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Trivia: Mispronounced station names

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hermit

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‘Fort Bill’ is widely used by members of the mountaineering fraternity, no doubt attempting to give the impression that, despite living in Manchester, Leeds or wherever, they are locals at heart. It came in at about the same time as ‘university’ became ‘uni’. Equally cringeworthy to my ears.
 
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snowball

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He was great fun, was old Gussie. Another Scottish settlement once with a railway station, and with a kids'-comics-wordplay connection: was Moffat (terminus of short branch from Beattock, passenger service withdrawn 1954). Derived thence, was the comic-strip character Little Miss Moffat; though I remember only the name -- no idea whether whatever she got up to was anything to do with tuffets, curds, whey, or spiders.
Moffat is also a real surname, so Little Miss Moffat may not have been influenced by the placename, unless there were specific references to the place in the strip. When I was a student my Director of Studies was Dr (later Professor) Moffat.
 

Calthrop

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"Way back when", I'd never met or heard of anyone called Moffat; but was aware that there had been a Beattock -- Moffat branch line; that, plus perception that a lot of kids' comics emanated from Scotland -- particularly, as per @contrex, Dundee -- caused my mental processes to connect accordingly. (Have also learned over time, that "tuffet" has a meaning in its own right -- a small grassy mound or clump of grass, or alternatively a low seat. Had long imagined that it was a nursery-rhyme nonsense word, invented to make a rhyme with the celebrated arachnophobe's name.)
 

Lloyds siding

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There is an awful lot of knowledge snobbery on this subject ( You don't know some random placename pronunciation that I do, you are inferior...despite never having previously known of the place's existence, let alone needed to know how to pronounce it*!), including on this thread where there are examples of people laughing at a place being mispronounced without actually saying how it should be pronounced (because every clever person knows right!). Which is especially unfair when the place is either spelt or pronounced "wrong" - eg Wymondham
Also a lot of the "wrong" pronunciations are arguably a matter of accents and "lazy" (for want of a more technical word) speaking - ie is Slaithwaite being pronounced wrongly or just more "properly", same for Hackney v Acne. I guess the question would be 'is the "correct" way really the way the locals say it, or are they using the equivalent of slang'.
That leads on to whether it is correct for an outsider to pronounce it more 'properly' or in the colloquial manner of the locals. Is a Londoner pronouncing northern names in a local accent being better, or are they doing the equivalent of speaking in English and using Pa-ree, Muenchen, or Kobenhavn? I wince a bit when a southerner pronounces Newcastle or Glasgow like a local - it doesn't sound right, almost like they are trying too hard. Same as a northerner saying Bath like a southerner sounds a bit like they are taking the mick.

*also, like a lot of technical language, place names can be one of those awkward things where you have read them a thousand times, you know what they mean/where they are, yet you have never heard them spoken and are unsure whether the pronunciation you have in your head is correct or just something you invented when you first read the word/placename. This is even more of an issue now so much communication and information comes via screens.
It can get really complicated. The locals pronounce the Oriel bit of Bootle Oriel Road wrongly (they pronounce it 'Orriel'). I struggle with 'local' pronunciations. I have trouble with a 'cough': I get Burscough and Cunscough right (I think), but don't say 'Myerscough Brook' the way the locals do. (Born half a mile from Meols Cop).
 

Clansman

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A lovely woman from down south who boarded my train yesterday at Montrose pronounced Insch as 'In-sich' when asking someone in the coach if the train called there.

I couldn't believe my ears.
 

Calthrop

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It can get really complicated. The locals pronounce the Oriel bit of Bootle Oriel Road wrongly (they pronounce it 'Orriel').

