Pronouncing location names - awkward...

[pmccarthy]

And Lord Montague of Beaulieu, pronounced Bewley

 

 

[eightyknots]

Britain must be the most varied for names. I used to live near Sloley and also Runham swim. Wymondham pronounced windham. Happisburgh and Mundelsley, hayesborough and mundsley.

Gloucester is pronounced Gloster.

 

 

[spacesailor]

Poor old blighty!. No wonder the "spelling" when it was under the Viking's Norman's Saxon's and Roman's rule with their own

 

Language. Who taught them poor sods to read & write?. None of the above Master's of tyrany.

 

Derby pronouced "darbi" Is a Viking word for deer, which were abundant then.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

Mia Mia in Victoria...is it Me-ah, Me-ah, or My-ah, My-ah?

 

Or as I like to call it Me-ah My-ah?

 

In NZ, Whakatane is my fave!

 

 

[planedriver]

In NZ, Whakatane is my fave!

 

You naughty boy Howard:yikes:.

 

I happen to know how thats pronounced, but I never managed to catch up with the girl called Ta-nee

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

I once new a girl called Tahnee, no it's not the start of a limerick!

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Then there's the upper Hunter Valley town of Murrurundi which only the locals compress it to Mrundee when said out loud.

 

And of course there's the old song Everybody calls Wagga Wagga "Wagga but nobody calls Woy Woy ""Woy".

 

A lot of people have trouble with Quirindi near Gunnedah: "Krin die" comes close.

 

And I heard a fellow on the ABC Radio murdering the pronunciation of the very picturesque Lakeside village of Wangi Wangi

 

(Pron. Wongee and like Wagga rarely Wongee Wongee)

 

Wollombi will catch a few out and it is really funny to hear Sydney people prononce Awaba as Awarrba where the locals say Awoba.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I helped my friend Gary Taylor one weekend painting Ampol service stations on the Hume Highway, on one of these I painted the vertical station name on the pole sign, and spelt WANGARATTTA with three Ts. A local photographer put a pic of this in the Australasian Post magazine, he said he'd been driving past it for weeks an something bothered him about the sign ! ! I wonder if they ever changed it.

 

And another thing, on my first visit to Wagga Wagga, I was pulled up by as local who said NO, you pronounce that WOGGA . . . I love it.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Then there's the upper Hunter Valley town of Murrurundi which only the locals compress it to Mrundee when said out loud.And of course there's the old song Everybody calls Wagga Wagga "Wagga but nobody calls Woy Woy ""Woy".

 

A lot of people have trouble with Quirindi near Gunnedah: "Krin die" comes close.

 

And I heard a fellow on the ABC Radio murdering the pronunciation of the very picturesque Lakeside village of Wangi Wangi

 

(Pron. Wongee and like Wagga rarely Wongee Wongee)

 

Wollombi will catch a few out and it is really funny to hear Sydney people prononce Awaba as Awarrba where the locals say Awoba.

Good one Don,. . . . . going back to TUMUT, a local lady asked me if I'd heard the ditty about the DOG eating out of the tucker box nine miles from Gundagai. . . I said that I had,. . she replied well there you are mate, just think of the dog and say CHEW-MUTT. . . . ( I know, I know, . . . there are variations on what the pooch did to the snap container. . . . )

 

Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Gloucester is pronounced Gloster.

Yes, and Worcester is pronounced Wuster . . . . . Leicester = LESTA . . . . .etc. . . . . strangely enough, Colchester is Colchester, but Dudley is pronounced by the locals as . . . .Doodlay. . . Halfpenny Green Airport is pronounced HAPENEE Green ( or FIVEPEE GREEN to us local flyers ) Birmingham has been known as BRUMMAJUM for as long as I can remember. . . . . . and London . . . . ! well,. . . .we don't even talk about those southern cockney bar$terds. . . . . . .

 

Another bit of useful friendly info from Phil. . . . . . .

