What's weird is British people make fun of Americans for not knowing random obscure place-names that have only a passing resemblance to their spelling, yet a lot of them don't even pronounce major American place-names correctly, even when the pronunciation follows from the spelling. For instance, the last vowel in LA is "e", not "i". They don't even get the country name right: it's "America", not "Americur".
Things Americans tend to say that sound weird to you
<<What's weird is British people make fun of Americans for not knowing random obscure place-names that have only a passing resemblance to their spelling, yet a lot of them don't even pronounce major American place-names correctly, even when the pronunciation follows from the spelling. For instance, the last vowel in LA is "e", not "i". They don't even get the country name right: it's "America", not "Americur".>>
Yeah, it's pretty annoying to hear "Los Angeleez" and "Laas Vegas".
I think it's very unfair of the Brits to make fun of an American mispronouncing the name of some obscure village when it is spelled nothing like how it's pronounced. In this area (western PA), we could laugh at a Brit's failure to properly pronounce such names as Youghiogheny, Monongahela, Charleroi (not French), Versailles (not French), Wilkes-Barre, Schuylkill, etc, but that would make us a bunch of assholes. ;)
Yeah, it's pretty annoying to hear "Los Angeleez" and "Laas Vegas".
I think it's very unfair of the Brits to make fun of an American mispronouncing the name of some obscure village when it is spelled nothing like how it's pronounced. In this area (western PA), we could laugh at a Brit's failure to properly pronounce such names as Youghiogheny, Monongahela, Charleroi (not French), Versailles (not French), Wilkes-Barre, Schuylkill, etc, but that would make us a bunch of assholes. ;)
We can torment them with doozies like Schenectady, Skaneateles, Natchitoches, Nacogdoches, La Union (no, not like that....;P), Mesilla, Bernalillo, Ticonderoga, Mattawamkeag, Tesuque, Pojoaque, Chautauqua, Quemado, Uncompaghre, Atmautluak, make 'em get the accent on the right syllables in Yakima and Wichita and Tucumcari and Appomattox.....oh, it's sooooo on!
Not only Americans have a hard time pronouncing those weird place names like Worchester and Leominster. I mean...weird as in having an irregular pronunciation. Edith Bowman, a Scottish radio DJ also couldn't pronounce Bicester as it should be pronounced (she said "by-cester" instead of "bister"). The English fellow presnters kept laughing at her for a while.
Sorry Damian...I'm not insinuating that Scottish people in general have problems with pronouncing these place names in the "proper" way. :-)
Liz....some Scottish broadcasters DO have problems with some of the English place names - I've heard them hash up names south of the border now and again. A place with a name like Bicester just invites a mispronunciation though doesn't it? .... just like their English counterparts do with many of our Scottish names, especially if they are not so familiar with them...naturally lack of familiarity does breed ignorance, so it's understandable when people make dogs' dinners out of them.
I would have thought that the familiar "-cester" endings in names like Gloucester, Worcester and Leicester would have given a wee bit of a clue as to how the name Bicester should be pronounced, but as I've said before - nothing in the UK is set in stone is it?
Much of what we do and say isn't quite what it seems to be on the surface - an example of this is our dry sense of humour and skill in the art of piss-taking which all too ofen can be misconstrued and a cause of some offence by people at the sharp end of it. The British scene, like our English Language, is beset with irregularities, and having Cirencester pronounced, correctly, as "SIREN-sester" doesn't do much to encourage people to think otherwise.
Did you know that Bicester (located a few miles north east of the city of Oxford and with a population of only 30,000) has six Tesco stores scattered about the town...one superstore on the outskirts, and five Metro and Express stores across the rest of the place. Local people refer to Bicester as Tescotown.
I would have thought that the familiar "-cester" endings in names like Gloucester, Worcester and Leicester would have given a wee bit of a clue as to how the name Bicester should be pronounced, but as I've said before - nothing in the UK is set in stone is it?
Much of what we do and say isn't quite what it seems to be on the surface - an example of this is our dry sense of humour and skill in the art of piss-taking which all too ofen can be misconstrued and a cause of some offence by people at the sharp end of it. The British scene, like our English Language, is beset with irregularities, and having Cirencester pronounced, correctly, as "SIREN-sester" doesn't do much to encourage people to think otherwise.
Did you know that Bicester (located a few miles north east of the city of Oxford and with a population of only 30,000) has six Tesco stores scattered about the town...one superstore on the outskirts, and five Metro and Express stores across the rest of the place. Local people refer to Bicester as Tescotown.
