Trivia: Mispronounced station names

[Trackman]

Which, I understand, is correct.

I thought it was 'Meals Cop'

 

[hexagon789]

I thought it was 'Meals Cop'

I thought it was 'Me-uls' rather than 'Meals'

 

[Trackman]

I thought it was 'Me-uls' rather than 'Meals'

Could be Me-uls, Meals, Meels are they the same?
What's this guy saying?

 

[prod_pep]

For me, there is a schwa ('uh') sound in Meols, so more like 'meals' then 'meels', although it would probably be an imperceptible difference for most speakers.

I pronounce real and reel differently, for example, but most speakers seem to have merged the two sounds to reel.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Unless we use the phonetic alphabet (and unless everyone learns it ) then we'll inevitably have trouble explaining exactly what we mean on a thread like this. For example an accepted (and some would say more correct) pronunciation of Slaithwaite has the first syllable rhyming with "bath"... but is that the posh baaaath, or the correct bath?

 

[Taunton]

First station from Taunton down the old Chard branch (closed 1960s), Hatch Beauchamp, is "Hatch Beecham" if posh, or "'Aaaach Beeshum" if local. First word like you are about to sneeze, second word for the medicine to deal with it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

First station from Taunton down the old Chard branch (closed 1960s), Hatch Beauchamp, is "Hatch Beecham" if posh, or "'Aaaach Beeshum" if local. First word like you are about to sneeze, second word for the medicine to deal with it.

When I moved to Taunton in 2002 and became aware of that village, I assumed that was how it was pronounced based solely on the former Oxford United winger Joey Beauchamp... nice to have that confirmed finally!

 

[Meerkat]

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.

 

[mmh]

Not so much a mispronunciation, but one that grates on me is "The Junction" for Llandudno Junction. To add to the grating, it seems to be used by people assuming that's what locals say. We don't!

 

[bramling]

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.

There’s certainly (IMO) a grain of truth to the notion that local people use “their” pronunciation as a way of looking down on outsiders. In fact, elements of Britain - especially rural areas - can be very unpleasant. I wouldn’t say it’s the majority, but there’s certainly a core of people like it. We saw a taste of it during the early stages of Covid, where people were referring to “our village”, “our benches”, “our roads”, et cetera.

Much as London has its many issues and problems, one thing in its favour is the anonymity. This contrasts sharply to other parts of the country where it sometimes feels like as soon as one even just parks up there’s a pair of eyes peering out of every window.

It’s also an interesting point as to whether “their” pronunciation is actually correct - as there’s certainly a few cases where one can quite legitimately wonder how on earth the pronunciation arose from the word.

 

[contrex]

My favourite must be Kingussie, often at least in the past, pronounced by LNER as KING GUSSIE

The Topper comic (frae Dundee) didn't help with its King Gussie strip when I were a wee lad. "Everybody laughs to see the antics of His Majesty".

 

[FtoE]

Mallaig is MAHL-lig not ma-LAIG.

Aviemore should have the stress on the last syllable (not the first, as seems the fashion these days).

Haymarket tends to have the stress on the second syllable (Hay-MARK-et) which is a bit odd because other streets, Lawnmarket & Grassmarket it’s on the first.
Older generations in Edinburgh still talk about “The Waverley” as opposed to just Waverley Station (“Can I have a taxi to The Waverley please”)

And no-one ever, ever from there calls Fort William ‘Fort Bill’. Fingernails-down-a-blackboard stuff!

 

[Calthrop]

The Topper comic (frae Dundee) didn't help with its King Gussie strip when I were a wee lad. "Everybody laughs to see the antics of His Majesty".

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.

 

[contrex]

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.

A short wordless humour strip, featuring a young girl. It usually appeared at the bottom of a text story and was 3 panels long. Appeared in Bunty (another DC Thomson comic).

 

[Calthrop]

Thanks ! And I promise you, I didn't take Bunty -- not that there would have been anything wrong with that ...

 

[matchmaker]

Not so much a mispronunciation, but one that grates on me is "The Junction" for Llandudno Junction. To add to the grating, it seems to be used by people assuming that's what locals say. We don't!

