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Mr Portillo does not know proper pronounciation of a town


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​Watching Great Railway journeys tonight he is going to my favourite county Northumberland and what does he do mispronounces Alnmouth his team let him down today.Interesting visit to the 800 factory looks impressive and many local people employed.

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Being able to pronounce a place name probably depends on having heard the correct pronunciation yourself. Some people do not know how to pronounce Scottish place names such as Wemyss Bay or Milngavie, conversely others cannot pronounce certain English names such as Thame or Bicester.

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Probably a good job Caldmore in Walsall doesn't have a railway station then (clue to the correct pronunciation:  Boy George's Chameleon visited the place five times each chorus line)

 

Welsh place names are always good for a laugh, when Phillip Glenister referred to the Thleckwed slate mine in Blaynow Festiniog once even I winced.

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OT but no one on the programme knew how to paddle a coracle. Hold the paddle with one hand, top end of the paddle resting against the shoulder. Relax. Swing the blade gently back and forth through the water, angling it to pull the coracle towards the paddle. The other hand's then free to work with nets etc

 

Ah, wait. Perhaps no one needs to include a model coracle and fishing-person ...

 

Mark

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Being able to pronounce a place name probably depends on having heard the correct pronunciation yourself. Some people do not know how to pronounce Scottish place names such as Wemyss Bay or Milngavie, conversely others cannot pronounce certain English names such as Thame or Bicester.

The English is easy, tame and bister.

Now there is a nice layout based on a town up the road that has a picture next to its name to aid pronunciation, Towcester, the place where you brown your bread.

If you want a greater challenge, try Norfolk, where they have Happisburgh and New Costessey.

 

Dave

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Probably a good job Caldmore in Walsall doesn't have a railway station then (clue to the correct pronunciation:  Boy George's Chameleon visited the place five times each chorus line)

 

You wouldn't want to go to Caldmore, although admittedly it's not as bad as it used to be.

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There regular mangling of Slaithwaite (slawit) by the anouncers on Manchester Victoria used to be quiet painfull only  to be out done by the travel totty on radio2 s varied attempts whenever the A62 is blocked 

 

Now I would pronounce that how it's spelt. As in the name Braithwaite.

 

 

Funnily enough I always thought the engineers that built Novelty were a local firm called Eccleston and Braithwaite. Rather than Ericsson.

 

 

 

Jason

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You even get people living in places that can't pronounce the town name. Or change it to sound posher.

 

 

Shrewsbury for example. It's Shrews Bury, not Shrows Bury. The clue is in the football teams nickname.

 

 

Or Bache near Chester. It used to be pronounced Backer, now it's Bayche as in face.

 

 

Jason

 

The GWR had the best answer to the pronounciation of Shrewsbury by using the Salop diminutive whenever possible - so then no arguments or misunderstandings about how it was pronounced ;)

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