Place name mispronunciation

[BurntBroccoli]

Just Googled a few of these - please add any more!

Hunstanton Norfolk
Wrong: Hun-stan-ton
Right: Hun-ston

Bedworth Warwickshire
Wrong: Bed-worth
Right: Bed-uth

Wales
Wrong: Lan-dud-no
Right: Clan-did-no

Oxford (Magdalen college)
Wrong: Mag-de-lain
Right: Maud-lin

Dumfries and Galloway
Wrong: Kir-cud-bright
Right: Kir-koo-bree

Leominster (Herefordshire)
Wrong: Lee-o-min-ster
Right: Lem-ster

Alnwick(Northumberland)
Wrong: Aln-wik
Right: An-ik

Prudhoe (Northumberland)
Wrong: Prud-hoe
Right: Prud-a

Godmanchester (Cambridgeshire)
Wrong: God-man-ches-ter
Right: Gum-ster

Cholmondeley (Cheshire)
Wrong: Chol-mon-de-lee
Right: Chum-lee

@TheSquareMile , see my pp. Shoosbry if you live there.

@TroysMammy , Port-merrion, Bligh-now, Abba-sock, Barla, Banger, Tal-Acker, Rudlund, Roo-thin, Clan-wurst, Affun, Betsy-Coyd, Kleye, Keff-nee-beth, Cappul Coo-rig, Kiggurly, ...?

Southwell in Nottinghamshire.

People that live there sou-th-all
Everyone else South-Well

Gatt-acker
Chil-worl
Ferzackerlee
Hi-tun
Egg-buth
Mells

Not read whole thread but

Godalming, Surrey
Wrong: God-AL-ming
Right: GODDle-ming

Guildford
Wrong: Guild-fud (a surprising amount of people seem to say this!)
Right: Gill-fud

@its2024 , as in the racecourse. That's Suth'l. Southwell in London is South-well.

Lympne is Limm.

@YesItsMeYesItsMe , yes. I've been corrected for saying Gildfud.
Godmanchester is Godmun-chester, I think.

I can never remember where Ed Reardon lives other than it doesn't sound like it looks. It's Burkum-sted.

I get Goddle-ming and Winchester mixed up, because of them both having notable public schools. I must be a bit dim because Winchester College is in Winchester.

Yes but I'm saying people who live there say Suth'l as want it to sound posh. But most others say South-Well.

Places I've always wondered how to pronounce are -

Devizes
Ashby-de-la-Zouch mainly the last bit

A number of places will always have people arguing at cross-purposes, as there is not just one 'normal' way of saying it - even for people who live locally.

Uttoxeter can be pronounced as YOO-tox-it-uh or just UTCH-uht-uh.

Burslem is often shortened to BOZ-lum

Tintwistle is just TIN-suhl

Launceston is often pronounced as LARN-suhn

Frome in Somerset
wrong-rhymes with home
right-rhymes with broom

Have we had Slaithwaite yet?

Northern seeks passengers' help to correct station pronunciations - BBC News

Exactly so 😎

It's local to me; Al-ster but plenty of folk struggle with it like Americans tend to do with Wuh-ster and the famous sauce made in the county!

Yes it's quite an unusual sound.

I give you Yorkshire

The most mispronounced Yorkshire place names - and how to say them correctly (yorkshirepost.co.uk)

😂😂😂 just said much the same

= admitting to not having rtft

Mossley Hill is pronounced Mossly Hill not Moseley Hill

Ha! I was going to add Ulgham but you got in there first.

We must be from the same parts!

Yes, same with Pwllheli and Machynlleth!

There's also a dynamic with Welsh places like Pwllheli and Llandudno that are extremely popular with tourists and holidaymakers, whereby they are pronounced wrongly so often, by so many of the people who spend time there, that the bastardised pronunciations almost gain common acceptance as 'correct'.

I think it's interesting how many people don't even try to pronounce a place name as it may look phonetically and/or how they would say it in their own accent (or allowing for sounds that they cannot make), but just come up with something random. So many people call it 'puhv-ELL-ee' - even if you can't manage a Welsh 'Ll' sound, why not at least say it as you would in English (as in 'pull'); and why just ignore the 'h'?

I could see how people who don't know Welsh pronunciation (and who don't care to take a moment to find out how to say the name of the place where they're staying) arrive at something approximating to 'pull-HELL-ee' or 'pool-HELL-ee'; but 'puhv-ELL-ee' is just absolutely weird.

Obviously not a British place name, but I find it amusing how many people will argue over whether the famous artist's surname should be pronounced as 'van-goff' or 'van-go', and berate others who disagree with them - by people who never seem to appreciate that he was Dutch, and so he (unsurprisingly) pronounced his Dutch name in the Dutch way!

This made me smile. All of my English friends who I've asked to pronounce it (and I've asked quite a few as I find it fascinating they all say it the same) say Betsy-coh-ed (as in co-ed school). I do try to teach them the correct pronunciation and they can usually manage it.

I'm a Welsh person with English as my first language and school level Welsh, so my Welsh pronunciation isn't always perfect, but I can pronounce ll, ch, dd and rh.

@Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService , I've heard Poo-helly or Pooth-elly.
Chlanvuh-Fechen is popular with scousers.

Gumster is a great name though.

They should call one of the proposed new towns Gumster.

Or Pointyland.

Cholmondeston in Cheshire is chomston

Shipbourne - Shibbun
Wrotham - Rootum
Both in Kent