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People Mis-Naming Railway Station/Companies - Habit?

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Purple Orange

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I never know how to pronounce Marylebone. I’ve heard Mary-le-bone, Marley-bone, Marry-le-bone, Mary-le-bon, Marley-bon, Marry-le-bon. What the hell is it?
 
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PeterC

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I never know how to pronounce Marylebone. I’ve heard Mary-le-bone, Marley-bone, Marry-le-bone, Mary-le-bon, Marley-bon, Marry-le-bon. What the hell is it?
The one certain rule is NEVER Mary

Marley-bone and Marry-le-b'n I think are both acceptable.
 

Purple Orange

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The one certain rule is NEVER Mary

Marley-bone and Marry-le-b'n I think are both acceptable.

Thank you. Next time I will stick to using Marry-le-b’n when the need arises, which under lockdown will most likely come as a result of my thimble making a visit, following a roll of the dice.
 

dorsetdesiro

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There's no such thing as bad publicity. Because of the strikes, most people now seem to be aware that our local trains are operated by South Western Railway/SWR.

Good point about the strike action.

SWR seems unable to decide whether it is South Western Railway in full or just SWR, that both forms are visible on the trains for example. LNER, GWR and EMR are known mostly for their acronyms which the full name is only mentioned in announcements and barely visible in tiny form on the sides of the train. CR, LNR and WMR have full names without acronyms.

Weymouth station, on Google Maps, shows GWR as that while SWR is shown by it's full name. Departure boards used to show "SWR service" which now read "South Western Railway service" even scrolling if there is not much room.

I wish SWR had taken on EMR style branding, on debut back in 2017, swapping the EMR purple for rich navy blue with "S W R" with the full name rarely mentioned.
 

prod_pep

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Thank you. Next time I will stick to using Marry-le-b’n when the need arises, which under lockdown will most likely come as a result of my thimble making a visit, following a roll of the dice.

My preferred pronunciation also. The 'marley' pronunciations sound a bit lazy.
 

PeterC

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My preferred pronunciation also. The 'marley' pronunciations sound a bit lazy.
I think the "marley" pronunciation is used by people from the shires travelling to the station while "marry-le-b'n" is local. Which would make it Marley-bone station in the parish of Marry-le-b'n.
 

61653 HTAFC

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I think the "marley" pronunciation is used by people from the shires travelling to the station while "marry-le-b'n" is local. Which would make it Marley-bone station in the parish of Marry-le-b'n.
I'd always thought the opposite. The "Marley-b'n" pronunciation is always said in my head with a distinct London twang.

Anyway, according to the Bakerloo line tiling it's pronounced "Great Central"... ;)
 

xotGD

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I always thought it was Marri-li-bone and then heard the announcements on Chiltern saying Marley-bone.

At least I know how to pronounce Slaithwaite and Chester-le-Street.
 

Peter Kelford

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WR seems unable to decide whether it is South Western Railway in full or just SWR, that both forms are visible on the trains for example.
Reminds me of the Great Western using both acronyms and 'Great Western' and 'Shirtbutton logos' on their locos.
 

3rd rail land

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I always thought it was Marri-li-bone and then heard the announcements on Chiltern saying Marley-bone.

At least I know how to pronounce Slaithwaite and Chester-le-Street.
I'm not sure why but I have somehow formed the opinion that Marri-le-bon, rather than Marri-li-bone, was how regular folk pronounced it and posh people said marley-bone. Probably due to the posh voice used on the Bakerloo line.

For ages I thought Marri-le-bon was the only pronunciation.

Similarly with Holborn. Is it Hol-bon or Ho-burn? Again the former seems more suited to regular folk like me and ho-burn is for psoh people.
 

Mojo

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I always thought it was Marri-li-bone and then heard the announcements on Chiltern saying Marley-bone.

At least I know how to pronounce Slaithwaite and Chester-le-Street.
It is Marley-bone and never Marry-le-bone or anything similar. Chiltern Railways’ automatic announcements at stations and on board say Marry-le-bun which is incorrect.
 

AM9

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It is Marley-bone and never Marry-le-bone or anything similar. Chiltern Railways’ automatic announcements at stations and on board say Marry-le-bun which is incorrect.
It depends on where you grew up. Just because a PIS say it one way or the other, it doesn't make it right, (or wrong).
 

Mojo

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It depends on where you grew up. Just because a PIS say it one way or the other, it doesn't make it right, (or wrong).
I say this as a Londoner, as are my family, that any pronunciation of the place name that attempts to split it up into three parts, is incorrect.
 

AM9

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I say this as a Londoner, as are my family, that any pronunciation of the place name that attempts to split it up into three parts, is incorrect.
So do I say that as a Londoner. Just like 'Parliament' isn't pronounced 'parlyment'. The 'i' is pronounced if only subtly.
 

