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

[steamybrian]

Some stations in Kent which I have heard pronounced wrong..
Leigh is pronounced "lie". Even on-train announcements have announced wrongly as "Lee"
(but a few miles away East Farleigh is pronounced "East Far-lee")
Meopham is pronounced "Mepham"
Aylesham is pronounced "ale-sham"
Walmer is pronounced "warmer"

 

[Ash Bridge]

Fowey in Cornwall, should be pronounced as 'Foy'

 

[Skipness]

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

Same applies to Matlock Bath (located between Matlock and Cromford).
My local station is Whatstandwell, pronounced exactly as it is spelt, but have several times been asked by booking clerks how it is spelt.

 

[Skipness]

Americans seem to have difficulty with Loughborough, and probably with Slough as well.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Surprised no-one mentioned Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch yet (yes, I know, the station is officially only Llanfairpwll). I always thought it was Thames (and also Thameslink, City Thameslink) with a proper th sound, although it's actually more like "Temz". In Germany, we have some tricky Low German-ish place names, such as Duisburg (more like Düsburg) or Soest (more like Sohst) to surprise non-local passengers.

 

[Busaholic]

Wemyss Bay is a good one.



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

The guy in the ticket office at Penzance, a man of mature years, had never heard of Alnmouth, pronounced anyway you like! A bit poor, I thought, given there's more than one direct service a day.

 

[Tractor37]

Slaithwaite - Slough (as in plough) it
Brough - Bruff
Wemyss Bay - Weems Bay

One that annoys me is the automated announcement of Adwick on the Leeds to Doncaster line on the 321/9's. Should be pronounced without the w - Adick

 

[DuncanS]

Gilshochill

Not somewhere I'd ever been pre the Queen Street diversions last year and was amazed at how its actually pronounced.

Gil-she-hill I'd have thought it was Gil-Shock-Hill or similar.

And of course every stopping train through Camelon has an on board announcement that gets it totally wrong.

 

[IanXC]

I've always pronounced Brough as "Bruff".

This is definitely what locals would say.

Hall I'th' Wood is one that takes some people back but it's as simple as it looks.

Talk about consistency with this one, East Yorkshire gives you Neswick, Beswick and Kilnwick (Nes-ick, Bes-ick and Kill-ick respectively), yet South Yorkshire brings you Adwick (Ad-wick)...

 

[AM9]

Frequently mispronounced, - even by BBC newsreaders is Plaistow, (pronounced 'Plarstow' or even 'Plarster' by some eastenders. Alf Garnett always got it right though.
Norfolk is a mine of mispronounced place names, e.g. Costessy = 'cossy', Stiffkey = 'stookey', Happisburgh = 'hazeberer', so bizarre to home county types like me.

 

[Busaholic]

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.

My mother was born in Marylebone and always pronounced it ''Marry-le-bone'' and I don't believe she so much as visited anywhere in the Midlands in her life. Could be a class thing, may I suggest.

 

[AM9]

This is definitely what locals would say.

Hall I'th' Wood is one that takes some people back but it's as simple as it looks.

Talk about consistency with this one, East Yorkshire gives you Neswick, Beswick and Kilnwick (Nes-ick, Bes-ick and Kill-ick respectively), yet South Yorkshire brings you Adwick (Ad-wick)...

There are similar inconsistencies on the south coast: - there's Cosham in Portsmouth which is pronounced as you would expect with the 'sh' sound and Bosham near Chichester pronounced 'Bozzam'. There's even two Southwicks, one a village north of Portchester and one next to Shoreham. I can't remember which way round but on is pronounced 'south-wick' and the other 'suthick'

 

[gg1]

My mother was born in Marylebone and always pronounced it ''Marry-le-bone'' and I don't believe she so much as visited anywhere in the Midlands in her life. Could be a class thing, may I suggest.

......and I'm midlands born and bred and have always pronounced it Marley-bone.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Betws - Y - Coed...... Betws -u (small letter U pronunciation) - coy-id

Where to start, I have heard Betty y cod , Betws - Y (as in the capital letter) Co-ed (as in Co-educational) and hundreds of other attempts.

All quite amusing.

 

[PeterC]

My mother was born in Marylebone and always pronounced it ''Marry-le-bone'' and I don't believe she so much as visited anywhere in the Midlands in her life. Could be a class thing, may I suggest.

