Trivia: Place names that you're not sure how to pronounce

[Calthrop]

How is Haughley as in Haughley Junction pronounced?

Per the few occasions on which I've heard it spoken -- to rhyme with "sorely"? (Local folk might well have their idiosyncratic rendering.)

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Per the few occasions on which I've heard it spoken -- to rhyme with "sorely"? (Local folk might well have their idiosyncratic rendering.)

Thank you.

 

[PeterC]

Per the few occasions on which I've heard it spoken -- to rhyme with "sorely"? (Local folk might well have their idiosyncratic rendering.)

I have friends living in Haughley village and that is how they pronounce it. I must add the caveat that they are incomers.

 

[Steddenm]

Chichester.

In West Sussex it is Cheh-chuchter. In Tyne and Wear its CHAI-chester.

 

[Meerkat]

Chichester.

In West Sussex it is Cheh-chuchter. In Tyne and Wear its CHAI-chester.

but confusingly the locals refer to Sussex Chichester, pronounced Chitchester, as Chi, pronounced Ch Eye!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Yes, had forgotten that one, and I am fairly local.

Where I lived as a child, most people pronounced Birmingham as Brumagem which gives us Brum and Brummies. As I sometimes have to tell people "Oi ay a Brumime, om a Block ****ry mon".

Oh I have been edited as there was an objection to the way I spelled Country as I would say it. Sorry about that folks. Glad I don't live in North Lincolnshire.

You didn't really need to trigger the censor-bot anyway: everyone says "country" that way. Just like nobody says "potarto" nobody says "cowntry" either.

 

[Meerkat]

You didn't really need to trigger the censor-bot anyway: everyone says "country" that way. Just like nobody says "potarto" nobody says "cowntry" either.

Do they? It varies from ant to unt to oont

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Do they? It varies from ant to unt to oont

I'd definitely say the "black country" pronunciation of that syllable is not significantly different from RP, which was my initial point... albeit poorly explained.

 

[Meerkat]

I'd definitely say the "black country" pronunciation of that syllable is not significantly different from RP, which was my initial point... albeit poorly explained.

I disagree. RP would be a clipped ‘unt’ where as Black Country would be oohnt

 

[Geoff DC]

Where I lived as a child, most people pronounced Birmingham as Brumagem which gives us Brum and Brummies. As I sometimes have to tell people "Oi ay a Brumime, om a Block ****ry mon".

The Turks used to call their BMC lorries 'Brumagens', I always thought it was a Turkish variant but seeing your post they must have got it first hand from Brummie engineers/salesmen

 

[Pumperkin]

The Turks used to call their BMC lorries 'Brumagens', I always thought it was a Turkish variant but seeing your post they must have got it first hand from Brummie engineers/salesmen

Ahh yes - a Brumagen is something relating to either the place or inhabitants of Birmingham. A Brumagen screwdriver is what is normally known as a hammer

 

[InOban]

I associate that quip with Manchester but it makes more sense with an engineering city like Birmingham.
I hadn't realised that Brummagem was used locally, I thought it was an outsider's term.

 

[eastwestdivide]

So, to summarise 37 pages of "Place names that you're not sure how to pronounce"

Answer: every single ***@! place in the UK

 

[krus_aragon]

***@!

How do you pronounce that?

 

[eastwestdivide]

How do you pronounce that?

However you @*&$! want - no-one will believe you!

 

[vlad]

One thing I've found is that there are plenty of places where as far as I'm concerned the pronunciation is obvious from the spelling. Then I meet people who pronounce it in a different way....

 

[MrEd]

And is it confirmed that Breich as in a station with fewer than one passenger a day is pronounced breach as in a breach of contract?

I know a number of West Lothian folk who grew up near there, and the pronunciation they use rhymes with the Scots word ’dreich’ (as in wet, damp, rainy). The vowel sound in the middle is like that of ’breach’ (with a West Lothian accent, if you can imagine it) but the final ’-ch’ is identical to that of ’Loch’.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

I know a number of West Lothian folk who grew up near there, and the pronunciation they use rhymes with the Scots word ’dreich’ (as in wet, damp, rainy). The vowel sound in the middle is like that of ’breach’ (with a West Lothian accent, if you can imagine it) but the final ’-ch’ is identical to that of ’Loch’.

Thank you. I'm no expert on the West Lothian accent but you've explained very well.

