
b) Pwllheli
c) Outwith Scotland, Milngavie is pronounced in many ways. Within Scotland, it is pronounced "Mul-guy"
d) Brough (East Riding of Yorkshire). For a good number of years, I've heard it pronounced "Brow" (mainly west or south of the Pennines), but in the last few years I've heard it pronounced as "Broth", "Bruv", and a slight Germanic pronunciation of "Broch".
e) Wymondham. Pronounced around Norfolk as "Windum".

On a side note, a guy from Wales mentioned to me many years ago that it does not matter how a placename is pronounced, as long as you know where it is.

 

[EM2]

There is a village in Kent called Trottiscliffe.
It's pronounced 'Trozli'.

 

[Lemmy99uk]

Mytholmroyd

 

[Lemmy99uk]

And one without a railway station:

Torpenhow

pronounced Tre-pen-ah

 

[DarloRich]

Wemyss Bay is a good one.

Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells. Both pronounced TUN...

Alnwick confuses many.

same with Alnmouth. it is often pronounced ALAN mouth. It is ALN

 

[pemma]

Burscough and Myerscough in Lancashire (same mispronunciation for both, although no station at Myerscough.)
Mytholmroyd
Slaithwaite
Lostock Gralam (even the automated announcements at Northwich are wrong)
Llandudno (the automated announcements at Piccadilly pronounces it correctly for Llandudno Junction but incorrectly for Llandudno!)

 

[Thebaz]

Salfords in Surrey which has the European 'a' sound, is commonly mispronounced like Salford in Cheshire. Including by the recorded Southern announcements.

 

[DarloRich]

People (especially the posh, the affected or the southern) have no idea how to pronounce Bath. There is no R in Bath. They also have no idea how to pronounce Newcastle. It isnt NUCARSTLE

 

[341o2]

Bosham Bozzam

Mousehole Muzzle (once heard a tourist on the bus ask for two tickets to Mouse Hole - enunciated slowly and clearly)

Bridestowe Briddystow, not as in here comes the.....

Launceston Larnsen

Beaulieu Bewley

 

[AlterEgo]

Berkhamsted - locals say "Berkumsted" all in the one go, and people who want to wind up locals call it "Berk-hamp-stead".

 

[HowardGWR]

have no idea how to pronounce Bath.

It is of course pronounced as Baff (as in Bafta Award). I had a friend there who visited Blyth. That was Blyff, according to him (as in wife).

 

[philjo]

It took a while to purchase a ticket from Luzerne to schynige platte when I was in Switzerland a couple of years ago!
Fortunately I had the leaflet with the offer on me so I could show this to the lady in the ticket office. I still didn't get how to properly pronounce it after she then said it!

 

[DelW]

A tourist in Central London once asked me how to get to South Walk. I was baffled until he told me it had a cathedral and I realised he meant Southwark (approximately "Suthuck").

 

[rebmcr]

How about Bicester?

Salford in Cheshire

*loud tutting*

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Euxton Balshaw Lane = EXton (even the same PIS announcer isn't consistent).
Meols (Wirral) =MELS, Meols Cop (Southport) = MEEls
Machynlleth = (roughly) Mahuntleth
Alsager = All-sage-er
Lostock Gralam is definitely Gray-lam

Still uncertain about Kirkham and Wesham - is it Wessam or Wesh-am?
Is it Sal-wick or Sallick (not that my trains ever stop)?

Worcester, Leicester and Gloucester are all problematic for Americans, for some reason (and Edinburgh ("Edinburrow") etc.
Even Scots have trouble with Worcester ("Wooster").
Liverpool is very hard for Chinese to pronounce, for instance.

Having just got back from a trip via Püspökladany (HU) and Gorna Oryahovitsa (BG) I have new sympathies for foreigners encountering unpronounceable placenames.
Oddly, there were familiar ex-UK class 86/87s in both these places.

 

[bearhugger]

a) Slaithwaite
b) Pwllheli
c) Outwith Scotland, Milngavie is pronounced in many ways. Within Scotland, it is pronounced "Mul-guy"
d) Brough (East Riding of Yorkshire). For a good number of years, I've heard it pronounced "Brow" (mainly west or south of the Pennines), but in the last few years I've heard it pronounced as "Broth", "Bruv", and a slight Germanic pronunciation of "Broch".
e) Wymondham. Pronounced around Norfolk as "Windum".

On a side note, a guy from Wales mentioned to me many years ago that it does not matter how a placename is pronounced, as long as you know where it is.

I've always pronounced Brough as "Bruff"

Wemyss Bay is a good one.



same with Alnmouth. it is often pronounced ALAN mouth. It is ALN

I'm pretty sure that Micheal Portillo pronounces Alnmouth as Alanmouth in his TV series.

 

[Deafdoggie]

The automated announcements get Alsager incorrect every time. The automated station announcements at Alsager pronounce Rugby as "Rug-Buy"

 

[Thebaz]

deletd...

 

[pompeyfan]

Micheldever, If i pronounce it Michel-deever (rhymes with beaver) I get corrected to Michel-dever (to rhyme with never) and V/V.

 

[Thebaz]

*loud tutting*

Sorry, should I have said Manchester? I suppose it does have a Manchester postcode.


Bicester rhymes with sister.

 

[urbophile]

Merseyside has a few. Aigburth is more like Egg-b'th. Maghull is M'gull. I didn't realise the Southport Meols was different from the Wirral one (Meals and Mells). Kirkby of course has a silent second K. Off the rails, Gateacre is Gaticker. Chilled-wall not child-wall.

Newcastle is mostly mispronounced by non-Geordies. Even if they don't say 'cahstle' à la Boris Johnson, they usually put the stress on the first rather than second syllable.
Is the Zouch in Ashby de la Zouch pronounced in the French way, i.e. Zoosh, or to rhyme with Grouch?

 

[yorkie]

Marylebone is sometimes mispronounced "Marry-le-bone" when it's actually "Marley-bone" (as per the Bakerloo line announcements), particularly by people in the Midlands.

I've heard people refer to Garforth as "Gare Fourth"

I heard an American mispronounce Newark, and I believe it's not uncommon for Americans to say "Lye-sester", "Bye-sester" and so on! And, worst of all, "Loo-gah-bore-ouh-gah" instead of "Lufbra"!

The announcements for Stow were wrong when the Borders line first opened.

 

[Thebaz]

Alresford, Lyminge, Leominster, Bures, Ruislip.

Allsford

Lemster

Rye-slip

 

[sk688]

A few that I'm not sure of personally

Llanelli
Llanduno
Aberystywyth
Pwelheli

Seeing a pattern here ?

Then you have Americans , and their truly special way of saying Leicester Square

Got Marlyebone wrong a few times too

Quite a few tourists seem to got Holborn , Chiswick and Southwark wrong , from my experience anyway

 

[bnsf734]

Bedworth - Bedd'uth (Thats the local pronunciation!)

Acle - Being from East Anglia I have always heard it pronounced Ay'cle but I heard it pronounced Akk'le recently.

 

[talltim]

Bolsover. Seems simple, but...

 

[Great_Western]

Anywhere in Wales...