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Wow,
Chomondeley (pronounced chumly) has French origins. No firm idea about either St John or Marjoribanks. I suspect a studied upper class English drawl has most to do with it, since both are "upper class" names. I went to school with a St John from England and, boy, did he catch hell from all us self-righteous little Kiwis for mispronouncing his own name as "SinJin"!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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I have an acquaintance who insists on "correcting" people on their pronunciations of foreign place names. Especially annoying is his insistence on interjecting "Pra-HA" when some poor schmuck mentions Prague. Just embarrassing...
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There is a Bavarian community in Minnestora called New Prague. I wonder how your friend would react hearing the natives insist: "The first thing you need to know about New Prague is that it's pronounced "New PRAY-G", not "New PRAHG"." (no one knows why)
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In reply to:
Poster: tsuwm
Subject: Re: Odd pronunciations
yeah... or Throat-warbler Mangrove from Raymond Luxury-Yacht?
Dear Tsuwm,
Is this an answer to my St.John (SinGin) query. If so I am clueless ... or incredibly uninformed
I was piling on, mom. while the Brits are well-known for extra letters in their orthography, when it comes to orthoepy, they have a tendency to lose track of whole bunches of them. Monty Python was known to (also) ridicule this trait, the most risible example being the one I chose above.
another aside: why do you suppose that orthoepy has two (2) accepted pronunciations?
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From Capital Kiwi : St John from England and, boy, did he catch hell from all us self-righteous little Kiwis for mispronouncing his own name as "SinJin"!Your delicacy of feeling noted, however I like SinGin as it has a more edgy feel to it, slightly dangerous and intriguing. Something every young boy aspires to n'est ce pas?  wow
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No, it wasn't the softened "g" that got him hell. In fact, I think "j" is more correct that "g", as the "sin" and the "jin" are run together.
In fact, it was our attitude of "why not [Saynt Jon], you precious little bastard? 'Cos that's how it's bloody-well spelled!"
Don't start thinking that at 13 or 14 we were intellectual little girlie-swots, because it weren't true!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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enthusiast
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But if you're going to insist on Co^te d'Ivoire rather than Ivory Coast why not insist on the correct tonal pronunciation for Beijing?
Well exactly. Syllabic tone is unnatural in English so shouldn't be used when speaking English. One good principle is: if possible (which includes "if you know them") use the closest comfortable English sounds to the foreign sounds. No-one should be expected to know or reproduce Chinese tones.
The case of Co^te d'Ivoire is entirely different. This used to be called Ivory Coast in English, then the English name of the country was changed by explicit government decree, and the new name has accordingly been taken up by official bodies such as the UN. What better or clearer reason could there be for you to use the new name of something?
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In reply to:
The case of Co^te d'Ivoire is entirely different. This used to be called Ivory Coast in English, then the English name of the country was changed by explicit government decree, and the new name has accordingly been taken up by official bodies such as the UN. What better or clearer reason could there be for you to use the new name of something?
You had best be careful, Nicholas!From now on, should you have any occasion to mention the name of New Zealand's highest peak, you had jolly well better use its official, government sanctioned, leally recognised name - Aoraki/Mt. Cook. The other NZ peak that Capital Kiwi mentioned is also officially bilingually labelled - Taranaki/Mt. Egmont. Any failure on your part to use these politically imposed designations will be punishable by accusations of inconsistency, accusations fired by me from Aotearoa/New Zealand  
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{Mild and mendacious emoticon] But, Max, what if he calls it "Aorangi"? Just wondering ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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CapK asked impishly But, Max, what if he calls it "Aorangi"? Just wondering ...Not good enough. NicholasW has clearly stated his view that one must always use the official, legal designations, so using Nth Island Maori would be unacceptable - Aoraki/Mt. Cook or nothing!
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