 

[L401CJF]

Bache on Merseyrails Chester line has caused a bit of a divide between people over the years about how it is actually pronounced - now the PIS has been fitted for nearly 20 years most people seem to pronounce it correctly - 'Bayche'. However I was always brought up along with many others thinking it was pronounced 'Batch'. Then again there are others who read it as B-ache (like headache) so pronounce it Bake.. Always used to get people asking for tickets to all 3 versions when I worked on the bus routes in and out of Chester.

 

[hexagon789]

I know a number of West Lothian folk who grew up near there, and the pronunciation they use rhymes with the Scots word ’dreich’ (as in wet, damp, rainy). The vowel sound in the middle is like that of ’breach’ (with a West Lothian accent, if you can imagine it) but the final ’-ch’ is identical to that of ’Loch’.

Yes, that's precisely how it's pronounced, the good folk of West Lothian are quite correct!

Bache on Merseyrails Chester line has caused a bit of a divide between people over the years about how it is actually pronounced - now the PIS has been fitted for nearly 20 years most people seem to pronounce it correctly - 'Bayche'. However I was always brought up along with many others thinking it was pronounced 'Batch'. Then again there are others who read it as B-ache (like headache) so pronounce it Bake.. Always used to get people asking for tickets to all 3 versions when I worked on the bus routes in and out of Chester.

I always understood it was 'baytch' to rhyme with the letter 'H'.

 

[mrd269697]

New member here.

Has anyone mentioned Llanfairpwllgwyngyll? (Well the long version of it)

Also Pwllheli is quite hard to pronounce. It’s more puh-ll-elli than puhthelli. I thank my welsh friend for pointing this out!

 

[brad465]

Bearsted is one of those that automated announcements cannot agree on, typically the platform announcements are "bear-sted", but the train announcements are "beer-sted".

 

[PeterC]

New member here.

Has anyone mentioned Llanfairpwllgwyngyll? (Well the long version of it)

Also Pwllheli is quite hard to pronounce. It’s more puh-ll-elli than puhthelli. I thank my welsh friend for pointing this out!

Welsh orthorgraphy is far more standardised than English nor is there such a wide variation in dialect pronunciations. If you can read Welsh then you can make make an acceptable attempt at any place name. There are no major variations such as between the two Gillinghams.

 

[tomwills98]

Welsh orthorgraphy is far more standardised than English nor is there such a wide variation in dialect pronunciations. If you can read Welsh then you can make make an acceptable attempt at any place name. There are no major variations such as between the two Gillinghams.

Welsh is phonetic so everything sounds how it is written. If you get stuck with a word, you can break it down to syllables and go from there.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Welsh is phonetic so everything sounds how it is written. If you get stuck with a word, you can break it down to syllables and go from there.

The difficulty comes when you have common anglicised pronounciations of Welsh language names. Merthyr and Porthcawl spring to mind. Personally, I'm intensely relaxed about how those two are pronounced and these things do evolve over time. You seldom hear the english forms of Porthmadog or Caernarfon these days, for instance.

 

[vlad]

The problem is anglicised spellings of Welsh place names. For example, I can use my (limited) knowledge of Welsh pronunciation to try to say Llandaf, or I can give it its English name of Llandaff - but then how do you say that correctly?

You seldom hear the english forms of Porthmadog or Caernarfon these days, for instance.

When I did the Welsh Highland last year according to the announcements it ran between Port-madoc and K'narv'n....

 

[Jona26]

Most people wouldn't have a problem with Thornton Heath in south London but to many locals it's pronounced Fort Neef.

 

[Llama]

Why does that remind me of the Morny Stannit sketch...

 

[blakey1152]

Maybe its just me...But everytime I travel up towards London on Southeastern I'm sure they pronounce Woolwich Arsenal as Woolwich Arseh**e

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

The problem is anglicised spellings of Welsh place names. For example, I can use my (limited) knowledge of Welsh pronunciation to try to say Llandaf, or I can give it its English name of Llandaff - but then how do you say that correctly?

That's a fun one! When I was growing up in the 1960s it was pronounced Llandaf in Welsh and and Landuff in English. These days, the Welsh has stayed the same while the the English seems to have evolved onto Llanduff for most people.

Adding to the jolity, the station is actually in a suburb officialy called Llandaff North in English and Ystum Taf in Welsh!