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Trivia: Mispronounced station names

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Caboose Class

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I often have a chuckle at how people (apart from locals) often mispronounce the name of KEIGHLEY station. Do you know of any other station names (let's limit this to England for obvious reasons) that frequently get mispronounced? BTW Keighley is pronounce Keeth-ly - not Keely, Kegly, Kethly or Kylie!!
 
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mrcheek

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I'm betting theres not many English people that get Milngavie right!
 

317666

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Ely often gets mispronounced as 'Ee-lye' by those not from the area.

Wymondham is also a classic example.
 

Sheridan

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I must admit to being unsure of how to pronounce Bordesley - my instinct would be three syllables (roughly Borders-Lee) but I got the impression that it’s probably only two (Bords-Lee). Not that it sees enough of a service for this to be a common problem!
 

YorksLad12

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Given that many people deliberately mispronounce Tod-MOR-den (including me) I'd be surprised if anyone not local would think to pronounce it correctly: Todmudn. Plus the usual suspects, further along the line... Slawit and Soreby Bridge.
 

172007

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I must admit to being unsure of how to pronounce Bordesley - my instinct would be three syllables (roughly Borders-Lee) but I got the impression that it’s probably only two (Bords-Lee). Not that it sees enough of a service for this to be a common problem!
Bordslee is how it's said. Bearley is Beerlee. Wooton Wawen is Wawen.

Bedworth is pronounced Bederf.
 

prod_pep

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I must admit to being unsure of how to pronounce Bordesley - my instinct would be three syllables (roughly Borders-Lee) but I got the impression that it’s probably only two (Bords-Lee). Not that it sees enough of a service for this to be a common problem!
Two syllables (Bords-lee) is correct.

Not too far away is Alvechurch, which has a silent 'e' (Alv-church) but is mispronounced by both station and train auto-announcements in the area.

Locally, we have Kirkby which has a silent second 'k'; very often pronounced as spelt by outsiders.
 

scotrail158713

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I'm betting theres not many English people that get Milngavie right!
I wouldn't say it's just English people. I know of a number of Scottish people that it has confused as well - myself included the first time I came across out.
 

mcnw35282

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Up until recently, the station announcement at St Helens Junction said that the crewe train was stopping at 'sand-back'

Northern's on train announcements pronounce it as 'kirk-bee'...slightly annoying!
 

duncanp

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I'm betting theres not many English people that get Milngavie right!

I wonder how many Scotsmen get Wrotham as in Borough Green & Wrotham correct.

And Basford on the Nottingham tramway is pronounced "Base - ford" not "Bazz - ford"

And I won't start World War 3 by mentioning the county town of Shropshire.
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
In the North East Region when I was on the Tyne & Wear Metro back in September, I have heard Pelaw being pronounced "Pee-lore" onboard the train, but I heard a lady passenger who boarded asking if it calls there with her pronunciation being "Pellow" (like Marti Pellow who is/was the frontman for the Clydebank quartet Wet Wet Wet).

Which pronunciation is right, or are both correct depending on which side of Tyne the locals are from?
 

Mcr Warrior

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Locally, we have Kirkby which has a silent second 'k'; very often pronounced as spelt by outsiders.
And quite often mis-spelt as it's pronounced.

I'm betting theres not many English people that get Milngavie right!
Something like Mull-guy? ;)

P.S. Have we had Manea (usually pronounced Main-ee) or Slaithwaite (definitely shouldn't be Slayth-wait!) yet?
 

61653 HTAFC

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Another planet...
Dodworth.
The W should be silent, with the second vowel sound being the "schwa" common in regional English. "DOD-'uth". If only Michael Parkinson had been from there rather than nearby Cudworth which is pronounced in a similar fashion.

On the same line, Brockholes is often pronounced "Brockles" by locals, and if you say "Stocks-more" rather than Stocksmoor you may get laughed at.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Another planet...
P.S. Have we had Manea (should be something like Main-ee) or Slaithwaite yet?
I think we've had Slaithwaite. I had no idea how Manea was pronounced until watching a video the other day which included the announcements on the 755s... which raises a question about how Gidea (Park) is pronounced.
 

Bayum

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On my journeys to and around London I’ve fallen foul to a number of mispronunciations.
Holborn - ‘Hohbun’
Bermondsey - ‘zee’ rather than ‘Ber-mond-sey’
Marylebone - Marry le bone’
Bees ‘o the barn I’d have no idea how to pronounce.
 

PeterC

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Many years ago an announcer at Romford couldn't cope with Prittlewell and came up with Pretty-well.

Of course since the war so many incomers have mispronounced Chesham as Chesh-am that it is now the accepted pronunciation. Correctly it was Chess-am or Chezz-um.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Bees ‘o the barn I’d have no idea how to pronounce.
That station (now on the Manchester Metrolink system) is actually spelt "Besses o' th' Barn" and should be pronounced more-or-less as spelt, but all rolled into one.
 

PeterC

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On my journeys to and around London I’ve fallen foul to a number of mispronunciations.
Holborn - ‘Hohbun’
Bermondsey - ‘zee’ rather than ‘Ber-mond-sey’
Marylebone - Marry le bone’
Bees ‘o the barn I’d have no idea how to pronounce.
The Great Central terminus is almost as contentious as the county town of Shropshire.

The guaranteed rule is that the first syllable does not sound like a girl's name.
 

DanNCL

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A few North East ones, including Metro:
Chichester - correct pronunciation is “chy-chester”, sometimes mispronounced “chi-chester” (which would be the correct pronunciation of the place of the same name on the South Coast)
Prudhoe - correct pronunciation is “Pruddah”, often mispronounced “Prud-hoe” and “Prood-hoe”
Grosmont - correct pronunciation is “Grow-mont”, sometimes mispronounced “Gros-mont”
Heighington - correct pronunciation is “High-ing-ton”, sometimes mispronounced “Hey-ing-ton”
Morpeth - correct pronunciation is with the emphasis on the first syllable, sometimes mispronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.

In the North East Region when I was on the Tyne & Wear Metro back in September, I have heard Pelaw being pronounced "Pee-lore" onboard the train, but I heard a lady passenger who boarded asking if it calls there with her pronunciation being "Pellow" (like Marti Pellow who is/was the frontman for the Clydebank quartet Wet Wet Wet).


Which pronunciation is right, or are both correct depending on which side of Tyne the locals are from?
The one on the train is correct.
 

Class800

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Penistone - sometimes said how it looks
Wymondham - is actually WIND UM
there's loads - and we've discussed this before, although it's still interesting to do so again - I think you've got most of the best ones.
 

seagull

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Anything ending with "cester" seems to be ripe for mispronunciation, unsurprisingly.
 

Pit_buzzer

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Micheldever, is it Micheal, Mitchell, Michelle, then part two, deever, devver, de ver?

I honestly don't know this one, perhaps someone could put me out of my misery
 
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