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)

An estate near me was named after places in East Anglia. Got very confusing when someone talked about Derry-Ham Road and I later mentioned Dear-um (Dereham) without realising we were talking about the same street. Not sure which was the more common pronunciation locally and I've since moved so can't check!

I like the yogh too!

McKenzie is another one

Apparantley it was because the new-fangled printing presses from Germany didnt have a Yogh letter and so z was substituted.

I often wonder if the fancy curly way of writing z is a hangover from the yogh.

I’ve only just learned La Jolla in the US is pronounced “Lahoya”.

Bucket or Bucket... you decide 😂

Was just scrolling to say this - see also Culzean castle and . If in doubt, assume the z is probably silent or more of a soft y/g sound.

You just gave me a nostalgic flashbacks to a children's book about a cat owned by a fisherman in Mousehole. Knocked 25 years off my life in a second.

Ha, we live round there and pronounce it correctly. People sometimes think you're saying 'da main road' - ie Withington Road

OMG! It’s a minefield! 🤪

Trying to find a closer example- wish I could just say but it's one of only three streets in the U.K. with that name from what I can see!

😂

Chances are that your correct is not local correct.

LOL, I feel your pain OP!!! Yes, you tend to need to pronounce it like the locals otherwise you sound to everyone like you're stupid/ignorant. It's like this all over the UK, everywhere.

I speak to people all over the country as part of my job and have made quite a few people laugh at me for either being "stupid", ignorant, sounding like a tourist or simply not knowing the area I am supposed to be talking about / living in.

A couple of examples just from the top of my head:

Bicester near Oxford is pronounced "Bister".
Alwick near Newcastle is pronounced "Anook".
Wrotham Heath in Kent seems to be pronouced "Ruttam" Heath.
Locals in Redcar often pronouce it "Reh-kah", but I think those people are just uneducated as others in the nearby areas pronounce it as it sounds (they tend to be posher, lol).

This would bug me to hell too @wherethestreetshaveasillyname.

I suppose I'd force myself to pronounce it like the locals do. And anyone who knew how it should be pronounced would just have to think I was a hick. Unless they made it obvious -

Customer/supplier: "Oh, your business is on Yose-might Way, is it?' smirks
OP: "Yeah well, that's how they say it round here, so y'know, when in Rome..."

Trying to look on the bright side, it could be a talking point/conversation starter....

If it continues to be a thorn in the side - and I don't underestimate the power of street names, it's had a bearing on my property decisions - there'd be no judgement from me if you were to consider moving premises!

The place is pronounced 'St. Lew-ISS', not 'Loo-ee'. In the song it’s made to rhyme (ish) with 'Hootchee Coochee' and 'tootsie wootsie', as well as with the male name, so just done for comic effect.

A lot of people aren't actually aware that Charles Dickens' great works were originally serialised in two local newspaper, before they were later published in full book form.

It was the Bicester Times; it was the Worcester Times.

😂

Now I'm really annoyed they rescinded the laughing emoji.

🤣

Thankyou- I didn't know that. I have details of an old Scottish place-name for an ancestor which contains a z, or at least, I believed it did. Shall have to look into this.

Me too. I think we are being too nannied.

Can you research why the street was given that name? It might, for example, have been after a local dignitary who pronounced it differently from the American way.

There a place in north midlands near where DH grew up that locals pronounce very different to incomers - but so many incomers that the name is slowly changing how it's pronounced.

Map men did a whole thing on why British place names are so hard to
pronounce.

Same as the locals

The US version of the place name is likely taken from a UK location by settlers surely? So whatever local people call it is correct.

Just because Americans say Edinborrorr, doesn’t make that correct…

I think you need to give the actual word.

@ChorltonCreamery you must live near me! I know that road in WR. In fact one of my friends pronounced it that way and nobody knew what she was talking about!

You could D) Not assume that you're right and that every single other person is wrong.

As someone who lives near Moscow (pronounced Moss-cow) and Irvine (Irv-in, not Ir-vine).