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)

I feel like its arkansas street 🤭

Yanbu tbh - although if it had a French or Spanish pronunciation, that would be a bit twattish

I dont make the rules 🤷‍♀️

Apparently there are 12/13 ways that ough can be pronounced in English… Loughborough has two of them. I love the English language, but it is weird at time.

My local town name isn’t pronounced the way it looks phonetically. If you said it the way it looks everyone would know you were a visitor/tourist and probably correct you (nicely). If you worked there you’d have to say the unphonetic pronunciation or you’d look ignorant.

We have sooo many places that people mis-pronounce where I live. I'm coastal and therefore a lot of places have the word Quay as part of the name. It baffles me how people who have lived here their whole life don't know how to pronounce it.

Place names develop their own local pronunciation.

If you lived in Paris Street would you insist on calling it Paree Street?

Beaulieu in the New Forest is definitely pronounced Bewley, and the locals were extremely irritated by my friend using the French pronunciation.

@wherethestreetshaveasillyname in scotland! my dh car could never get the hang of me asking to call him on the phone/ would ask if it was any number of people but couldnt get my scottish accent. as for the sat nav, well I sometimes roll about laughing at how the place names are pronounced!! I think I need to take a drive up to ecclefechan or kirkudbright just for a giggle!! a good railway announcer once said "ecclefechan to aibirdeen an ahing else inatween!

I think you should pronounce it as the locals pronounce it. Unless it was specifically named after the American place for some reason, there is nothing to say that the American version is correct.

It's very annoying when you're right but the vast majority of people are wrong - which then makes everybody assume that you are the one who is wrong. This is the case in so many things; not just in road names.

It isn't just in pronunciations, either, but it can also be the actual spellings of road names. We used to know people who lived on Spenser Road - named after 16th century poet Edmund Spenser, who wrote The Faerie Queene. Even though it's there on the road sign, just about everybody - including virtually all of the people who live on the road - spell it Spencer Road; the result being that, if you spell it correctly, they assume that you're a bit simple and don't know how to spell a common British surname!

Interestingly, I've noticed that one word that is almost universally spoken with the wrong pronunciation is actually the word 'pronunciation'! It's so irritating when people ask "What is the correct pronOWnciation of..." and you're just wanting to hop right in and say "Can I just stop you there?!"

What do you do with somewhere like Shrewsbury? The local generally say Shoosbury nor Shrawsbury or Shroosbury?

The Welsh names are more complicated because a few have

1. English names as well as Welsh ones (e.g Hay-on-Wye/Y Gelli Gandryll)
2. Some are tricky (Machynlleth)
3. Some have Welsh names that have been anglicised for a long time, so you'd probably get 'corrected' if you used the correct pronunciation.

I’m glad I didn’t have to learn English (as a language) in a classroom.

If it's Arkansas, I'd say YANBU to pronounce it correctly. The internet informs me that:

"The name "Arkansas" originates from the French "Arcansas," a pluralized, Anglicized form of "akansa," a name used by the Quapaw people. This name, "akansa," was in turn derived from an Algonquian term for the Quapaw, believed to translate to "south wind people" or "people downstream". The French explorers then adopted this name for both the people and the river, and later, the state."

So it's native American via French, not a European import...

Do as the locals do, as that’s “correct” locally. I live near Holywell beach, pronounced Hollywell, obviously (not obviously).

Try Chideock, Puncknowle, Eype or Rampisham 😂

Belvoir Castle always makes me laugh.

I have a local one. The name is spelt Bevere. Many a time I've been asked where B vere is.
It's pronounced by the locals as Bev-er-ree

Fenwick - Fen-ick
Drongan - Drungan

and my favourite

Catrine - Cottern (I can’t even properly write that phonetically!)

A difficult one but I’d use the local pronunciation even though Illi nwa sounds wrong to me.

I had this dilemma with Maryland chocolate chip cookies. Presumably the brand is based on the American location but people here say Mary land rather than pronounce it like an American and say “Marilyn”

England is full of place names pronounced very differently to how it’s spelled. I would pretend that this is one of those cases.

@IfYouPutASausageInItItsNotAViennetta

I have been asked so many times why I say February weirdly. 😑

We were puzzled why a victorian row of houses was named after a caribbean island - turned out land they were on came from local dignitary who last and highest job was being governor of said island.

We have people correct us on DH family surname - it's orgin is mangle irish - but it's taken on pronunciation of old english family that's now died out - someone married someone from area landed english family was in - and there are two villages name north and south with same name - and locals in area of villages say it same as we do.

My parents stay near Newmilns (New-Mills) close to Strathaven (Stray-ven)

Assuming the place was named in the decades after 1066, who knows how on earth Beaulieu would have been pronounced by the french then?

I love the way it is with a beautiful village in the Peak District.

There's longstanding controversy as to whether it should be spelled Youlgrave or Youlgreave - with even official bodies not being able to unanimously make their minds up.

There are something like 30 different recorded spellings of the village name... yet the locals usually refer to it as Pommy

My son was at school with a member of the Pepys, as in Samuel, family - they too pronounced it Peppys - to add to the confusion!

I’d say the local way is the “correct” way here. Place name pronunciation varies a lot. I grew up near Erith. Locally it is said ear-ith. It always annoyed me when newsreaders pronounced it er-eth. Similarly Wrotham (locally it is root-um but non-locals usually say wroth-am).

I would say the real pronunciation is the local one. Use that, except when on the phone to people who only need to type it onto a form. In that case you could say it the American way to make it easier for them to understand and spell.

We do this with our surname.