Calthrop

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It depends on where you grew up. Just because a PIS say it one way or the other, it doesn't make it right, (or wrong).

I had a moment's puzzlement about PIS -- wondered briefly, "prissy idiotic snob??" On reflection: from the context, am reckoning "public information system" ;) .
 

paulmch

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In a similar vein with the opening of Cambridge North station, how should I make clear it's the main station I'm talking about and not the north station. If Cambridge South happens, that'll add to the potential confusion. I sometimes use Cambridge Main. I'm not sure Central works as it's not near enough the city centre of Cambridge.

Cambridge Hauptbahnhof?
 

Energy

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LNER, GWR and EMR are known mostly for their acronyms which the full name is only mentioned in announcements and barely visible in tiny form on the sides of the train. CR, LNR and WMR have full names without acronyms.
They are initialisms not acronyms! Unless you pronounce LNER, GWR, EMR, CR, LNR and WMR as "lunerr", "grr", "emur", "currr", "lunerrr" and "wumer" respectively :) (initialism is saying each letter like GWR, an acronym is pronouncing the initialism as a word, like NASA)
 

AM9

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I had a moment's puzzlement about PIS -- wondered briefly, "prissy idiotic snob??" On reflection: from the context, am reckoning "public information system" ;) .
I wrote it as @passenger Information System in respect of Mojo's post about the Chiltern announcements.
 

AM9

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They are initialisms not acronyms! Unless you pronounce LNER, GWR, EMR, CR, LNR and WMR as "lunerr", "grr", "emur", "currr", "lunerrr" and "wumer" respectively :) (initialism is saying each letter like GWR, an acronym is pronouncing the initialism as a word, like NASA)
Maybe now, many of them are Anachronisms. :)
 

Calthrop

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I wrote it as @passenger Information System in respect of Mojo's post about the Chiltern announcements.

I'm like Peter Lovesey's character in his mysteries, Detective Superintendent Diamond -- not in being a brilliant detective, but in being rather a stick-in-the-mud including having a bit of a blind spot about initials-sequences.
 

prod_pep

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Similarly with Holborn. Is it Hol-bon or Ho-burn? Again the former seems more suited to regular folk like me and ho-burn is for psoh people.

I don't think there's much debate about this one: it's "hoe-b'n", i.e. 'hoe' as in the garden implement and the second syllable is clipped.

"Marry-li-b'n" is a pronunciation I often hear, even within London, so I'm sticking with it.
 

Bedpan

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They are initialisms not acronyms! Unless you pronounce LNER, GWR, EMR, CR, LNR and WMR as "lunerr", "grr", "emur", "currr", "lunerrr" and "wumer" respectively :) (initialism is saying each letter like GWR, an acronym is pronouncing the initialism as a word, like NASA)

(Just made sure the door is open so I can make a very swift exit).....I pronounce them "Lenner" "G'were" "Emma" and "Were-mer". It probably depends on where you grew up.:oops:<D:oops:
 

cle

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I'm not sure why but I have somehow formed the opinion that Marri-le-bon, rather than Marri-li-bone, was how regular folk pronounced it and posh people said marley-bone. Probably due to the posh voice used on the Bakerloo line.

For ages I thought Marri-le-bon was the only pronunciation.

Similarly with Holborn. Is it Hol-bon or Ho-burn? Again the former seems more suited to regular folk like me and ho-burn is for psoh people.

Neither, "Hoe-bun" or "Hoe-b'n" if you prefer. No hol, and no born/burn.

I second the 'Marley-bone' - but would enunciate the "Mar-" and then "lebone" rather than a smooth 'Marley' - first syllable is the main one here.

Londoner born and bred etc...
 

London Trains

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It is Marley-bone and never Marry-le-bone or anything similar. Chiltern Railways’ automatic announcements at stations and on board say Marry-le-bun which is incorrect.

I agree. On LU is it pronounced like this. It is only on Chiltern I have come across that wrong pronounciation.
 

MK Tom

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I always refer to Bedford as Bedford Midland, to avoid confusion with St. Johns.

Everyone still calls LNWR London Midland and most people still call Avanti Virgin.

Arriva buses in MK are called Aviva all the time. You still hear MK Metro occasionally.

A lot of older folk in Northampton still talk about Castle Station.

It's not a railway thing but the branding of Luton Airport as 'LLA' really annoys me because people think that's the airport code instead of LTN. Bit like people calling Birmingham New Street 'BNS'.

I met a guy when I was at secondary school in Aylesbury (we're talking back in 2003) who was convinced the Aylesbury-Risborough line belonged to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway.

Oh and on this discussion about PIS pronunciations, I've heard 'Alsager' said three or four different ways on different trains. I've had Al-sage-r, Al-sarg-er and Al-saj-er at least.
 
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