Haha, yeah that happens all over the UK, where I orignate from in the UK has a couple of good ones such as
Smethwick= Smethick (with th from the, then etc not TH)

But Norfolk in the UK where I live now has some even better ones.
Costessy=Cossee
Hapisburgh=Haysborough

I love English it's such a messed up mongrel of prounciations!

We have some like that in Canada. There are others, but the one that comes to mind at the moment is Sault Ste. Marie which is pronounced Soo Saint Marie. Sometimes we call it The Soo for short. And sometimes we jokingly call it Salty Saint Mary's because of the incongruity between the spelling and the pronunciation of it.

There are also places in Canada named after places in other countries (like UK) with less than obvious pronunciation.

I must admit when I was a little kid at first I thought Greewich was "Green witch" and that until I heard it said coorectly I thought Belgravia was Bellgrahvia.

Last edited by Yitzock (February 25, 2016 4:04 am)

Yitzock wrote:

We have some like that in Canada. There are others, but the one that comes to mind at the moment is Sault Ste. Marie which is pronounced Soo Saint Marie. Sometimes we call it The Soo for short. And sometimes we jokingly call it Salty Saint Mary's because of the incongruity between the spelling and the pronunciation of it.

That reminds me, I recently watched some movie or show (can't remember what it was) that had a character called St. John but it was pronounced "Sinjun" or "Sinjin". Weird!

I must admit when I was a little kid at first I thought Greewich was "Green witch"

 
I think it was the same for me too. It rings a bell, anyway

Let's face it, English is just nuts anyway.
But in recent times, I even notice some TV presenters pronouncing things in an odd way.
Apparently I can't say 'Frasier', as in the American sitcom.
But yeah, Milton Kaynes...and Maynard Keens, is an odd one!

Oh feck, nor have I!
Sorry, I'm full of cold.
I got that the wrong way around!
The place is Milton Keens.
The man is Maynard Kaynes.
But I have no idea why...except wasn't Keynes American?

Well of course they should both be Clerk and Derby.
But the silly English language pronounces them as Clark and Darby.
I do not defend my language in these instances.
Similarly I prefer American spellings.

Last edited by besleybean (February 25, 2016 4:53 pm)

Yes, it's not just people from outside the UK who have trouble with our place names - we have trouble within the UK too!  A lot of the examples in the video are impossible to guess, you just have to know how they're pronounced from having heard them.   Which is fine for more famous place names that you might have heard on TV, but not so easy for unknown local ones!   

There's also quite a mix of languages and dialects, so you get sounds like the Welsh "ll" or the Scots "ch", which are impossible for people from some parts of the UK (but "ch" seems to be perfectly easy for some other Europeans!).    I'm still getting used to living in England and coping with missing "r"s and "wh"s.  Welsh names are actually pretty easy if you know Welsh - they tend to be pronounced just as they're written.  But not many people outside of Wales know Welsh.

"Edinburg" isn't too bad and is understandable (it's not spelt "...borough" after all, and I think most people would know what he meant).  The neighbouring big city, Glasgow, traditionally pronounce Edinburgh, "Embra".  (But Glaswegian seems to be one of the more unintelligible accents to those outside). 

St. John/Sinjun is another of those names you just have to know.  A bit like Menzies/Mingus (although sometimes it IS pronounced Menzies, you have to know on an individual basis!). 

Last edited by Liberty (February 25, 2016 7:25 am)

ukaunz wrote:

I prefer Ye olde English, myself

(Adopts fake pompous voice) And this is, of course, pronounced "The old English," and not "Yee oldey English," as you might expect! (/fake pompous voice)

I only learned that recently myself (thanks, QI!).  We've all been saying 'Ye' forever but the 'Y' is an old-fashioned way of writing 'Th.'

Kent is a wonderful county for diabolical place names, like Wrotham (Rootem) and Meopham (Meppum).  My favouite, though, is Trottiscliffe which you would never in a million years guess is pronounced Trozlee.  Many years ago a friend and I drove there, got a bit lost a couple of miles away and pulled over to ask directions from a local.  My friend said to him, "Is this the right road for Trozlee?" and he stared blankly at her for a few seconds, then recovered and said, "Yes!  Sorry - I was so confused that you didn't ask for Trot-iz-cliff like most tourists do, that I couldn't think what you were talking about for a moment!"
 

Trozlee -  !!!

No, as a Yorkshire woman I can assure you it is pronounced  'Pon tea fract'.

Ah now.
The whole of my life in England(nearly 30 years), there were 3 places I never knew how you pronounced and I have only learned them in recent years:
Bicester, Leominster and Towcester.