Do you ever find yourself cycling\/walking\/driving along, thinking of this and that or maybe just on autopilot, and then suddenly, for no apparent reason, chuckling over an incident or anecdote from years ago?<\/p>\n
I did just that this morning. I have no idea why the memory popped into my head while I was cycling to work, but I suddenly thought of a story a friend told me about a train ride from Newcastle to Edinburgh. She’d started talking to an American couple who were visiting the UK for the first time, and was sharing her knowledge of the region through which they were passing. As the train came to a stop in the lovely seaside town of Berwick-upon-Tweed<\/a>, the American guy asked, “so, what is there to do in Burr-wick-upon-Tweed<\/span>?”<\/p>\n This made my friend smile, because contrary to what a foreigner would logically think, Berwick is actually pronounced Berrick<\/span><\/strong>. (Warwick<\/a> is also pronounced Worrick<\/strong><\/span>, not War-wick<\/span>). Being a helpful sort, she politely corrected him with “actually, the w is silent”. <\/p>\n “OK then”, he replied, “what is there to do in Burr-wick-upon-Teed<\/span>?”<\/p>\n Now, before I get into other examples of British-town-names-that-North-Americans-pronounce-incorrectly, I’d like to pre-empt any accusations of anti-North-American sentiment by pointing out that I’m aware that this works both ways. When I first moved here, I (and every Brit of my acquaintaince who’s visited or immigrated since) mispronounced Chilliwack<\/a> as Chilly-wack<\/span>, and Winnipeg<\/a> as Winny-peg<\/span>, several times. A kind and helpful Canadian eventually So. Back to Britain. Leicester<\/a> rhymes with Fester, and Gloucester<\/a> rhymes with Foster. Glasgow<\/a> rhymes with Go, not Cow, and the nearby town of Milngavie<\/a> is pronounced Mull-guy<\/strong><\/span>, but no-one ever gets that<\/em> one right the first time (and I’m not even touching Wales). Also, county names that end in -shire should sound like -shuh, not -shy-er. (York-shuh, Lester-shuh<\/strong><\/span> and so on). -by on the end of a name (e.g. the town of Haxby<\/a>, where I grew up) signifies a -be sound, not a -buy sound (Hax-be<\/strong><\/span>). And -ham on the end of a name should be pronounced -um, not -ham (so it’s Old-um<\/strong><\/span>, not Old-ham<\/span>, and Birming-um<\/strong><\/span>, not Birming-ham<\/span>). So far, so good. <\/p>\n It’s the -burghs, -boroughs, and -broughs that really trip people up though. You see, they’re all pronounced the same way. Yup, Edinburgh<\/a>, Peterborough<\/a>, and Middlesbrough<\/a> all end with the same sound – Edin-bruh, Peter-bruh, Middles-bruh.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n No, really, they do.<\/p>\n But the best mispronunciation story ever<\/em> was told to me by a friend who went to university in the Midlands. He was once asked for directions by a car full of Aussies – and could barely stop laughing for long enough to tell them how to get to Loughborough<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which is pronounced Luff-bruh<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n Not<\/em> Looga-berooga<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you ever find yourself cycling\/walking\/driving along, thinking of this and that or maybe just on autopilot, and then suddenly, for no apparent reason, chuckling over an incident or anecdote from years ago? I did just that this morning. I … Continue reading took the piss<\/s> corrected me, and I’ve said both names properly (Chill-uh-wack<\/strong><\/span> and Winn-uh-peg<\/strong><\/span>) ever since.<\/p>\n