 

 

[kaz3g]

I heard a foreign gentleman make an overflying call at Marry-borroo yesterday...MBU... which is pronounced Mary-burra.

 

Kaz

 

 

[eightyknots]

Yes, and Worcester is pronounced Wuster . . . . . Leicester = LESTA . . . . .etc. . . . . strangely enough, Colchester is Colchester, but Dudley is pronounced by the locals as . . . .Doodlay. . . Halfpenny Green Airport is pronounced HAPENEE Green ( or FIVEPEE GREEN to us local flyers ) Birmingham has been known as BRUMMAJUM for as long as I can remember. . . . . . and London . . . . ! well,. . . .we don't even talk about those southern cockney bar$terds. . . . . . .. . . . . . .

The people even further south (the Romans) called that place Londinium.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

When I was young and something was cheap and tinny we would say it was Brummy. That was a legacy from our grandparents who had lived through a time when products from Brummagen (Birmingham) were rubbish, just as we spoke about Jap Crap in the 1960s.

 

 

[Yenn]

Not only grandparents who lived thrrough brummy rubbish, "Buy British, buy bad still applies"

 

I can remember when Birmingham had a flourishing auto industry. all gone now.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Not only grandparents who lived thrrough brummy rubbish, "Buy British, buy bad still applies"I can remember when Birmingham had a flourishing auto industry. all gone now.

Yep, . . . . only two motors from Brum have had a lasting impression on the world, that's the Mini and the Landrover. . . . ( Notice I didn't say RELIABLE impression ! ) although not really having a terrific original build quality, earlier models of those two are still collected and restored in their thousands ( the BMW Mini doesn't count ! )

 

Anyhow, apologies for the drifting thread . . . . . I was born in Wednesbury ( WENSBREE ) locally known then as "Cow Town" and My uncle lived in SMERRICK , ( Smethwick ) a suburb of Brum . . . Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

The people even further south (the Romans) called that place Londinium.

Yes, they did, . . . . they left us with some nice roads as well, I live about 2 Km from "Watling Street" the road from Londinium to Holyhead . . and about 6 Km from where the "Staffordshire Hoard", a large quantity of roman treasure, was unearthed and then sold for around £3 Million recently. . . . just alongside Watling Street. . . . ( Wish I'd kept that old metal detector. . .! ) Mind you, I've found loads of interesting rusty nails, coke bottle tops and ring pulls over the years . . . and all using a "Dick Smith Electronics" induction balance detector kit I bought in OZ !

 

 

[pmccarthy]

My wife and I had Riley Elfs (the Mini with a boot) for 20 years of weekend fun but we are beyond Brum now and play with a Jag and a Bentley. Not big dollar cars, just complex and interesting machines that feel really good on the road. Lots of weekend workshop maintenance, if I couldn't maintain them myself they wouldn't be viable.

 

Back to thread... Borroloola has been pronounced in several ways but I think Rolf Harris got it right in his song of the same name. (And Rolf, we still haven't come to grips with the real you).

 

 

[facthunter]

Phil, You are not related to Steptoe are you? Nev

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Phil, You are not related to Steptoe are you? Nev

Not that I'm aware,. . . . . but I do tend to hoard too much Junk, especially if it's aviation or radio / comms related. . . . . I've had to double lock my old shed so that She who must be obeyed doesn't chuck it all in a skip to make way for childish nonsense like gardening tools. . . . . .

 

 

[sfGnome]

Wollombi will catch a few out and it is really funny to hear Sydney people prononce Awaba as Awarrba where the locals say Awoba.

Ah, but maybe that's because Awaba St in Mosman is pronounced Awarrba by the locals (but then most of them pronounce Mosman as Mozman, so what would they know... )

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Yes, I know Awarrrba rd well. Lived in Neutral Bay for a few years. Should see the look on their faces when you pronounce it Awobba.

 

 

[red750]

Just watching the New Zealand program Police Ten 7. An incident in Tauranga. The narrator pronounced it Toe Wronger.