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

[John Luxton]

No one appears to have mentioned Dduallt that can cause FR passengers some difficulty.

Rhuallt on the A55 also produces some interesting pronunciations too.

 

[XC90]

Its LOCK-er-bee

Naw it is nae.

It's Lock-er-bay

 

[Ianno87]

On a train yesterday, a Yorkshire lass asked for a ticket to "Sorby Bridge" (Sowerby Bridge)

 

[westv]

I've heard St Neots pronounced as it's spelt but also as St Neets. Which is correct?

 

[37 418]

At least the station announcers at Queen Street pronounce Oban correctly, if my memory serves me right. I have never heard them pronounce Mallaig as MALLaig, always as Ma LAIG

Pity they can't get Alness or Duirinish right

 

[bramling]

I've heard St Neots pronounced as it's spelt but also as St Neets. Which is correct?

Pretty sure the first of those - that's certainly how most locals say it.

 

[Calthrop]

I always thought Nene Valley was pronounced Neen until I saw Countryfile last night and they called it Nin (or was it Nen)

I noticed that. Nen it was. Of course it's quite possible that by the time the river reaches Peterborough, the fen people pronounce it Neen!

I lived in Peterborough for a dozen years -- there I heard it pronounced "Neen", universally. A friend of a friend, came from Northampton; I gather from the "intermediate" friend that he said "Nen", and thought "Neen" sounded totally daft. According to Wiki, people pronounce it "Neen" along the river's eastern reaches, and "Nen" along its western ditto. "The point at which the pronunciation changes has been moving further inland for many years: the current edition of the Imray 'Map of the River Nene' suggests that it is now Thrapston."

Incidentally, Wiki informs us that the Nene is the tenth-longest river in the UK. I'd had hitherto no idea that my loved, but "lowland and low-key" river, was anywhere near that high up in the "length" league table !

 

[Steamager]

For years Wessex Trains' "Digital Doris" announced trains to Nail Sea, instead of the local Nelzee (probably from Anglo-Saxon ea = island)

 

[PHILIPE]

Only on reading a Welsh language book today, did I discover the locals in Bethesda in Snowdonia pronounce their town - "Pesda"

 

[satisnek]

No one appears to have mentioned Dduallt that can cause FR passengers some difficulty.

From what I can remember the correct pronunciation is something like a sneeze

 

[Clansman]

Any outsider dare to have a stab at Broughty Ferry and Monifieth?

 

[IanXC]

Any outsider dare to have a stab at Broughty Ferry and Monifieth?

Of course!

Braw-tea Ferry

Mon-e-feeth

Am I somewhere near?

 

[XC90]

May have been mentioned already?

Stow (rhymes with toe) or Stow (rhymes with cow)?

When the borders line opened Scotrail announcements pronounced it like toe but I heard this was incorrect, don't know if it has been changed.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Gillingham in Kent and Gillingham in Dorset are pronounced differently

The one in Kent has a soft G whilst the one in Dorset I think has a hard G?

How about Eynsford (pronounced either as eensford or eyensford?)

 

[Clansman]

Of course!

Braw-tay Ferry

Mon-ay-feeth

Am I somewhere near?

I'll give you that one, that was good, although the bits I've changed in bold is how it's often pronounced.

Genuinely thought it'd be a trick question for a lot of folk who aren't familiar with them.

Was expecting some Welshman or Northerner to say "Broh-tea-fer-ee"

 

[Matt_pool]

Keynsham is KAynsham, not Key...

Frome is F-room and doesn't rhyme with Rome!

And Bath is BAth, or BAaath (depends how "local" you are - imagine a sheep going "baa"!); not Baaarth or Baaarf. Only the middle and upper class twits stick a letter "r" in it!

 

[fowler9]

Aigburth on Merseyside is Egg-buth

 

[Taunton]

Keynsham ... Frome ... And Bath is BAth,

Oi can do all they ...

Now, can someone tell us Somerset lot, in return, how we might do that onetime Manchester suburban station Irlams O' th' Height

 

[fowler9]

From what I have read on here there is some further complication in the way individuals in one area talk. For example in Liverpool different people in the same family will pronounce sounds differently. For example, look, book and cook can be Loooch, Cooock and Boooch (the ch being like you are about to spit is the best way I can describe it), it can also be Luch, cuch and buch. That is just in my family. I hope that makes sense. Ha ha. You will hear both in Liverpool.

