to want to flick people in the forehead when they...

[LadyOfTheManor]

pronounce Pavlova as Pav-a-lova. Really winds me up. How dare they?

I'm from the south and pronounce calm exactly how it's spelt.

The L rolls in with the M so you can't really hear the L being pronounced especially if your saying it in a full sentence.

Don't think I'm explaining it properly though so i'll shut up.

Can I chip in with a point of view from the Westcountry re. calm/carm?

With my accent, if you pronounced it with an 'r' you really would sound like a numpty. I say 'farm' (for example) farm - actually saying the 'r'. So if I said calm 'carrm' it would indeed sound like I didn't know how it was spelt.

As you were.

flis I thought people were saying lill-esh-all.

Yes but place names are odd because they may have been corrupted over time (again Shropshire - there is a place called Childs Ercall - pronounced chills arcle) or it might just be the local accent. So the locals might fit a three syllable place name into one i.e. ThreeKingham is known as threknm

I know someone who can't say 'pillow' he says 'pellow' he was a good friend but i often thought about ditching him just becuase of that...

at sleepovers... 'Tits do you need another pellow?'

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO........

place name pronunciation is a law unto itself - you can't criticise people for that (except perhaps for East Angular )

I do put my tongue to the roof of my mouth a bit when I say it, but I don't really ennunciate the L noticably.

yy portblacksand - wymondham, happisburgh etc

Ah, yes- place names are a funny one. When I first came to Southampton I though Bevois Valley was pronounced in a French accent (bevwah) but it's actually pronounced 'beevis'

Ish or Esh, its definitely not Lillies Hall.

The Ercall/Arkle one confuses people, we like our odd names round here. No extra syllables to add to that one though. Although as a local, I'd pronounce that as Child's Arkle, not Chills!

We have a villiage near us, it is spelt Oving.

People are devided between saying Ooo (rhyming with poo) - ving, the others say Oh (rhyming with snow)- ving.

We also have Bosham...

Some people say Bow - sham, some people say Bosh - ham....

as RP english is non-rhotic it would not be possible to pronounce an R even if calm were spelled carm

Yes place names are difficult, like Milngavie for example.

there are loads that get on my nerves.....

pantomine
valumtimes day
comdom
pompadom

ggrrrrrrr!

dh would like to flick my forehead when i say "ive sin it" and not "seen it"

there is a place in northampton called Cogenhoe which MUST be pronounced Cook-Now

Fliss - yes i've heard Child's Arkle too. I'm not local to Shropshire and even pronounce the village i live in wrong . It took a few years but now i say Shroosbury instead of Shrowsbury (but still can't do the local "sroosbury").

sorry - a bit off topic....

I know someone who says Mataland and it drives me crazy.

Also "I went to a shop and brought something" instead of bought.

Pomp-adom. I hear the a LOT. Tragic really.

I hate it when people pronounce haitch with a huh. And say them when they mean those.

In fact my own Mother fully indoctrinated me with a complete set of things that irritate.

And don't get me started on people who hold their knife like a pen, like my DH!! He just tells me I am being stupid, but I think he does it now just to wind me up.

I know a few people who hate the knife/pen thing.. I have never seen anybody do it, isn't it just uncomfortable and odd?

around here people add extra "k's" to words that end in ing, so thinkingk

Something pronounced as suh-ing.

Impetigo as Fimpetigo, heard that one a lot in London for some reason.

How about an Advocado Pear?

Assma instead of Asthma..wince

The place name thing isn't the same as mispronouncing a well known word, but interesting! apparently locals to Evesham call it 'Avasham' which is ok for me, but try dealing with the 'Hyacinth syndrome' some have to suffer with living in a Sussex village called Clapham which is often pronounced 'Clarm'

yy pacifically. No idea what you're all on about re calm though

Places names are a totally different ball game, I agree. Not really comparable in terms of 'correct' pronunciation - although equally fascinating.

Incidentally, I used to live near to a village (Kings Coughton) that has 3 acceptable pronunciations:

• Kings Cow - ton
• Kings Co - ton (as in &Co, or Seb Coe)and
• Kings Cough - ton

All correct I believe although, bizarrely, the last one is the rarest, AFAIK.

Oh and Kings Coughton is in Warwickshire. And, yes, it drives me crazy when the Yanks pronounce the middle 'w'. Grrr.