Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

Register Log in
  • Congratulations strongm on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Place names 1

Status
Not open for further replies.
stackdump

stackdump

Technical User
Sep 21, 2004
278
GB

I travelled through a town called Wymondham (in Norfolk, England) today and found out it was pronounced 'Windum'.

There's a place in Hampshire called Beaulieu, this is not pronounced the french way, it's pronounced bew-lee.

I got to wondering what really extreme examples of place names are around that are pronounced totally differently to their actual spelling. Only other one I could think of was Arkansas?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
hmmm.. I understand you know. thanks for the link!!! it's quite usefull for me!!

ok, say hub with the "u" as in "virtual"... that's what I mean.

Cheers.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Anyone watch Coronation Street? (get a life [lol])
A Geordie would say hub (or Pub, Club, etc) with the u pronounced as in push.

[cheers] & all the best.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
That does lead into a different question, that being the comparison of different sounds because of different pronunciation rules, or different sounds because of accent.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
When I lived in the "Pottries" (Stoke-on-Trent) UK, I introduced myself as "Dave Hunt" (pronouncing my last name as I had during my entire life in California). The locals thought I my name was "Hant". For the locals to understand that my name was spelled "Hunt", I had to introduce myself as "Dave Oont".

...and on the topic of "Cajun" pronunciation, isn't it interesting that the name "Cajun" derived from the (mis-)pronunciation of the early French settlers who came from France to Nova Scotia (Acadia ("Acadie"), thus "Acadiennes" ), then driven from Acadia in 1755 (following France's loss of the province to the British) moved on to another French province, Louisiana. The American settlers, mishearing the French settlers calling themselves "'cadiennes", Anglicised the spelling to "Cajun".


[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Speaking of clobbered French words, there is a small town in Missouri called Versailles, and pronounced, ver-sales' by the locals.

Tranman

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
...which reminds me of the tourist to the San Francisco Bay Area that stopped and asked me for directions to "Valley-Jo" (Vallejo -- pronounced by the locals as "Val-eh-ho", but Hispanics will tell you it is properly pronounced, "Vah-yeh-ho").

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ok Dave... Here is a challenge - can you say
Llanfairpwyllgwyngyllgolgeirichllantysyliogofgoch?



Take Care

Matt
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mufasa,
I used to hang out in Vallejo. Down at the end of Tennessee street, in a place called Mare Island Naval Station. Used to be a bar called the Shamrock...
Tranman
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Matt,

Did you mean Llanfairpwyllgwyngillgogerychwrndrobwillantisiligogogoch?

OK, I did google it on 'Llanfairpwyll', and found this site
on Robert Burns, whose epigrams I love from my teen years. (Well, I read them in Russian, translated by a great poet, Samuil Marshak.)

My take would be something like 'Lun-Fahr-ville'.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Actually, Matt, if you check out my posting on "13 Apr 05 @ 13:35" in the "Where are we all from?" (thread1256-1042317), you'll notice that "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch" is the 16th place I ever lived. But since you asked, I'll be glad to print it phonetically for you. (I wish we had .wav-file capability so that you could hear me say it.) Remember, "ll" in Welsh sounds like you are trying to "hork up" a hair ball from the back of your throat. I'll use the sounnd of the letters "hch" to represent that "horking" sound:

"hchlan/vire/pwuhch/gwin/gihch/go/gerihch/wirn/drobihch/hchlan/tus/ilio/go/go/gohch"

It's meaning:

"Church of St Mary in the hollow of the white hazel trees, near the fierce whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio, by a red cave."


[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Gosh!! And what's the origin of that name?

"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch"

I mean, this is not english nor french.. I guess some nordic dialect?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tranman,

My parents claim that my older brother was "conceived" at Mare Island Naval Ship yard while my dad's destroyer was in dry dock for repairs toward the end of WW II. Vallejo is a lovely little part of the Bay Area, that's for sure.

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It's Welsh. The exact origin of the name is a bunch of the local Welsh folk were trying to figure out a clever, inexpensive method to boost the flagging economy in their little village during the mid-1800s. The town fathers (and mothers) decided if they concocted a new town name that was longer than any other known at that time, people would come flooding to their little train station just to get photographed in front of the station sign. Guess what...They were right!

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
And then there is:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I used to have a t-shirt that had that name as part of the design (our graphic designer is Welsh). He tried to teach a bunch of us how to pronounce it, but gave up pretty quickly.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The link that John (CajunCenturion) posted ( presents several "pronouncers"...some are total failures...some much better than others. The most authentic (IMHO) is "Sound File 19: by Trefor * [mp3] 29kb". Second place (IMO) goes to "Sound File 13: by Wendy * [mp3] 43kb"

Those wishing to learn the correct pronunciation can replay those two sound bites, using the printed phonetic "cheat-sheet" I posted earlier, until committed to memory.

Let us know how you do.

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
==> Would this explain the problems of correct pronunciations in English?
Who said that the English pronunciations are correct?
Click to expand...

I expressed myself badly there. I meant that that explains why the english pronounciations are so different from the correct pronounciations, not that the english pronounciations were correct.

Lightning
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Dave -

My hat is off to you! Your phonetic representation is excellent!

Actually, Matt, if you check out my posting on "13 Apr 05 @ 13:35" in the "Where are we all from?" (thread1256-1042317), you'll notice that "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch" is the 16th place I ever lived.
Click to expand...

I'd already seen it which is why I asked.

As it happens, I was born in Bangor and left when I was 18 so I still think of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch as LlanfairPG!

As for my miserable attempt at spelling it, I can only claim arrogance for thinking I would be able to do it without resorting to google!

Take Care

Matt
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

flyboytim
  • Locked
  • Question
Introducing new staff with appropriate names.
2 3
Replies
47
Views
468
flyboytim
flyboytim
Turkbear
  • Locked
  • Question
Clever Company Names (Maybe too clever) 1
3 4 5
Replies
81
Views
640
himdp
himdp
SantaMufasa
  • Locked
  • Question
Typically British versus typically American given names
3 4 5
Replies
80
Views
1K
1DMF
1DMF
RCorrigan
  • Locked
  • Question
(In)Appropriate Product Names 3
4 5 6
Replies
107
Views
484
Opieo
Opieo
addy
  • Locked
  • Question
Amusing names 1
5 6 7
Replies
138
Views
560
SantaMufasa
SantaMufasa

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top