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

Hah! Neither did I - until just now.

Deb

You mean...Jesus *didn't* want us for a sunbeam?

Even now - even after the Father Ted Christmas special - I still mentally pronounce 'lingerie' ling-erry.

I only 'got' it nearly 20 years after the event that a past flame had actually been very much in love with me when we were both 18. I had kept all his letters and re-read them when clearing out the loft. It hit me then in a way it never did at the time. The radiance of that light that shines on me etc.

Kids and computers - a true story:

A summer's day:

'Mum! The computer's not working! It's too breezy!'

Eh?

'There's a message about shutting windows.'

Mol

I get the train to work now, after many years of not getting it.

Or possibly

Congratulations, that's something British Rail hardly ever managed.

F.

This happens to me quite frequently but I can't remember any examples now!

My brother, who is of an age and an intelligence whih really ought to have known better, once referred to the American state as "Ar-kansas" instead of "Ar-kansaw".

Understandable, yes, but also very funny.

What about 'Michigan'? My understanding is that in the US they find our British pronunciation erroneous (you need a 'shh' instead of a 'ch'). Are they right to tell us we're saying it wrongly, or are we entitled to say foreign name-places in our own way, just as we do with so many other overseas names?

I think I've always said -sh-. I'm sure we all get a lot of American place names wrong, though, by assuming that what appear to be the same place names as ours are in fact different. A friend from Elgin in Aberdeenshire discovered that one of their many Elgins was pronounced with a soft G instead of a hard.

I've met more than one US ex-airman who claimed to have been stationed in Lye-sess-ter-shyre during the war. ('Near a town called Low-bu-row'.)

There's also a reasonably common English misapprehension that Scots pronounce 'Greenock' is pronounced with a short -e. It's not. The peculiarity is that these people are mistakenly trying to do it the counterintuitive way they think Scots do.

And an almost universal misapprehension that 'Loch' is pronounced 'Lock'.

Greenock - great place.

Not Green-ock, not Gren-ock but Grin-ock, yes? (or something not far off)

Is there a general rule for pronouncing foreign place names? I think it's fine for Americans to use their own pronunciation of Birmingham for our city, even though 'we invented it', because it fits in with their accent. Similarly, it sounds pretentious for us to say Paris (France) the way the the French do; we use our own accent instead. But accent alone cannot be blamed for your example of Leicester.

Perhaps it's a matter of respect for their tongue, whilst keeping within your own.

@Rod:

Well, OK - maybe the natives shorten the -ee- towards an -i-. But they'ye trying to say -ee-.

But...BY NO STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION could Greenock ever be described as 'nice'!!! It has one thing going for it, mind - it's not Port Glasgow.

"Similarly, it sounds pretentious for us to say Paris (France) the way the the French do; we use our own accent instead."

Agreed. See also: British football fans who insist on attempting the Spanish pronunciation of 'Barcelona'.

Sometimes it's difficult to know what to do for the best. I've had the pleasure of meeting an American who said her name was "Share-on" and a New Zealander called "Biccy". Do I call then Share-on and Biccy, or Britishize them and go for Sharon and Becky?

Oh, Greenock's not Port Glasgow - that's for certain sure but I found it a good place to be for a year-ish.
(they welcomed me as a temporary member of the golf club & refused to accept the next six monthly subscription ... 'cos I'd contributed so much to the bar funds).

Local pronunciation.
When home do as you do, they'll understand you better.
When there, do as they do or at least try. You'll be accepted better by giving the locals some moments of hilarity.

Elvis Costello said he was surprised when people started pronouncing his name the way they do.

(The Irish way would be with the stress on the first syllable.)

Now that's something I've just realised. I know the name Costello, with stress on the first syllable. Good Irish name. And I'd never associated it with Elvis Costello.

But, I don't know much about music.

TRiG.

You know the sensor above shop doors that detects someone approaching? For years I thought I was just lucky.