The Glottle Stop is a great leveler which people don't seem to bring up very often when it comes to pronunciation. It happens all over the country. My local station is West Allerton but pronounced West Aller'n by I would say a great many people, not my dad, ha ha. Things like glottle stops can cause a lot of issues with foreign visitors. Ha ha.

 

[Calthrop]

And Bath is BAth, or BAaath (depends how "local" you are - imagine a sheep going "baa"!); not Baaarth or Baaarf. Only the middle and upper class twits stick a letter "r" in it!

I have to ask -- do even they, do that? I'm of the middle-class persuasion (and possibly a twit); but my speech habits / abilities are such that I'd find it difficult to add a pronounced "r" after a long "a", here.

This stuff gets much discussed when Britons and Americans get into matters of pronunciation. It would seem that on the whole, Americans meticulously pronounce "r"s in words, while Brits don't. The people of Boston, Mass., are among the US's few non-"r"-pronouncers: their compatriots find it hilarious to imitate Bostonians saying such things as "I'll pahk my cah in Hahvahd Yahd". I have trouble imagining how otherwise, I would or could pronounce that sentence.

 

[Parallel]

I'm from near Bath (and not middle/upper class) and most of the people from Bath and the surrounding areas say "Baath" as opposed to "Bahth". I'd say both are right though, depending on your accent.

 

[Julia]

I've heard St Neots pronounced as it's spelt but also as St Neets. Which is correct?

St. NEE-uts is the local pronunciation though the recordings on class 365s for some reason say it "nee-OTS" ...

 

[urbophile]

The Glottle Stop is a great leveler which people don't seem to bring up very often when it comes to pronunciation. It happens all over the country. My local station is West Allerton but pronounced West Aller'n by I would say a great many people, not my dad, ha ha. Things like glottle stops can cause a lot of issues with foreign visitors. Ha ha.

Talking of Allertons, the one in Liverpool has the first syllable to rhyme with pal; the one in Bradford rhymes with doll.

 

[Dr_Paul]

No one appears to have mentioned Dduallt that can cause FR passengers some difficulty.

It is baffling for English-speakers: it took me quite a while to reach a reasonable approximation. There's a difference, however, between the pronunciation of Welsh names and that of the weird and wonderful English ones we've had here. Like with most languages, with Welsh there is a reasonable consistency: it's a case of learning a different alphabet (see here). Once that's worked out, pronunciation is usually straightforward. The fun with English names and words is that there is a remarkable lack of consistency: it's not easy to ascertain how things are pronounced merely by looking at the spelling: 'ough' being a classic example.

 

[Taunton]

Duddult ?

 

[IanXC]

I'll give you that one, that was good, although the bits I've changed in bold is how it's often pronounced.

Genuinely thought it'd be a trick question for a lot of folk who aren't familiar with them.

Was expecting some Welshman or Northerner to say "Broh-tea-fer-ee"

Interesting. I had a colleague who lived in Broughty Ferry and it was definitely 'tea' when he said it.

Yes I feel like I keep spoiling the fun with these Scottish ones

 

[61653 HTAFC]

St. NEE-uts is the local pronunciation though the recordings on class 365s for some reason say it "nee-OTS" ...

My younger brother lives in St. Neots having grown up mostly in Huddersfield with a spell in Taunton. He definitely says "Nee-uts" whereas his wife from the Fens says it like a 365!

This next one isn't a place, but is railway related: I've just listened to a Mark Steel thingy on YouTube (on the Industrial Revolution) where right at the end he pronounced the name of William Huskisson as "Huxon". Is this correct? I've been getting that wrong forever!

 

[Busaholic]

My younger brother lives in St. Neots having grown up mostly in Huddersfield with a spell in Taunton. He definitely says "Nee-uts" whereas his wife from the Fens says it like a 365!

This next one isn't a place, but is railway related: I've just listened to a Mark Steel thingy on YouTube (on the Industrial Revolution) where right at the end he pronounced the name of William Huskisson as "Huxon". Is this correct? I've been getting that wrong forever!

Could just be a Swanley accent.

 

[lejog]

Keynsham is KAynsham, not Key...

As made famous in ""Horace Batchelor, Department One, Cane-sham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Cane-sham, Bristol" and the subsequent eponymous Bonzo Dog Band album.

I assume very few people will understand what I'm wittering on about.

 

[urbophile]

This next one isn't a place, but is railway related: I've just listened to a Mark Steel thingy on YouTube (on the Industrial Revolution) where right at the end he pronounced the name of William Huskisson as "Huxon". Is this correct? I've been getting that wrong forever!

Ive never heard anything other than Huskisson Street in Liverpool.