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newbie
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OP
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This is one that gets me while traveling also...mispronouncing the name of a town.
For instance: Philadelphia to the locals is "Philla-lephia", said quickly. Or just plain "Philly". Trenton, NJ is "Treton" no "n' sound.
I was corrected for this one in New England: Haverhill pronounded "Haver(long a)ill", not "Haver-hill".
And of course, the Big Apple is "New Yawk".
"Adversity is the whetstone of creativity"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Wherein Schuylkill is pronounced skookle.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Haverhill pronounced "Haver(long a)ill", not "Haver-hill". "HAY-vrill "  is just down the road from me.  So there must be sub-regional-accent thingies. Then there is Tewksbury -- Tooks-bry and Billerica --- Bill-RICKA and the ever popular Worcester which all the Brits will be glad to help with. I was fine in England as so many of the names are the same  ..... but a trip to Ireland tripped me up with Youghal.  It's "yawl!" or, for the Southerners, "y'all." wow
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old hand
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old hand
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Anyone wanna wrap their lips around Puyallup? (Sort of a Seattle suburb...)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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A few Oldies for completeness, you can search on them if you want to see what has gone before, otherwise just trust me.
Before entering Britain anyone from elsewhere will impress the natives if they can say:
Reading
Leicester
Shrewsbury
Cholmondley
I'll leave the Welsh to post for themselves.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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ShrewsburyThis one gave me pause- I would have assumed that it's pronounced shrewsbree, how wrong am I? The others were far to easy - I had a teacher from Redding, a good friend was born in Lester, and everybody knows chumley, don't they?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I can't find the original posting on Shrewsbury, so here is my answer:
It depends
The posh way is Shrowsbry (rhymes with throw)
- this is perceived by non locals to be correct.
Many of the locals say Shrewsbree (as you said)
but where I lived - up the road a few miles - they said
Shoe-s-bry as in shoe (search me as to why)
So it doesn't matter how you say it, you just need the evidence to prove that you are right!
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addict
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addict
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"HAY-vrill " is just down the road from me.So there must be sub-regional-accent thingies. Then there is Tewksbury -- Tooks-bry and Billerica --- Bill-RICKA and the ever popular Worcester which all the Brits will be glad to help with.
I grew up in Boston, not far from these towns, and also near Medford - pronounced Meffuhd, even though Bedford was pronounced as you'd expect. I have to differ on the prononciation of Worcester. The Boston version is Wuh-sta, which is probably different from how the Brits would have it.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>The Boston version is Wuh-sta, which is probably different from how the Brits would have it.
Wusta sounds close enough to Wuh-sta to me, unless I'm missing something.
The big difference with a lot of those kind of names comes in the associated counties.
In the US I tend to hear Devon-shire with the shire emphasised.
For most people, all the shires in the UK are swallowed, so you get:
Worcestershire - wustersh-r
Lancashire- lancash-r
Devonshire- devonsh-r
with the accent of the first syllable, not the last. I'm sure that Shanks will know that proper phonetic spelling.
Only in the South West would you get the full devon-shire with a full shire but still having the accent on the "de".
I suppose it is because most counties were shires and it wasthe bit at the beginning that made them destintive, rather than the shire at the end.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From Hyla re Worcester : The Boston version is Wuh-sta,Exactly! And doesn't it drive you nuts when actors who are playing Boston characters call it Woo-ster?  Another town that bemuses is Taunton -- near New Bedford, Massachusetts -- which locals pronounce TAN'n with the n sort of half-swallowed ! wow
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