Isn't there also Bootle Balliol Road; pronounced by the locals, 'Bally-ol'? (Scousers having no truck with effete fancy-dandy southern pronunciations, as used by those snobs up at Oxford.)
 

hexagon789

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With a French ch, a long a and a semi-elided t (as in Hamilton)??
Not quite, think more hard Lanarkahire ;)

Chat - as in a short conversation
Le - Rhymes with yeah, not as the French 'le'
Row - as in to paddle a boat
 

oldman

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Thanks. I think I'll overbook and get a ticket to Larkhall - it'd be safer.
 

mmh

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Not so much a mispronunciation but everyone local refers to Watford Junction as the "The Junction" .
Perhaps the difference is because Watford Junction isn't in a town called Watford Junction.
 

urbophile

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Isn't there also Bootle Balliol Road; pronounced by the locals, 'Bally-ol'? (Scousers having no truck with effete fancy-dandy southern pronunciations, as used by those snobs up at Oxford.)
in the same way that Arundel Avenue in Toxteth is Arundel. (No station there though).
 

181

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in the same way that Arundel Avenue in Toxteth is Arundel. (No station there though).
Interestingly (at least to me) that's the same pronuciation as the village of Arundel in the Laurentians north of Montreal, Quebec (whose station building survives, although it hasn't been served by trains since 1962).
 

Trackman

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Arundel in Sussex dialect is supposed to be pronounced 'Arn-dul'
I thought it was 'Arin-dul' unless you mean the same thing.
--
I was was reading a while back that Holborn (Hoburn) will return to Holburn within the next 20 years because of the influx of new residents.
 

FtoE

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A flat mate was once asked directions to “you-fl”. On further enquiry it turns out she was looking for Uphall (pronounced up-hall)
 

Class 466

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Kent is full of plenty, Borough Green and Wrotham (Pronounced Root-um by locals), East/West Malling (Maul-ing) - one without a station but my all time favourite - Trottiscliffe (pronounced Troz-li)...
 

Cheshire Scot

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Not mispronounced, just an innocent mistake, way back around 1980ish an overseas visitor asked at Mallaig booking office for a single ticket to 'Power'. When advised there was no station of this name he produced a map of the local area and pointed to 'Power Station' which proved to be not far from the railway station at Morar and he was sold a ticket to Morar!

 

DJ_K666

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I thought it was 'Arin-dul' unless you mean the same thing.
--
I was was reading a while back that Holborn (Hoburn) will return to Holburn within the next 20 years because of the influx of new residents.
I saw a list and a lot of the time the modern pronunciation is completely wrong. Burwash is meant to be 'Burrish'

basically Sussex dialect sounds a lot like South Western/Somerset to the untrained ear. There's actually a record put there somewhere with someone speaking in it

EDIT: Have an ear of this

EDIT
 
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Calthrop

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in the same way that Arundel Avenue in Toxteth is Arundel. (No station there though).
Interestingly (at least to me) that's the same pronuciation as the village of Arundel in the Laurentians north of Montreal, Quebec (whose station building survives, although it hasn't been served by trains since 1962).

I understand that the same goes, pronunciation-wise, for -- not an immense distance away -- Arundel in Maine, USA. That town -- at the very southern end of Maine, and on the coast -- lies on the rail route linking Maine with states further south: now freight-only, I gather; but it would seem likely that Arundel had a passenger station at one time. (An opinion widely held in Britain, is that those transatlantic types couldn't pronounce or spell anything correctly, to save their lives <D.)
 

181

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I understand that the same goes, pronunciation-wise, for -- not an immense distance away -- Arundel in Maine, USA. That town -- at the very southern end of Maine, and on the coast -- lies on the rail route linking Maine with states further south: now freight-only, I gather; but it would seem likely that Arundel had a passenger station at one time. (An opinion widely held in Britain, is that those transatlantic types couldn't pronounce or spell anything correctly, to save their lives <D.)
According to Google Maps, Arundel (Maine) is on the route of Amtrak's Downeaster service, which brought passenger trains back to the route in 2001 after a 36-year gap. No Arundel station these days, though (there does appear to be a large tram museum nearby, which I vaguely remember hearing about before, but the address is Kennebunkport, not Arundel).