"Worchester" in the US is pronounced "Wooster". How do you guys pronounce it in the UK?
and the sauce, suprise surprise, is pronounced "Woostersher " in America. Do you guys in the UK pronounce it differently? You always say you have different pronunciations for these town names.
***Worcestershire....Do you guys in the UK pronounce it differently?***
It depends on which side of the Anglo/Sottish border you are in the UK when it comes to pronunciation of the name of this fair English county (and the sauce to which it gave its name).
We Scots tend to say "WOOSTURR-shy-urr" while the English themselves say "WOOS-tuh-shuh".
Do Americans use Worcestershire sauce in any big way? That surprises me somehow but I'm not sure why.
It depends on which side of the Anglo/Sottish border you are in the UK when it comes to pronunciation of the name of this fair English county (and the sauce to which it gave its name).
We Scots tend to say "WOOSTURR-shy-urr" while the English themselves say "WOOS-tuh-shuh".
Do Americans use Worcestershire sauce in any big way? That surprises me somehow but I'm not sure why.
Worcestershire sauce is nice sprinkled on the top of a Welsh rarebit -or a Welsh rabbit as some people mistakenly call it.
It's the other way around:
"The term Welsh rarebit was evidently a later corruption of Welsh rabbit, being first recorded in 1785 by Francis Grose, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The entry in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage is "Welsh rabbit, Welsh rarebit" and states: "When Francis Grose defined Welsh rabbit in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue in 1785, he mistakenly indicated that rabbit was a corruption of rarebit....
In his 1926 edition of the Dictionary of Modern English Usage, the grammarian H. W. Fowler states a forthright view: "Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong. "
http://www.reference.com/browse/Welsh+rabbit
I'll stick to cheese on toast.
"The term Welsh rarebit was evidently a later corruption of Welsh rabbit, being first recorded in 1785 by Francis Grose, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The entry in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage is "Welsh rabbit, Welsh rarebit" and states: "When Francis Grose defined Welsh rabbit in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue in 1785, he mistakenly indicated that rabbit was a corruption of rarebit....
In his 1926 edition of the Dictionary of Modern English Usage, the grammarian H. W. Fowler states a forthright view: "Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong. "
http://www.reference.com/browse/Welsh+rabbit
I'll stick to cheese on toast.
Damian do you live near Saw-chee-hall?
Somebody left a note for me to arrange a service engineer to visit the "M&S in Sauchiehall St, Edinburgh". My Scottish boss laughed his head off when I read out (aloud) "So-chee-hall Street". Realising I may be mispronuncing it I tried "Saw-chee-hall?" but that just made him laugh even louder. After I made several more failed attempts my boss was laughing so much he was almost crying with laughter. He deliberately made me phone our Scottish Service Engineer (who kept asking "where?" to me) before letting me know I was getting it wrong. In my defence I've never been to Edinburgh or Sauchiehall.
I got my own back with "Trottiscliffe".
Somebody left a note for me to arrange a service engineer to visit the "M&S in Sauchiehall St, Edinburgh". My Scottish boss laughed his head off when I read out (aloud) "So-chee-hall Street". Realising I may be mispronuncing it I tried "Saw-chee-hall?" but that just made him laugh even louder. After I made several more failed attempts my boss was laughing so much he was almost crying with laughter. He deliberately made me phone our Scottish Service Engineer (who kept asking "where?" to me) before letting me know I was getting it wrong. In my defence I've never been to Edinburgh or Sauchiehall.
I got my own back with "Trottiscliffe".
I have an American lecturer who teaches Molecular Biology and she absolutely creases me up with some of her pronunciations. Today she pronounced "Fungi" as "FUN-JI" (OR FUN-JUY - the juy part sounding like guy but with a J instead of a G).
Generally, here in England, the pronunciation would be "FUN-GE (the 'ge' part sounding like key but with a G instead of a K).
The poor lady did get a few laughs out of that one bless her.
When Americans say "Momentarily" confuses me as in "the plane will be landing momentarily". When I heard that I got worried!
Of-course, I could certainly see how the Americans would find some of our pronunciations funny as well. Such as "clerk" being said as "clarke" or "mall" as "male". These two examples are rapidly diminishing mind, but I bet a fair few yanks have shaken their heads at those!
Generally, here in England, the pronunciation would be "FUN-GE (the 'ge' part sounding like key but with a G instead of a K).
The poor lady did get a few laughs out of that one bless her.
When Americans say "Momentarily" confuses me as in "the plane will be landing momentarily". When I heard that I got worried!