It is, I think Marly-bone is a Home Counties pronunciation. I thought that the local working class pronunciation was more like Marry-le-b'n.

"Incorrect" usage by outsiders can lead to a change. In the 50s Chesham was Chessam (or sometimes Chezzum) but with the infux of outsiders as the town developed after the War, and especially after electrification of the Met it became Chesh-am.

 

[al78]

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


Bicester rhymes with sister.

Greater Manchester. Salford is a separate city from Manchester despite having the same M postcode.

 

[PeterC]

Betws - Y - Coed...... Betws -u (small letter U pronunciation) - coy-id

Where to start, I have heard Betty y cod , Betws - Y (as in the capital letter) Co-ed (as in Co-educational) and hundreds of other attempts.

All quite amusing.

On the other radio and TV insist on saying Bl-eye-nav-on for Blaenavon when the locals say Blen-av-on. With the teaching of textbook Welsh in schools it will be interesting to see if the local version lasts.
(Before anybody tried to "correct" my spelling it is only Blaenafon when writing in Welsh)

 

[philthetube]

Llanwrtyd

There was an incident here over 20 years ago, (no idea on dates) where a member of train crew and a Signal operator had a misunderstanding about where a train was located, Railtrack? made a safety film stressing the importance of accurate comms and radie, phone protocol following the incident.

I was shown it on my Guard training on the Underground.

 

[Altfish]

People (especially the posh, the affected or the southern) have no idea how to pronounce Bath. There is no R in Bath.

I was always taught that the 'P' in Bath is silent

 

[pemma]

Greater Manchester. Salford is a separate city from Manchester despite having the same M postcode.

Indeed. Even considering the southern most area of Salford (Salford Quays) you'll still north of the Mersey (the traditional Cheshire/Lancashire boundary) and north of Lancashire County Cricket Club and Manchester United (who are in Trafford mean they aren't technically in Manchester )

 

[EM2]

Southwell in Nottinghamshire is pronounced 'Suth-ull'.

I was once at the ticket barriers at King's Cross Underground when a French customer was asking how to get to 'Ayn-oh', and being met with blank looks from the staff.
They pulled a Tube map out of their pocket and pointed.
'Ah', said the Cockney gateline assistant. 'You want 'Ainaul'!' (Hainault - complete with dropped H and glottal-stop T!).

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The railway struggles with Dodworth near Barnsley. It is supposed to be "Dodd-uth". Another Barnsley suburb (Cudworth) is similar but lost its station long ago.

 

[ag51ruk]

Shrewsbury (recorded announcements at Crewe say Shroo-sbury, and at Birmingham New Street say Shrow-sbury) - there is plenty of debate about which is correct even in the town itself of course!

Sandbach - which should be pronounced Sand-batch, but the Northern announcements at Alderley Edge say 'Sand-back'

 

[davetheguard]

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!

I think standard German pronunciation would be something like "Shin - ig - er - platter" said with no pause between the four sounds. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it's how the locals say it. I've always found Swiss German almost impossible to follow! Fortunately, station & on-train announcements are made in "High German".

 

[Busaholic]

Thank goodness there's no station at Scone!

 

[Strathclyder]

I imagine that Chatelherault has caught more than a few folk out. One of the most tongue-twisting station on the entire Glasgow suburban network for sure.

 

[Busaholic]

I imagine that Chatelherault has caught more than a few folk out. Possibly the most tongue-twisting station on the entire Argyle Line.

I swear I bought a bottle of that at my local off-licence

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I imagine that Chatelherault has caught more than a few folk out. Possibly the most tongue-twisting station on the entire Glasgow suburban network.

Give us a clue then!

I'd guess at something along the lines of "Shattell-erro"...

 

[Strathclyder]

I swear I bought a bottle of that at my local off-licence

It does sound like the name given to a brand of budget wine lol The station is actually named after the nearby Chatelherault Country Park. Were it to be named after the area it immediately serves, it'd be called Ferniegair; which would roll off the tongue just a bit easier lol

 

[rebmcr]

Even considering the southern most area of Salford (Salford Quays) you'll still north of the Mersey (the traditional Cheshire/Lancashire boundary)

Exactly!