Station pronunciation

[47271]

I wasn't sure if it was Mulgy or Mulguy. I meant to write 'kh' for Bridge of Orchy but forgot the H, and I don't think you pronounce the 'g' on Kingussie, or the 'a' in Altnabreac.

I think what you gave first time round was fine, a lot of these finer differences could depend on your accent - like I said upthread it could depend on whether you're from the east or the west of Scotland.

Mull-guy or Mill-guy are fine. What'd be hideous is Mil-en-gavvy. Getting Kingussie right is the 'oosie', rather than an 'ussie', at the end. A light touch on the 'g' goes by unnoticed as a 'y' and you get Kin-yoosie, but King-YOOSIE is almost identical if you say it out loud. Kin-gussie or King-ussie are the toe curlers to be avoided.

I liked the reference to Elgin, as in G&T. Thought of booze reminded me of another relating to that line. I was on a Glasgow to Edinburgh train one evening a few years ago and a foreign tourist - I have no idea of what nationality - made conversation with me whether I liked it or not. It emerged that he was on a whisky trail around the country and the day before had been somewhere pronounced explosively as 'KEET'. I was totally nonplussed by this and we went round it three or four times but he was adamant - I finally twigged Keith, and indeed there are many distilleries in the area. There was nothing wrong with his articulation - it was his accent that floored me!

Now, the eastern end of the Glasgow to Edinburgh main line - Falkirk, Polmont, Linlithgow. Falkirk is fine with most people as Fall-kirk, and dropping the 'w' at the end of 'Linlithgow', but Polmont...?

I've got a very definite way of saying it now that I think of it, I'm wondering about anyone else (who's remotely interested, sorry, feel free to ignore [emoji3] )?

 

[turntablist]

Sowerby Bridge is another, the Northern automated sytem pronounces it as Sour-bi bridge where its actually Sore-bi bridge

 

[quarella]

Munchen Haubtbahnhof, (Munich) Napoli Centrale (Naples), Wien Westbahnhof (Vienna).
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Ah, tall-but v tal-bot

Definitely a but, but rhytm is also very important. In musical terms I would say quaver - minim - stacatto quaver. Portaaalbut!

 

[stut]

Munchen Haubtbahnhof, (Munich) Napoli Centrale (Naples), Wien Westbahnhof (Vienna).

If we're playing that game, just try København Hovedbanegård. Or even better, stations like Køge, Hvidovre, Amager Strand and Brøndbyøster...

 

[PHILIPE]

I once spent a week in nearby Mountain Ash with a local, my take would be Pen-hreeyew-ky-ber.

Another poster mentioned Chi ( Chye ) for Chichester which is obviously quicker than the old localism 'Chidester' , with the middle e hardly enunciated.

Most towns with three or four syllable names seem to have a local name, Wokingham is abbreviated to Woke-nam

Pen-hroo-kaiber

 

[talldave]

And sometimes you do have to throw in a 'Hove Actually'.
(I have said change for St Pancakes )

I prefer St Pancreas

 

[CheekyBandit]

The announcements at Sheffield (both human and machine) seem to think trains for Huddersfield will call at a made-up place called Dod-worth... Barnsley-ites know that it should be pronounced "Dodduth".

Get Scott Doonican (google him!) to do the announcements

Mid 1990s (when I was commuting to and from Worksop) the announcements there seem to think that a Norwich train called at Mannier. Actually thought this was correct for a few years after.

 

[racklam]

If we're playing that game, just try København Hovedbanegård. Or even better, stations like Køge, Hvidovre, Amager Strand and Brøndbyøster...

Or Szczebrzeszyn...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There needs to be a distinction between colloquial shortening by locals (Pomfret for Pontefract for example) and places that genuinely have a non-standard pronunciation (Leicester, Towcester, Milngavie). Of course for the Scottish ones it generally helps if that place has a football team- I'd guess that's how most English people learn how to say Falkirk and Brechin!

 

[colchesterken]

Heard Witham. pronounced With ham, of course in estuary English it should be witam

 

[30907]

The same woman also mispronounced Frizinghall although it has since been re-recorded

As Frizzinghall? - that was quite some while back surely, when Leeds was last rebuilt?
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München Hauptbahnhof, (Munich) Napoli Centrale (Naples), Wien Westbahnhof (Vienna).

All pronounced normally for the language concerned.

 

[northernchris]

As Frizzinghall? - that was quite some while back surely, when Leeds was last rebuilt?

Yep, it also reappeared last year when the local stations across West Yorkshire lost the Phil Sayer announcements and gained the irritating woman we are currently subjected to. I've also a feeling she mis-pronounces Bentham as Bent-ham

 

[Hellfire]

It always grates on my ears when the auto announcer on VT Pendos refers to Lan-carster. Obviously no one told her that Lancastrian vowels are pared down to the bone

Then there are the Cornish place names. In most cases the emphasis is always on the last syllable of any place name. So it should be Re-DRUTH not RED-ruth as GWR keep insisting.

 

[crispy1978]

Bache was one that was pronounced differently to what I expected when I travelled through it yesterday.

 

[Argosy]

Auchinleck is a fun one. Think Ben.

Polmadie - I'd put the stress on the last syllable (with an 'ee' sound).

I am disappointed that "Sapsed" no longer persists as a pronunciation of Sawbridgeworth.

As there's a lot of discussion on Norfolk, at what point does a drawling accent become accepted pronunciation? Is it Hun-STAN-ton or HUN-s'on? Is it Snet-TISH-um or SNET-shum? One thing's for sure, though, the "King's" in "King's Lynn" is almost always silent...

