Hagbard Celine
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The automatic announcements got Stow wrong for ages after the Borders line opened. It rhymes with now, not with slow.
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Trivia: Mispronounced station names
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The automatic announcements in my area get Sandbach wrong, should be pronounced sændbætʃ but I've heard it with a hard terminating 'ch" sændbæk; the on-train announcements get Handforth wrong, the last vowel should be a relatively long ɔːr as in "north" but it gets pronounced ʌ as in "strut".
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
UK pronunciation of UK names is generally no guide as to how they are pronounced abroad, eg Leamington in Ontario is pronounced Leem-ington,
And yet the same (auto) announcer (Anne?) at Lime St and Preston disagrees with herself on its pronunciation.
At Preston she gets it right, but at Lime St she doesn't!
alxndr
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I know it as "eel-e".
317666
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vic-rijrode
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Even a name a seemingly straightforward as Banbury may be pronounced in different ways. I call it Banbree, my wife from the NE of England calls it Banberry.
Mcr Warrior
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Think that's similar, so "Eely" or "Eelee", if you prefer.
Nothing to do with eels though, name derivation possibly comes from the Gaelic for tomb = 'Ealadh'.
roversfan2001
Established Member
The automated announcements always used to pronouce Pleasington as "Please-ing-ton". I've not heard it recently to know if it's been corrected to "Plez-ing-ton".
BluePenguin
On Moderation
Ooh good one. Chess hunt, che shunt, chess shunt or chessunt?
Class800
Established Member
I would prefer for our sense of humour and wellbeing on trains that Pleasington is announced PLEASE ING TON, and Penistone announced PENIS TON or PENIS TOWN.
weepingwillowb
Member
Norwich in Vermont is pronounced 'Nor-witch."
Not a railway name, but how is Crich, home to the National Tramway Museum, pronounced?
Crick or Critch?
Up until probably twentysomething I used to think that town was pronounced 'Kayleigh'.
I was probably 20 until I learnt of the pronunciation of Frome as 'Froome'.
On the other hand I was merely 11 when I learnt that Leigh (Kent) was pronounced 'Lye', due to hearing it announced regularly at Guildford. On the other hand the Guildford announcer made Godstone sound like 'Goddlestone', but I already knew it wasn't pronounced like that.
English must be a nightmare for non-native-speakers.
I think it's Mitchelldevver. Certainly that's the way the railway has always pronounced it, and I have heard it regularly announced since 1983.
I have heard some people use Mitchelldeever, but I'm fairly sure that's wrong.
(EDIT sorry see that's been answered above).
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Crich /ˈkraɪtʃ/ according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crich which is how I pronounce it, with a long "i" and soft "ch".
EDIT The last sound being the same as the last sound in "Sandbach"!
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Meopham, rhymes with the designation of the designation of the two unit classes to typically call there in slam-door days ('the train to MEOPham is formed of a CEP and a VEP'). Remember picking that one up from announcements in the area too.
What is it? I always thought it was TINdrum but I am not local, have just passed through it a few times on the A82. Had a very good fish and chip shop, not sure if that still exists.
Always wonder about how Worcester in Massachusetts is dealt with, but I think 'Wooster' is used there too, because Wor-Ces-Ter sounds too clumsy. I might be wrong there.
Sometimes the North American namesakes use different spelling to make the spelling more like the pronunciation, e.g. Guilford, Connecticut or Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Talking of Guil(d)ford, how about the next station up, Worplesdon. Can't remember when I first learnt it was 'Warplesdon'' but being local-ish I think it was before I started using the trains.
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matchmaker
Established Member
Camelon (Falkirk). Pronounced Came-lon, not Cam-e-lon.
My friend who used to study at Cheltenham used to refer to the train as the ‘May-steg’ but it is actually ‘My-stay-g’
The autoannouncements at Gloucester get some stations wrong. Pencoed should be said ‘Pen-coid’ not ‘Pen-co-ed’, and Tondu is ‘Ton-dee’ not ‘Ton-DOO’.
Pembrey and Burry Port is also ‘Pem-bree and Burry’ (to rhyme with flurry) rather than ‘Pem-Bray and Berry’ which some seem to say.
The autoannouncements at Gloucester get some stations wrong. Pencoed should be said ‘Pen-coid’ not ‘Pen-co-ed’, and Tondu is ‘Ton-dee’ not ‘Ton-DOO’.
Pembrey and Burry Port is also ‘Pem-bree and Burry’ (to rhyme with flurry) rather than ‘Pem-Bray and Berry’ which some seem to say.
miklcct
On Moderation
That's exactly my point - you don't know how to pronounce it correctly as well when given the place name.
Probably a good job that in Nottinghamshire Southwell, Rainworth and Blidworth are not on the railway, although there is an ‘alight for Southwell’ board at Fiskerton a couple of miles away. As match announcer at Rainworth (or Rennuth and known as the Wrens) FC I once welcomed the visitors from Suth’ll City, to be told very firmly by one of their officials that it is South-well City. (It isn’t a city either, although it has a beautiful cathedral).
Old Yard Dog
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Ilkeston Town and Alfreton Town football supporters seem to call their sides Ilson and Ofton respectively. Perhaps somebody with a better knowledge of Derbyshire accents than I could comment on how authentic these pronunciations/nicknames are?
Western 52
Member
Pembray is how we pronounce Pembrey in the area.
Class800
Established Member
if you're posh the former otherwise the latter
weepingwillowb
Member
If the line to Masham was ever reopened, that would get plenty of mispronunciations.
WesternBiker
Member
I always thought it was TIN-muth.
But then I’m from Zummerzet, so what would I know?
Possibly not inappropriate going by the high proportion of railway nerds amongst the clergy.
Class800
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I've not met any
Western Sunset
Established Member
That's right - Cry-ch (the ch as in church)
That's right. Though the river is the Tay-n.I always thought it was TIN-muth.
But then I’m from Zummerzet, so what would I know?
In times gone by, the Topper kids' comic had a cartoon strip about the doings of King Gussie -- which name I reckon must have been inspired by that of the Highland town (I don't remember the character as being particularly corpulent !). In Wiki's words, "A short strip about a king; like strips such as Desperate Dan, this surreally combined historical and modern day elements".
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