Many foreigners have trouble with English pronunciations. They almost strangle themselves over such tricky ones as Worcesscesstershyerre; so here are a few common town and family names, the pronunciations of which are worth noting.
Cholmondley.... Chum-lee
Marjoribanks.... Marsh-banks
Farquhar.... Far-ker
Magdalen.... Mord-len
Marylebone.... Marl-abone
Shrewsbury.... Shrows-bree
Grosvenor.... Grove-ner
Beaulieu.... Bew-lee
Cholmondeston.... Chum-sten
Leominster.... Lem-ster
Raleigh.... Raw-lee
Beauchamp.... Bee-chum
Caius.... Keys
Home.... Hume
Kerr.... Car.
I do hope this has been of help, and in case you'd wondered, Magnon is pronounced Man-yern (not Magg-non), although I answer to almost anything.
26 comments:
Blimey, I've been calling you Maggnon all these years!
I don't know why you've addressed this just to foreigners I didn't know how to pronounce half of these myself. How did these weird spellings come out as something totally different when spoken - beats me.
I'd dispute Shrewsbury though - native Salopians favour 'shroo' :-)
I knew it is CRO- MINION as we call the "real" Cro M, but in my thoughts I call you Cro magnon. Did you see the Trelawnyd prounonciation?
Close to home for me is Warwick.....worrik...not war wick.....or shopping in fennicks not fenwicks........
Loughborough……Luffbra.
Belvoir……Beaver.
Leicester……Lester.
You can see which part of UK I am originally from!
Folk always have difficulty with my surname (Thistlethwaite) as the pronunciation round here misses out the middle th. Ah the vagiaries of the English language. I suppose all languages have them.
I'm from Surrey/Sussex.
I'm Suffolk and often get asked if I'm Australian! Though could be worse I could be from either county attached to us.
Laugharne, where poet Dylan Thomas is buried, is pronounced Laan.
A very handy guide... I could have done with this 14 years ago when I landed on this Green and Pleasant Land. Perhaps you can solve the great Bath mystery... is it pronounced 'Barrrrrrth' or 'Baaattthh', officially? ;-)
Ditto Fowey... Foiy or Foweeee?
Bath is pronounced Barth, and Fowey, Foy. Hope this helps.
Liecercesscesstershorre is another US favourite.
And Bicester is Bister. That threw me.
We have a Marjoribanks St here in my city and it drives me nuts when everyone pronounces it like it is written. Such a clunky sounding name!
of course it all depends upon which language the name is derived from in the first place !! ;-)
We mustn't forget 'sex' of course, it's what smart people have their coal delivered in.
Thet was very funny
I thought it was Aussies who bought their coal in sex!
I'm part Welsh, so I knew.
I've been saying your name wrong, albeit silently.
It does, we butcher names every time we come over.
Hmmm. So I've been pronouncing your name wrong, too.
No welsh names on your list Cro?
Too many John.
Great post helped me tremendously. Belvoir is another pronounced beaver I believe.
Jean
x
If I see you on the road to confusion I will just yell Hay Yew……..Hey You.
Post a Comment