tubechallenge.com

Not being English, I sometimes marvel over the way words are pronounced! A long time ago I realised that the spelling is, at best, a rough guide to pronunciation. Despite this I managed to learn how Gloucester [Road] and Leicester [Square] were pronounced. The other year I picked up the Ruislip pronunciation.

On my short list right now are the following station names:

* Amersham - is that Amer-sham or Amers-ham or what?
* Chesham - is it Chess-ham or Che-sham or what?
* Marylebone- I don't have a clue - except that it could be Mary-le-bone - but that would be too easy...
* Southwark - I believe it's something like South-erk... (with a minimal th-sound)

Anyone?

hwolge wrote:Not being English, I sometimes marvel over the way words are pronounced! A long time ago I realised that the spelling is, at best, a rough guide to pronounciation. Despite this I managed to learn how Gloucester [Road] and Leicester [Square] were pronounced. The other year I picked up the Ruislip pronounciation.

On my short list right now are the following station names:

* Amersham - is that Amer-sham or Amers-ham or what?
* Chesham - is it Chess-ham or Che-sham or what?
* Marylebone- I don't have a clue - except that it could be Mary-le-bone - but that would be too easy...
* Southwark - I believe it's something like South-erk... (with a minimal th-sound)

Anyone?

So you get an idea of how I pronounce the ones you do know before moving on to anything else:
Gloucester Road - Gloss-ter Road
Leicester Square - Less-ter Square

Amersham - Amer-shum
Chesham - Chesh-um
Marylebone - Marr-le-bone
Southwark - Suvv-erk

Then again I don't live in or anywhere near London, so these are probably laughable provincial versions.

I live in London and I still don't know how to say Theydon Bois, Eastcote Hainault or Plaistow...

Really pathetic

If you live south of the river (or east of Liverpool Street) for that matter, then Southwark would indeed be pronounced "suvverk".

Being a gentleman of the "th", I would pronounce it "Sutherk".

Marylebone is one of the most badly-spelt words in the language. Not as bad as Menzies or Farquharson, mind, but it's pretty bad. I'd say "mar-lee-bone" or "mar-luh-bone".

Theydn Boysss (soft "th", short "y")
East-ct
Hain-olt
Plar-stow (apparently!)

Holborn is supposed to be "ho-burn" or "ho-bn" but I say "hol-bn" because I don't want to sound TOO pretentious.

Ruislip had me for a while during my first year in London!

(edit: interestingly, it's spelt "pronunciation" and pronounced "pro-nun-see-ay-shun" accordingly! That's a common mistake.)

CrunchySaviour wrote:If you live south of the river (or east of Liverpool Street) for that matter, then Southwark would indeed be pronounced "suvverk".

Dorridge (nr Solihull/Birmingham is neither)

New Theory please!

CrunchySaviour wrote:
Being a gentleman of the "th", I would pronounce it "Sutherk".

Sounds rather like Suffolk in that case...

A2 wrote:

CrunchySaviour wrote:If you live south of the river (or east of Liverpool Street) for that matter, then Southwark would indeed be pronounced "suvverk".

Dorridge (nr Solihull/Birmingham is neither)

New Theory please!

Now I've lost you.

Ive always pronounced Dorridge like Porridge, but with a 'D'.

Think he means he pronounces it like someone living in Sarf London despite living in the midlands.
I THINK....

If Southwark = Southerk, and Chiswick = Chiserk, shouldn't Northwick = Northerk? But it's literally pronounced as two words, North Wick.

Our language is so inconsistent it's ridiculous.

And what about this one:

(north) Greenwich

Green-wich
Green-witch (I know it's stupid)
Greenage
Greenuch
Greenitch

I always say Grinitch with the "i" of Imposible

Gren-itch or Gren-idge. That one is ridiculous.

Southwark doesn't sound like "Suffolk" because the "th" in "Suth-erk" is hard (as in "that", not "thumb").

I used to pronounce Slough as the word 'tough', starting with sl-.
Rotherhithe, how does that one work?

of all the syllables in the English language, -ough has to take the biscuit for both variance and stupidity with regards to pronounciation

sweek wrote:I used to pronounce Slough as the world 'tough', starting with sl-.
Rotherhithe, how does that one work?

I once shared an art class with a girl called Lucy Slough (as in plough), and the art teacher always called her "Sluff" (as in tough). It was hilarious.

You just reminded me of that.

Speaking of which, Loughborough? How on Earth is that pronounced?

Always pronounced it
Loff-boruh