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)

Looking at someone like they’re stupid for their pronunciation is being pompous, stop digging an even bigger hole for yourself 🙄

Thank you! I was thinking about that too when somebody mentioned Loughborough upthread.

Dave Gorman is just amazing!

That makes me think of the people with surnames like Onions or Death - with no apostrophe to be seen - who insist that they're pronounced o-NIGH-onz or DAY-ath!

You get layers and layers on this sometimes. People aren't always quite as right as they think, even if they are feeling superior about it. There are 2 sources on this thread alone that could argue the received wisdom on Pepys is wrong. I've worked in Holborn and IME it's quite acceptable to include the "L". You'd be more judged for being sniffy about it than for using the "L". I've been laughed at and corrected for pronouncing Louis Armstrong "Lewis" but if you see him interviewed, that is what he says.

OP I think saying option A is right is like insisting that Towcester is pronounced phonetically. If the locals say it's Toaster, it's Toaster.

C
I would imagine most towns and cities have a street that is known locally by a different pronunciation to where the name comes from. We definitely have that in my town.

We know of a David who originally comes from Daventry - everybody calls him Double-Dave

I grew up in Daventry. :) And went to Danetre school.

It goes both ways, too. I lived once near a neighbourhood in a North American city where all the streets were named after Oxford colleges. At least at that time, the locals lived on Buhloyal rather than Balliol.

I've been to St Louis. They definitely pronounce it Lewis there.

There’s a village in Sussex called Keymer. People (locals and visitors) pronounce it as you’d expect - Key 🔑. But I recently discovered that some older locals from old local families pronounce it Kymer, and apparently that is how it used to be pronounced. But language evolves. In another generation I suspect the old pronunciation will be lost completely.

It actually makes sense it would be Kymer, as other Sussex place names pronounce y as in eye, e.g. Ardingly.

I find the evolution of language fascinating.

See also Mirus (Mirehouse) and Sebberum (Sebergham). Oh, and Spyatri (Aspatria) 😁

Accordingly to legend, locals used to prounounce Cirencester as Sister, to go with Bister (Bicester), but that's been lost.

I live in Northern Ireland

We have
Magherberry - Pronounced Magabry
Portglenone - Portglenown

Ahoghill - Ahogal

And a zillion more

Radio 2 travel news totally mutilate the names of our roads and towns and google maps has me in fits when Im using it for directions

How do other local people pronounce it?

I lived for a while in the eighties in Wycombe Gardens. On about every third occasion people read back the spelling as Whickham. Even when I said 'as in High Wycombe' some still got it wrong.

Strathaven is a great one!

There’s an endless list of places I have pronounced wrong despite being born and bred here, including

Hawick
Burntisland
Drumsagard
Leven
Drymen

Best one I’ve heard though was Dumb-Fries (from an American I met in Leeds) and forever more Dumfries is now known as StupidChips in our house 😂

Is High Wycombe not pronounced as High Wickham then?

Gee, Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. 😂

Pronounce it the way the locals do.

When the street was first named, you might have had a good case for using the American pronunciation of the place it was named after. But it now has an established pronunciation, and that is what the people who live there use.

Always say it how locals do. There's a few that are pronounced differently to the spelling. You will look like an outsider and keep making yourself an outsider pronouncing it wrong. Pronounce the local way then if it's an address say it's spelled as you would pronounce the American way

I get strange looks when I pronounce Ralph Lauren properly ( as in the name Lauren, not LOH-wren)

Do option B. If you’re new to the street/area and setting up a business acting like the current inhabitants are ignorant isn’t going to do you any favours.

Why do you think the American version is “right” anyway? What is habitually used becomes “right” over time, that’s how language often works.

YY @VenusClapTrap Stiffkey is another one, of F&B Stiffkey Blue fame. Apparently it's a village in Norfolk pronounced Stew-ky.

Locally we have an area and roads with the title of Bevois Valley but the local pronunciation is bee-vis rather than be-vwar. It catches out those not from Southampton (particularly a very posh man I worked with a long time ago!). I’d go with the local pronunciation.

Oh yes good old Spyatri !

I can't hear Loughborough without thinking of this episode.

He really does capture annoyances with modern life perfectly

My favourite one is Woolfardisworthy in Devon (fortunately not on a railway line so no confused passengers) which is pronounced 'Woolsery'.