Auchinleck = Ockin-lek Auch is pronounced Ock
Polmadie = Pol madee
Sanquhar = Sanker
Maybole = May bowl rather than Maybowl
Irvine = Irvun
Dunlop = Dun lopp (2 syllables)
Dalquharran = Dal whern (no station but there was a siding once)

 

[lewisf]

Bache was one that was pronounced differently to what I expected when I travelled through it yesterday.

I've heard elsewhere that it rhymes with Sean Connery saying "lace".

 

[Jona26]

I've heard elsewhere that it rhymes with Sean Connery saying "lace".

Bay-ch (ch as in the last syllable of church)
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Wrotham reminds me of one of my all time favourite rail anecdotes, from the days when trains split at Swanley for Maidstone East and Rochester, and stations were known by different names, a certain member of platform staff would call out "Fawkham at the front, Wrotham up the rear"

Off topic but is similar to a bar in the USA that also has card tables where the sign reads...

"Liquor in the front, poker in the rear"

 

[quarella]

Bache was one that was pronounced differently to what I expected when I travelled through it yesterday.

First time I heard of it was on NRES. It was pronounced correctly but with the scouse accent it sounded like "I want to go to the beach."

 

[chris_in_salop]

What about hall i'th wood?

and also Besses o' th' barn?

Surely it can't be "Hall-it-wood" and "Bessies-ot-barn"? That's too northern for words.

 

[VisualAcid]

Isn't it Hall i' th' wood - Hall in the wood

 

[Darren R]

and also Besses o' th' barn?

Surely it can't be "Hall-it-wood" and "Bessies-ot-barn"? That's too northern for words.

Both Besses o' th' Barn and Hall-i'-th'-Wood are pronounced exactly as they are spelt but rolled into one word. Bessesuthbarn and Ahlithwood. (Only people who put on airs and graces say Hall in the Wood. )(Or not from Bolton!)

Although Hall-i'-th'-Wood opened in 1986, I always think that it's a proper 'Lanky' station name, much like Besses o' th' Barn and the erstwhile Irlams o' th' Height.

 

[stut]

Auchinleck = Ockin-lek Auch is pronounced Ock

Or "Affleck".

 

[FenMan]

I know how it should be pronounced. I was born and raised there

I lived in Shrewsbury when a child - 50 years ago. Pronounced Shrowsbury in my part of town. On the Welsh side of town it was pronounced Shrewsbury (as in Taming of the Shrew).

I understand the contrasting pronounciations have taken on a class basis since then, middle class = "Shrowsbury".

This just shows that accepted pronuncuations change over time. No big deal.

 

[krus_aragon]

Holyhead in ATW-land is always HOLLY-head, announced in a bright and cheerful voice.
Makes you quite keen to go there...

Some would say you'll be disappointed when you get there...
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How do you pronounce Betws-Y-Coed?[/QUOTE
Can I throw my hat into the ring as a Welsh speaker:-

Betooss-uh-Koid.

I'd like to second this, particularly with regard to the middle-word (uh), as opposed to earlier suggestions (ee). As mentioned upthread, the letter 'y' is the only Welsh vowel that really maintains a strong phonetic difference between long and short forms. It takes the short (ee) form in the last syllable, and the long (uh) in all others. Most monosyllabic words are short, but "y" (trans. "the") is an exception, taking the long sound 'uh'.


Excepting compound words and some loan words), you can use this work out when to use each sound.
As an example, the Welsh for Monmouth is Mynwy.
Emphasis is on the second to last syllable: MYN-wy.
The first 'y' is long, the second is short.
A phonetic translation would therefore be: MUHN-wee.

Other examples:
Mynydd (mountain): MUHN-eedd.
Mynyddwr (mountaineer: muhn-UHDD-wr.

 

[Jona26]

And Penyffordd (Wrexham-Bidston Borderlands Line) is never 'Penny Ford' but 'Pen-uh-forth'

 

[Bookd]

Surely the Welsh for Monmouth is Trefynwy (town on the Minnow)? I was there last month and am sure that is what it showed on the road signs.

 

[PHILIPE]

Surely the Welsh for Monmouth is Trefynwy (town on the Minnow)? I was there last month and am sure that is what it showed on the road signs.

Correct. Mynwy is the river flowing through.

 

[341o2]

has Beaulieu Rd been mentioned. Locally nearer "Bewley"

And in north Devon Bridestowe locally "Briddystow" rather than someone about to be married

not a station I know, but can't help remembering a bus ride to a villiage near Penzance, locally sounds more like Muzzle rather than someone with a plummy accent asking for MouseHole

and just remembered that Launceston is pronounced locally as Larnson

 

[61653 HTAFC]

has Beaulieu Rd been mentioned. Locally nearer "Bewley"

And in north Devon Bridestowe locally "Briddystow" rather than someone about to be married

not a station I know, but can't help remembering a bus ride to a villiage near Penzance, locally sounds more like Muzzle rather than someone with a plummy accent asking for MouseHole

and just remembered that Launceston is pronounced locally as Larnson

Beaulieu Road reminds me of the former Oxford United player, Joey Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham). Mousehole catches tourists out but Launceston doesn't unless they're American as it's similar to Leicester. Bridestowe also has a local similarly in Bideford, I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce it the way you'd expect it to be from the spelling.

 

[fairysdad]

And in north Devon Bridestowe locally "Briddystow" rather than someone about to be married

Another North Devon one that catches people out is Brayford, where you actually pronounce 'ford' like the car rather than '-fud'.

(I think I mentioned Woolfardisworthy in my earlier post in this thread, so I won't mention it again!)