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Yesterday reminded me of one of my (many) pet hobbyhorse subjects.
I remember as a teenager first seeing the name “Southwell” on a newspaper racecard and entering a betting shop only to discover it was apparently “Suth-ell” phonetically.
But I then actually visited the place and found many locals pronounce it “South-Well.”
Same deal in the world of Point-to-Point with Kingston – “Blunt” to many, but actually “Blount” (like Southwell, as you’d perhaps initially expect), to many who actually live in the area.
Funny old game.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Always called it Suth-ell but I’m from Yorkshire. One I like is in Huddersfield – Slaithwaite is actually pronounced Slawitt or I suppose Slough-itt by the locals. I grew up thinking they were two different places until being put right.
Apparently, Shrewsbury has two different pronunciations and which one you use depends upon which side of the river you’re from.
Other favourites are Oswaldtwistle and Cholmondley; Wrotham (pronounced Root ‘em) Heath is a place in Kent, as well as being a useful three year old colt with Henry Cecil a few years ago whose name was always mispronounced by commentators.
And let’s not forget the favourite of all racing fans d’un certain âge, Toirdealbhach.
A particular pet hate of mine is the complete inability of anybody in the British racing media to pronounce French names even vaguely accurately. You’d have thought that commentators, especially, would be capable of doing at least a little homework; they certainly do with Gaelic names, so why not with Gallic ones? 🤷♂️
Cracking responses – thanks chaps!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I love to hear BBC newscastors stumble over the pronunciation of
Milngavie. They nearly always pronounce it as Miln-gavie when in fact
nobody in Scotland calls it that, it’s pronounced Mill-guy. Another
beauty is Strathaven which should be pronounced Stray-ven.Loads of them get caught out with Scottish names, another is Culzean,
normally brought up because of Culzean Castle, but it’s actually
Kull-aneGood thread Ian
Happisburgh in Norfolk is pronounced Hazeboro.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysA former colleague of mine on a works lunch mis-pronounced Cous cous as ‘Kwah-Kwah’ although in fairness I think it was more that she didn’t know what it was.
As far as I’m concerned it’s bird seed!
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysThere is a place in between Wigan and Manchester named Walkden, which I have travelled through on the train many times over the years.
I only found out last month (courtesy of John Cooper Clarke’s autobiography) that the locals pronounce it Worden.
Someone once told me that Cirencester should be pronounced as Ciscester – but I have never heard that since and I wonder if it was a joke.
I’ll throw Honiton into the ring. You may recognise the name from driving down the A303/A30 to Exeter or Newton Abbot, also famous for its lace once upon a time.
The locals call it Huniton, or perhaps more accurately Huint’n.
There is place fairly local to me called Lyne – pronounced line.
There was an incident there some years ago and a TV crew were there reporting and kept going on about “Lynn” in all their reports. You would think that somebody would have checked the correct pronunciation before making an arse of themselves on national television.
Round here there is no T in Luton and Stevenage is pronounced Ste’nage.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysA tremendous moment caught on film, the way he walks off backwards into the distance is a thing of beauty
That’s quality, Ben. Surprised that the interviewee didn’t give the interviewer the finger as he backed off at the end.
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