On a similar note "Fort Bill". I'm pretty sure that Fort William residents don't call it that! I think it is known locally as "The Fort".

 

[PeterY]

Not so much a mispronunciation, but one that grates on me is "The Junction" for Llandudno Junction. To add to the grating, it seems to be used by people assuming that's what locals say. We don't!

Not so much a mispronunciation but everyone local refers to Watford Junction as the "The Junction" .

 

[Caboose Class]

Thanks ! And I promise you, I didn't take Bunty -- not that there would have been anything wrong with that ...

There was also Little Plum (from Plumpton), Roger the Dodger (from Rogerstone) and Biffo the Bear (from Bare Lane).

 

[D6130]

There was also Little Plum (from Plumpton), Roger the Dodger (from Rogerstone) and Biffo the Bear (from Bare Lane).

....not to mention Pansy Potter (from Potters Bar), Lord Snooty (from Noo Street), Dennis the Menace (from Ennis) and the Bash Street Kids (from several different places on the Bootle branch!)

Getting back on-topic, when I was a driver at Skipton I could never understand why Leeds drivers always pronounced Culgaith as Culgarth....until sombody showed me one of their hand-written route learning diagrams on which the compiler had obviously forgotten to dot the 'i'!

 

[Redirect Left]

I recently found out i had been pronouncing Welwyn (Garden City) incorrectly, whilst at Kings Cross and the station announcement essentially told me I had been pronouncing 'Welwyn' wrong all my life.
I live relatively near to Slawit so i see that one being butchered quite frequently, but entirely understandably from spelling. Haverfordwest seems to escape a lot of people I know not knowing what if any part of it needs exaggerating or not, I also hate typing or writing it as my brain wants to put a space before west for 'Haverford West'.

One I don't know myself is 'Ruislip' in Greater London, I've heard it pronounced so many ways, even by some locals, I just do not know the correct official way due to all the differing ways i hear.

 

[Calthrop]

....not to mention Pansy Potter (from Potters Bar), Lord Snooty (from Noo Street), Dennis the Menace (from Ennis) and the Bash Street Kids (from several different places on the Bootle branch!)

(My bolding) -- Hey ! Republic of Ireland ! Send that alien straight off to the International Transport sub-forum (I jest).

 

[D6130]

One I don't know myself is 'Ruislip' in Greater London, I've heard it pronounced so many ways, even by some locals, I just do not know the correct official way due to all the differing ways i hear.

Rye-slip.

 

[adrock1976]

How is is the second placename in Elstree & Borehamwood pronounced?

Is it all one word, or two words like the local football team Boreham Wood?

 

[Class800]

I thought it sounded the same as the football team, although it's not pronounced exactly as written in full - it's BORE UM WOOD, not BORE HAM WOOD

 

[Bald Rick]

How is is the second placename in Elstree & Borehamwood pronounced?

Is it all one word, or two words like the local football team Boreham Wood?

When anyone I know on the railway talks about the station, the last 11 letters are silent.

(As is the ‘&’)

 

[Class800]

Just Elstree? Yes would tend to say that informally

 

[PeterC]

Rye-slip.

I would say rye-zlip but places with large numbers of incomers do have shifts in their accepted pronunciation

 

[Pit_buzzer]

Don't think we've had South Elmsall yet.

I'm just over the border in South Yorkshire and it's always been pronounced South Emsall.

The residents and neighbouring area just call it Emsall

The northern auto announcer and most non locals pronounce the "L"

 

[Chapeltownveg]

Elsecar pronounced elsecr could just be my been from Barnsley and not speaking properly

 

[FtoE]

On a similar note "Fort Bill". I'm pretty sure that Fort William residents don't call it that! I think it is known locally as "The Fort".

No they certainly don’t call it ‘Fort Bill’! I’d never heard it (or even considered it) until I moved away.
“The Fort” tends to be what people from immediately south of Ft Wm (Kinlochleven / Ballachulish / Glencoe) call it - to the extent that it’s a bit of a giveaway if you hear someone call it that. A shibboleth I suppose.