Places that are pronounced differently to spelling

[Worthy]

Tyldesley - Tilsley. That sort of counts, I think?

 

[drakulton]

Kansas / Arkansas

 

[bjorkiii]

Longbenton pronounced Ooh Matron.

 

[UTmaniac]

No doubt already posted and I've missed them...

Salisbury
Sarisbury
Slough
Beaulieu

 

[C Kent]

Manchester. Its pronounced **** hole

 

[Freakbro]

Southwark - Suh-thuhk (or Suth-erk)

 

[Bluecube]

Edinburgh, pronounced as Edingborough.

Can’t agree with that one. It’s pronounced just like it’s written - Edin-burgh. Or Embra if you’re in a rush.

Stranraer is another one. Pronounced Stran-r-ah-r. Not Stran-rayr which I’ve heard a few times

 

[Jokester]

My local area - Garioch.

Pronounced gee-ree, and not with a kicking “g” if that makes any sense.

 

[Stu999]

Marylebone.
Frome.

 

[explicit4u]

Holborn

Tube lady says Hoe-bn, I've heard Hole-bun, ho-burn, ho-bun, hole-burn.

 

[Diddums]

This reminds me of when I first moved to London (and the UK), I was staying with my cousin in Hackney, and got lost when exploring, asked someone how to get to isle-ington and it took them a few minutes to realise I was asking about ISlington.

Same with South-wark. Or "suth-ik" as they call it.

Fun times, being lost in a new country and not knowing where to go.

 

[cheesefest]

Warwick.

Most Americans think it’s pronounced as Dionne’s surname- War-wick. Its Wra-wrick

 

[cheesefest]

Keighley is Keith-ley. Not key-ley or keg-ley as the audio scripts said in Leeds bus station in the mid 00s. Not sure if they have corrected this or not.

 

[bazzabear]

The closer you live to Wilmslow, the more likely you are to pronounce it Wimslow for some reason.

And many of the inhabitants of Macclesfield call it Macc-Less-Field, which is clearly wrong.

 

[darael]

I've never known how to properly say Brough - is it Br-uh or B-rough?

 

[Stu999]

I've never known how to properly say Brough - is it Br-uh or B-rough?

Actually, I always thought it was the second option.

 

[Rroff]

Small town in Somerset Crewkerne - most now pronounce it kroo-khun but locally back in my great-grandparents and older it was referred to as crook-urn.

 

[throwaway4372]

I've never known how to properly say Brough - is it Br-uh or B-rough?

Bruff

 

[sigma]

I've never known how to properly say Brough - is it Br-uh or B-rough?

Bruv

 

[Demon]

I find there are usually many local accepted pronunciations for various places..


E.g. Bicester is Bi-Sta around here, not Bi-ster, and have had a few people arguing the toss like it matters..

My brother lived in Rogiet in south wales for a couple of years, some called it 'Ro-get', some called it "Ro-sjay" trying to make it sound fancy..

Cornwall is funny, Tideford is either 'ti-di-fud', 'tide-ford' or just 'tide-fud' depending on who you are talking to..

Local accents also can get in the way..
Launceston can be 'larn-sun' or people without cornish accents the more obvious - 'lawn-stun'

Bruff

Yep, the actual place "Brough" in yorkshire is pronounced that way locally.

The "Cester" thing is well established, so really the pronunciation makes sense within our own rules.

What doesn't make sense is why Cirencester is pronounced Siren Sester. I forward a motion to officially burn it to the ground and rebuild, gloriously from the ashes, with the name Sirrenster ringing out through the smoke.

Locals just call it 'Siren'.. saves the pedants getting upset