To pronounce this street correctly

[wherethestreetshaveasillyname]

I just moved into small business premises locally and people have been asking for the address.

Now the street shares the name with a North American location that’s semi well-known in the UK - to avoid outing myself, let’s call it Illinois Street (it’s similar).

But every time I pronounce it (ill-ih-NOY street), I get blank looks. Then, when I describe the location, I get “ah you mean ill-ih-nwahh street!” and a raised ‘are you a bit stupid’ eyebrow.

What should I do?

A)keep saying it correctly

B) say it like everyone else seems to- but then look weird when I encounter someone who says it correctly

C) do as I am currently and long-windedly doing and say “oh it’s on Illinois Street, or, ill-i-nwa street as people seem to pronounce it round here.

(this is life-and-death and not at all lighthearted btw)

@IfYouPutASausageInItItsNotAViennetta , The one that always baffles me is Llandudno - where people will have a token go at the 'Ll' sound, but then merrily dismiss the other two vowel sounds, even when they've been told.

Drives me mad. L for LL is better than CH, THL or CL.

The arrogant twats mispronounce a name then, if corrected, continue to use their mispronunciation.

If I say something wrongly and corrected, I don't really mind. It's how I learn.

I think some people don't hear the difference between different sounds.
Did you hear Word of Mouth - The Welsh Language with Huw Stephens at the Hay Festival - BBC Sounds
There was a Feedback that mentioned Radio Cymru too, and despite the Welsh speakers saying Cymru, the presenter said it differently.

Is it HOUSTON by any chance? In Texas, they say HEWSTON - in New York, there is a Houston Street and it's pronounced HOWSTON.

And in Scotland there is a village called Houston pronounced Hoo-ston 😅

Do all the locals say it that way, or just the pretentious ones?

Because if all the locals say it that way then I'm afraid you have to accept that's how it's pronounced (even if it started being pronounced that way due to ignorance).

Plenty of towns have their little pronunciation foibles. Like how in Oxford and Cambridge, Magdalen is pronounced "Maudlin". Or Montpelier in Bristol, pronounced the way an English speaker who doesn't speak French would say it ("Montpelly-uh"), rather than the French way ("Mont-peuh-lee-ay").

I live in Ireland and we have a village called Doagh. It's fun with the tourists.

I went on the train through Montpelier and the automatic announcer calls it “Mont PEEEELyer” - I had to check if that was right and it definitely isn’t. (It’s “Mont pelly uh” as pp said)

😂

But do any of you from 'ereabouts know how to actually pronounce St Werburgh?
Her name gets mangled in many ways.

What about my hometown? It's Belfast. No break, but so many say 'Bel-fast'.

The purpose of the street name is to help people to find your business, not for you to show your pronunciation skills. You need to use the local name.

There are villages near me called Friockheim (FREAK-um) and St Vigeans (Vigeans rhymes with pigeons).

I once helped a confused tourist at the local train station who asked me how to get to frock-hime. And my friends and I always laugh at satnav saying vij-EE-ans for Vigeans.

There’s also a nearby town called Brechin pronounced like BREEK-in or with the K as the Scottish ch sound. Some satnavs like to pronounce it as BRETCH-in. I wouldn’t know about tourists as I’ve never seen one going there. 😁🤣

I'm afraid you are the one in the wrong here - the anglicised pronunciation of the place name is correct and has been since the 12th century. It was only spelt 'bois' once the railway came.

See also the anglicised pn of Herstmonceux, Beaulieu, Belvoir etc etc.

I used to live near Southwell, which many locals tend to pronounce Suth-all (sort of), but is often referred to as South-well. I now live further north, and regularly drive through Beauchief, which is pronounced Beecheef

...my money's on Arkansas as well! Or Des Moines maybe?

Wouldn't assume the American way is right, they probably imported and changed it, as they are wont to do.

DH went on business to a place in US called New London. New London has a river running through it. Yep, The Thames.

Pronounced with a soft 'th' sound, and rhyming with James!

Houston, Texas is named after Houston in Ayrshire which is modernly pronounced Hoo-ston. It was originally "Hew's Toun" (or Hugh's town) so that was likely the pronunciation taken to the USA by Scottish settlers. Ironically, they have preserved the original pronunciation while the original town name has changed!

Offham in Sussex is pronounced Oaf'em. And Slaugham is Sloff'em.

This sort of thing enables insular locals to single out "Down From Londons" quickly, and take the piss out of them.

I thought it was named after Sam Houston.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sam-Houston

No it isn’t - OP isn’t describing someone being snotty about how you say fillet. She’s describing locals who say a street name a particular way, and have such a limited world view it hasn’t occurred to them someone not from the area might say use another well known pronunciation.

You could certainly call it ignorant, and depending on the degree it might also be rude, but it is not pompous.

I would gently suggest you consider why you are so angry. The subject is a mild one, but you managed to use the word twat in your first post, now you’ve added an eye roll and are talking about digging holes. It’s disproportionate.

I love the sign to Woolfardisworthy with the brackets (Woolsery). It's like it's saying "And for those of you who can't be bothered to pronounce the full name..."

Devon and Cornwall have some brilliant place names. Broadwoodwidger is another fave.

You often get Doublebois in Cornwall being pronounced as "Doublebwah" by people who assume it's French. No it really is Doubleboys.

I would gently advise you to get an education if you don't think someone is being supercilious when they look at someone as if they're stupid for their pronunciation.

No one is angry but you are certainly passive aggressive. There's nothing gentle about your barely contained indignation.

I know what you mean OP. There are pronunciations which make me wince but they are so commonplace that it looks pretentious to insist on correctness.

Susie Dent has just got herself into a similar pickle over “misch-ee-vi-us”

That's blown my friend's theory that the spelling of these places was Frenchified to placate the Norman invaders in the 11th century!

Ah sorry, I didn't mean to imply that all of those places were only Frenchified by the railway! I just happen to know that it was the case for Theydon Bois. I think it's often the case that the places were named after the landowning families, who post-1066 would of course have been Norman.

Reminds me of a time I was taking a bus to visit a friend and mispronounced the road name (Well it was more I said it differently than local people) the bus driver gave me a funny look and another passenger asked me was it my first time on a bus 🤣