h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Pronouncing British Place Names - A16352381
Author: Icy North - U225620

A practical guide...

A quick quiz first: can you pronounce the following British place-names?

1. Rough Tor
2. Beaminster
3. Alnwick
4. Wisbech
5. Erith
6. Mousehole
7. Southwell
8. Heysham
9. Kirkcudbright
10. Hunstanton

Have a go now, then read the article, and see how many you got right.

I based this entry on the 'Looburroo' thread in Ask a year or so ago - ref F19585?thread=1732113

I've done a lot of checking, but mistakes always creep in, so please let me know if I've got any of them wrong - particularly if you have local knowledge.

Over to you...

Well, you can probably guess how many I'll have right.

I know some of them

What patience you must have to write an article like this

Great (and incredibly useful) Entry!

One small thing - you mention 'Oxbridge Colleges', but the two you cite are both Cambridge colleges (and 'Gaius' should be 'Caius', by the way!) There is a 'maudlin' in Oxford, but it's spelled Magdalen.

Brilliant entry

Reminds me of the fun I had teasing my big brother when he asked a black cabbie to take him to 'traff-elgaar' Square. He got no reply, of course well, it *was* 20 years ago and the guy *was* a black cabbie driver

We walked.

Thanks all. Does it look OK now, Danny?

Did anyone try the quiz?

Err - no.

Perfect! (although you could, of course, link to A724231)

On the quiz, I got nos. 3, 4 and 6 right - a miserable 30%

I certainly will, Danny. I'll do the links when the content has stabilised.

I'd have scored 6 or 7 before I researched it, but I've always followed non-league football, which helps.

Icy

This reminded me of an old episode of Have I Got News For You when they were talking about this very thing only it was names - Featherstone-Haugh = Fanshaw.

I love this entry and it is most useful - around Belfast we have Belvoir(beaver) and Belvoir (bellvaar)

What a *fantastic* idea for an Entry, Icy

Since you asked for nitpicking (Did you? All right, not in so many words... )

Kirkcaldy (ker-caw-dee) - I'd've said ker-coddy
Kirkcudbright (ker-kood-bree) - never heard the 'd' pronounced
Milngavie (mill-guy) - again, I'd've said mull-guy

(That's based on relatives of mine and the way they used to say it, one a resident of Milngavie).

Also, two of my personal bugbears. Both I think interesting because the media now gets them wrong *so* often that even locals can no longer be relied on to say them properly.

Shrewsbury. That's 'shroesbury' - to rhyme with 'toe' - but thanks to its mispronunciation by generations of football commentators, even many locals now call it 'shroosburry' - to rhyme with, well, 'shrew'.

Holborn. Hoe-bun - but because it has so little by way of a resident population, probably a majority now say it as spelt, Holl-burn.

Thanks Trin - I'll try to work some of those in, but I'd appreciate a second opinion on the 3 Scottish ones... anyone?

The last time I visited the Gay Meadow (no it's not a euphemism - it's Shrewsbury's football ground), they distinctly said 'shooz-bry'.

Icy

>>I'd appreciate a second opinion on the 3 Scottish ones<<

Oo, gosh yes, absolutely Need someone actually from all of those, ideally.

On Shrewsbury - check out the last couple of paragraphs here:

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/brian_viner/article23659.ece

Even more confusing I grew up not far from there - I must have been in a 'shroe' zone and not realised it.

Great entry. I'm bookmarking it for future reference.

I would second Trin's pronunciation for all three of those, except that maybe you shouldn't take my word for it - despite being an Ayrshire lass, I've been pronouncing Auchinleck wrong my whole life.

<>

I'd agree with these pronunciations. There's no stress on the last syllable in Kirkcaldy, and the mill/mull guy thing, I think, depends on how posh the speaker is.

Cracking entry btw.

Hell, there are ructions in the Scottish Deakie/Norfolk DDD household over pronunciations tonight!! Things that sound so normal when you say them normally come out so differently when you try to pronounce each syllable separately.

<> Trin.


Kirkcaldy: I'd definitely have the caw-dee in there, coddy is too short a vowel sound for it - although they do talk fast up here in Scottylandshire though, so you maybe don't hear the long vowel sound in it. Ker-cau-dee, perhaps?

Kirkcudbright: Never heard the d either (ker-coo-bray is the way I'd pronounce that, more of a bray than a bree at the end - but I lived closer to Kirkcaldy than to Kirkcudbright!)

And definitely Mull-guy! Unless you're extremely posh and then Mill-guy would be best!

I agree with Trin on the Scottish ones, being someone that confirms addresses throughout the country.

Like the entry loads, will give it more consideration on the morrow.

Came to see how you'd tackled the Scots 'och. Reckon you've waved a bit of a white flag at it, as would I .

This is classic, stylish, hootoo, I love it.

(Pop-up Towcester )