When it comes to pronouncing Welsh words and place names, if my g/f is within hearing distance, she’s always ready to correct my pronunciations.
She went to school in Barmouth and learned Welsh to O-Level, and she’s been trying to teach me for going on three years.
Unsuccessfully.
Place name from ‘round here: Leominster
It’s “Lem-Ster” not Leo-Minster
it is actually pronounced “lemner".
Yes, but only by the "Lemner Cousins"
Im learning Danish right now so there's a whole heap of words I cannot pronounce. It's more that I can't physically make the right sounds than the lack of knowing how to pronounce them!
Moiré. Moi-ray
Mwah-ray, n'est-ce pas?
Shrewsbury. (Bin dun?)
Shrew or shrove?
Culross
Hawick
Cockburn
Kirkcudbright
Coorus
Hoik
Co-burn
Kirkoobree
Campagnolo seems to bother a few people.
Shrewsbury. (Bin dun?)
Shrew or shrove?
If you live there it’s’shoes’
Does anyone remember the whimsical troupe from the 90s; The Featherstonehewers and The Cholmondleys?
Fanshaws and Chumleys they were pronounced.
And some people still call it pronounciation.
If you live there it’s’shoes’
I know someone who's lived there all his life and pronounces it "Shrews". he is an old curmudgeon though, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he does it just to be contrary
When asking for fags behind the counter is it can I have 20 Ber-ker-ley please or maybe how Harry Connick Jr and many others crooned A nightingale sang in "Barclay" Square ?
Southwick, the place just inland of Porchester.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch*, on Anglesey.
* This might be a lie, or at least I think it might be.
Suv ic not South wick (just round the corner from me)
Llanfar PG is what my girlfriend at uni (who was from Amlwch) always called it.
Synecdoche, panacea
Synecdoche = sin-ECK-dick-ee
panacea = pan-I-see-ah
I live in Stourbridge, the river Stour flows through it, down the road is a place called Stourton
Now Stourbridge and And the Stour are pronounced as st-our but folk who think them posh pronounce Stourton as Store-ton or Stur-ton.
The name Stour does come from Stur, the Anglo Saxon Word for river (so it’s the River River) That would make it Sturbridge and the town where the Stur reaches the Severn Sturport-on-Severn
Anyways, I just struggle with Gaelic names
Anyways, I just struggle with Gaelic names
I have a mate named Aonghas
Dumbarton vs Dunbartonshire
The Leicester version of Belvoir
Mwah-ray, n’est-ce pas?
When a grid's misaligned with another behind that a moire.
Anyways, I just struggle with Gaelic names
I have a mate named Aonghas
I had a friend called Aoife and as a freelancer she had a constant anxiety that potential clients wouldn't call her (even though in our trade directories she's one of the first on the list) either because they couldn't even guess at how to pronounce her name, or if they've been given a verbal recommendation they'd try to find her under 'E'.
The name Stour does come from Stur, the Anglo Saxon Word for river (so it’s the River River)
Up the road from me theres a farm called 'Hillhouse' because its on the side of a hill. However the hill is named after the nearest feature.... So it's called 'Hillhouse Hill'
When you ride out of Grizedale Forest down past Parkamoor you end up in Nib-th't (Nibthwaite)
Like Braithwaite near Winlatter is Br'th't.
When a grid’s misaligned with another behind that a moire.
Excellent.
Sorry
According to Sir Elton it seems to be the hardest word
I used to think "la coupe des vices" was a good name for a tennis touranment till I saw it written down as "la coupe Davis".
Some French favourites when pronounced by visitors: Leroy Merlin the DIY store, le Chemin de st Jacques, Leclerc (general or supermarket)... . Remarkably most people get Renault and Peugeot right or thereabouts.
Kilncadzow
The most bizarre of place name pronunciations Perchy. Utterly bizarre. 😂
I know someone who’s lived there all his life and pronounces it “Shrews”. he is an old curmudgeon though, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he does it just to be contrary
It all depends on which part of the town you live in I think. The well healed say 'Shrows' the chattering classes 'Shrews' and the chavs 'Shoes'
Hall ith Wood in Bolton, it’s pronounced Hol if wood
It bloody isn't, it's just that Bowtoners can't speak proper.
I had a friend called Aoife
Pronounced like "Eva" only with an F instead of a V.
Up the road from me theres a farm called ‘Hillhouse’ because its on the side of a hill. However the hill is named after the nearest feature…. So it’s called ‘Hillhouse Hill’
I live near Pendle Hill. The name Pendle comes from the Cumbrian "pen" meaning "hill" and the Old English "hyll" meaning "hill." Hillhill Hill.