Of-course, I could certainly see how the Americans would find some of our pronunciations funny as well. Such as "clerk" being said as "clarke" or "mall" as "male". These two examples are rapidly diminishing mind, but I bet a fair few yanks have shaken their heads at those!
"Do Americans use Worcestershire sauce in any big way? That surprises me somehow but I'm not sure why."
I have worked in food service for many years. We keep Worcestershire Sauce on hand at all times, but I seldom get a request for it; one or two bottles in the establishment fits our needs just fine. (However, it is often used in Hollandaise sauce, a popular sauce used in Eggs Benedict.)
Oddly enough, I would dare to say that more Worcestershire sauce is consumed in the bars than in restaurants. (It's used in mixed drinks such as Bloody Marys.)
I have worked in food service for many years. We keep Worcestershire Sauce on hand at all times, but I seldom get a request for it; one or two bottles in the establishment fits our needs just fine. (However, it is often used in Hollandaise sauce, a popular sauce used in Eggs Benedict.)
Oddly enough, I would dare to say that more Worcestershire sauce is consumed in the bars than in restaurants. (It's used in mixed drinks such as Bloody Marys.)
Andy - Sauchiehall Street..it is actually a street and not a place! - is in Glasgow and not Edinburgh!!! You could say it's the equivalent of our Edinburgh Princes Street but nothing like as elegant or scenic or even as international ! How come you got the wrong city? ;-)
I take it your Scottish boss set you straight with the correct pronunciation of Sauchiehall......I also hope you cleared your throat before you attempted it - the "ch" sound, as in German, and Welsh for that matter, is very guttural and quite alien to English people with their woefully inadequate non Anglo Saxon skills which is why they make God awful messes of Machrihanish or Ballachulish or Auchterarder or our delectable Kinloch Rannoch.....that invariably throws them. As do the Welsh place names when they are in Wales and attempt Machynlleth or Abersoch...apparently the English always say "sock" for the last syllable there which drives local people up the wall and back down again in a Celtic rage...well, hardly but it does annoy them but then realise that they are English after all and allowances are made. ;-) No offence intended there, pal!
Btw Andy - do you really live in a converted oast house? How cool is that! Where my maternal grandparents live, down in Herefordshire, England - a county very similar to Kent in the sense of it having plenty of hop fields and orchards - in the countryside on the edge of a small town -there are lots of oast houses and some of these have been converted into very nice homes with all mod cons but I've never been inside one. It must be like living in a barn conversion....sounds idyllic to a city lad.
OK - you told your boss how to cope with Trottiscliffe. Has he managed Meopham yet? Or Eynsford? How about Wrotham Hill? Or Horsmonden? Or is that one pretty straightforward? Not many in Kent are by all accounts! ;-)
Cheers.
Jasper:
Worcs (official abbreviation for Worcestershire btw) sauce is put into in Bloody Mary's by pub staff here as well...I assume you know who Bloody Mary was? ;-) I like it on a steak.
Welsh rabbit - ok - I'll call it that from now on.
I take it your Scottish boss set you straight with the correct pronunciation of Sauchiehall......I also hope you cleared your throat before you attempted it - the "ch" sound, as in German, and Welsh for that matter, is very guttural and quite alien to English people with their woefully inadequate non Anglo Saxon skills which is why they make God awful messes of Machrihanish or Ballachulish or Auchterarder or our delectable Kinloch Rannoch.....that invariably throws them. As do the Welsh place names when they are in Wales and attempt Machynlleth or Abersoch...apparently the English always say "sock" for the last syllable there which drives local people up the wall and back down again in a Celtic rage...well, hardly but it does annoy them but then realise that they are English after all and allowances are made. ;-) No offence intended there, pal!
Btw Andy - do you really live in a converted oast house? How cool is that! Where my maternal grandparents live, down in Herefordshire, England - a county very similar to Kent in the sense of it having plenty of hop fields and orchards - in the countryside on the edge of a small town -there are lots of oast houses and some of these have been converted into very nice homes with all mod cons but I've never been inside one. It must be like living in a barn conversion....sounds idyllic to a city lad.
OK - you told your boss how to cope with Trottiscliffe. Has he managed Meopham yet? Or Eynsford? How about Wrotham Hill? Or Horsmonden? Or is that one pretty straightforward? Not many in Kent are by all accounts! ;-)
Cheers.
Jasper:
Worcs (official abbreviation for Worcestershire btw) sauce is put into in Bloody Mary's by pub staff here as well...I assume you know who Bloody Mary was? ;-) I like it on a steak.
Welsh rabbit - ok - I'll call it that from now on.