Further off topic, but possibly of interest to @Calthrop while maybe not worth a thread of its own, it turns out that there was a very short-lived narrow-gauge line in the Arundel (Quebec) area -- the initial section of the line was built to 3-foot gauge, only to be converted to standard when the extension through Arundel was opened less than three years later. (Source here).
 

The Prisoner

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Did I miss Leominster? Lem-ster

shame Gateacre station closed in Liverpool (gat-aker) and Hunstanton (hun-ston?!)
 

Calthrop

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Did I miss Leominster? Lem-ster

shame Gateacre station closed in Liverpool (gat-aker) and Hunstanton (hun-ston?!)

An eccentric friend of mine, who is convinced that English spelling / pronunciation are strictly phonetic; insists on saying the Herefordshire L-place, as "Lee-oh-minster". According to him, that has got to be the correct pronunciation; and to heck with however the local idiots -- or anybody else -- render it !

As per my understanding: pronouncing Hunstanton as "Hunston", is what is done by the local inhabitants; and by "posh and patrician" folk and those who aspire to be regarded as such. The great majority of "people in between", pronounce it as spelt.
 

The Prisoner

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An eccentric friend of mine, who is convinced that English spelling / pronunciation are strictly phonetic; insists on saying the Herefordshire L-place, as "Lee-oh-minster". According to him, that has got to be the correct pronunciation; and to heck with however the local idiots -- or anybody else -- render it !

As per my understanding: pronouncing Hunstanton as "Hunston", is what is done by the local inhabitants; and by "posh and patrician" folk and those who aspire to be regarded as such. The great majority of "people in between", pronounce it as spelt.

Certainly Mr Partridge pronounced it with the full Hunstanton when referring to the Spice Museum!
 

Calthrop

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According to Google Maps, Arundel (Maine) is on the route of Amtrak's Downeaster service, which brought passenger trains back to the route in 2001 after a 36-year gap. No Arundel station these days, though (there does appear to be a large tram museum nearby, which I vaguely remember hearing about before, but the address is Kennebunkport, not Arundel).

Thank you -- I confess to not being "up to the minute"" re North American railways: wasn't aware that this route into Maine, had got its passenger service back a couple of decades ago !

Further off topic, but possibly of interest to @Calthrop while maybe not worth a thread of its own, it turns out that there was a very short-lived narrow-gauge line in the Arundel (Quebec) area -- the initial section of the line was built to 3-foot gauge, only to be converted to standard when the extension through Arundel was opened less than three years later. (Source here).

Indeed interesting; not least, re the line serving Arundel's extremely brief 3ft. gauge genesis. Getting yet "off-topic-er" -- I have the impression of 3ft. gauge having been extremely rare in Canada (there's the White Pass & Yukon line; but that has always been a part-US undertaking; commencing in and from Alaska). Picture got, that Canada -- for its never-enormous amount of narrow-gauge trackage -- strongly favoured the 3ft. 6in. gauge.

Have always found it a bit of an oddity that the 3ft. gauge -- always extremely rare for public railways, in the Old World outside of the British Isles -- featured so prominently in the later 19th and earlier 20th century (under initial US impetus) in the continental Americas, from the USA to Peru. A scenario comes to mind, of Yankee cussedness playing a part here: "Those wretched British-Empire types go in for 3ft. 6in. for their narrow-gauge lines; Goldurnit if we're gonna ape them in this matter -- we'll use three feet instead !"

Certainly Mr Partridge pronounced it with the full Hunstanton when referring to the Spice Museum!

John Betjeman in his acclaimed filmed DMU King's Lynn -- Hunstanton journey, on the other hand says "Hunston"; but diction-wise, he was a thoroughgoing toff: to the extent of calling golf, "goff" -- which strikes me as quite nauseatingly precious !
 

181

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I see that this forum has a thread about a new station to be called Beaulieu Park, which seems to offer possibiities for mispronunciation whatever the correct version is. (What is it, by the way? -- the same as Beaulieu Road?).
 
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