I live near Pendle Hill. The name Pendle comes from the Cumbrian “pen” meaning “hill” and the Old English “hyll” meaning “hill.” Hillhill Hill.
Lots of that in Gaelic English translations too.
Loch Lochy
The loch in Glen Loch near Blair Atholl called, err, Loch Loch,
And the River Avon (Avon being an Anglicization of the gaelic abhain pronounced "aven")
On a wider topic, it took me many years to realise that Carneddau in Wales was the same word as Carnethy in Scotland
Hegemony - it came up all the time when I was doing my MA
Cougar
I live near Pendle Hill.
You live quite near Benny Hill too. 🙂
The name Pendle comes from the Cumbrian “pen” meaning “hill” and the Old English “hyll” meaning “hill.” Hillhill Hill.
The Cumbrian village of Torpenhow (aka 'Trepena') has been mentioned earlier. The hill next to it called Torpenhow Hill (=HillHillHill Hill)
Eyjafjallajökull
aka "That volcano in Iceland". Pronounce it as if you're a slightly drunk and slightly aggressive Glaswegian.
The Cumbrian village of Torpenhow (aka ‘Trepena’) has been mentioned earlier. The hill next to it called Torpenhow Hill (=HillHillHill Hill)
Ah thank you. I knew there was a 4x but couldn't remember it.
Used to live down the road from a place called Aveton Gifford; so many different ways of saying that.. never worked out what was the right one.
Now I'm in Wales and my wife still rips the chronic out of me for the first time I tried to say 'Pwlldu,' well over a decade ago
Still trying to work out how to say 'that last beer may as well stay in the fridge'..
Now I’m in Wales and my wife still rips the chronic out of me for the first time I tried to say ‘Pwlldu,’ well over a decade ago
Is that something like 'puchdy'?
Ralph Fiennes.
Menzies Campbell
A lot of folk struggle with the yogh
Ah yeah, 'll' in the middle of a word is slightly different to the beginning isn't it, it loses the phlegmmy bit.
FWIW, for years I thought the Welsh word for Wales was pronounced "Simroo" as I'd only ever seen it written down.
And the River Avon (Avon being an Anglicization of the gaelic abhain pronounced “aven”)
Avon is an Anglicisation of the ancient Brythonic word which gave us modern Welsh 'afon'. I expect afon and abhain are both from proto-Celtic. I doubt Avon is actually derived from Gaelic which is a Goedelic Celtic language. Before the Saxons turned up the whole of Britain south of the Highlands spoke Brythonic dialects - loads of Welsh related words up north - Cumbria/Cymru and Glas-cau/Glasgow (green hollow)
Is that something like ‘puchdy’?
The ll sound is a voiceless l. In English, th can be voiced, as in 'that' or voiceless as in 'three'. Your tongue goes in the same place, but you just blow rather than make a sound with your larynx. So ll is just that - l without the voice.
On the subject of names, I know a kid called Llinos. She'll be ok if she stays in Wales, but phone calls will always be a pain. I also had a mate at uni called Arwel. Most English people found it easy, except they didn't realise they were saying it wrong. If you don't roll the r and you're not American you just get 'awel' which means breeze.
Kilncadzow
Does that mean that the Cadzow in Cadzow Oaks - in the same neck of the woods - is pronounced the same as the cadzow in Kilncadzow? That had never occurred to me before now … off to look that up.
Do you not come from a town called ‘letmahairgrow’?
I really did laugh at loud at this :oD
The mill was originally owned by Gavin. So the place was “Mill of Gavin”.
Gavin gets shortened to “Guy”. Hence the pronunciation became “Mill-Guy”
GrahamS - thanks for the info - I remember a wee tea place called Gavin's Mill from back in the day, and didn’t realise the connection with ‘Mill-Guy’. That’s so interesting.
My own personal favourite for pronunciation anxiety is broosketta / brooshetta - love to eat it - scared to order it!
Do you not come from a town called ‘letmahairgrow’?
Apropos of nothing.......the first building I ever built in my professional career was the sports pavilion in McKirdy Park in Letmahairgrow.
Does that mean that the Cadzow in Cadzow Oaks – in the same neck of the woods – is pronounced the same as the cadzow in Kilncadzow?
Probably not. Cadzow Street in Hamilton is pronounced completely differently.
Thanks perchypanther - forgot about Cadzow Street.
Often wondered - are you named after the pond?
Often wondered – are you named after the pond?
Strictly speaking, i'm named after the big cat who was spotted near the pond, but yeah.
Cool - didn't know about the panther - yikes.
