What's with the golly-goshing a'postrophes?

[Enzo the Magnificent]

26 minutes ago, Alan P said:

Still surprised me that Gloucester, Massachusetts is pronounced properly, I expected it to be called 'Glowsester' or something, along the lines of other US cities named after better known world counterparts, like Cairo, Illinois (Kay-ro) or Madrid, NY (Maad-rud).

 

Mind you, we don't help ourselves in the UK.

 

Worcester   -  pronounced "wuster"

 

Costessey,  a suburb of Norwich  -  Cossey

 

Potter Higham,  a town north-east of Norwich  -  Po'ram

 

California,   a village on the coast of Norfolk  -  Carney

 

Setchey,  a town south of King's Lynn  -  Setch

 

and then there are surnames...

 

Wooster  -  Wuster

 

St John  -  Sinjun

 

Menzies  -  Mingus

 

Cholmondeley  -  Chumley

 

Raymond-Luxury Yacht   -  Throatwarbler Mangrove

 

 

 

[hairystick]

1 hour ago, pigsty said:

That's because Turkey has recently taken to calling itself Turkiye in international relations as well as at home.

How recently? The locals used that pronunciation when I was there in 1997.

[KevinK]

Well, given that the world's oldest known buildings are at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, dating from around 11,500 years ago, I would say that 1997 is pretty recent by their standards.

[Seawinder]

4 hours ago, Alan P said:

Still surprised me that Gloucester, Massachusetts is pronounced properly, I expected it to be called 'Glowsester' or something, along the lines of other US cities named after better known world counterparts, like Cairo, Illinois (Kay-ro) or Madrid, NY (Maad-rud).

Here in Massachusetts we also have a Worcester, which we pronounce Wuster, and a Leicester, which we pronounce Lester (both as in the UK, I believe?) However, we also have a Leominster, which we pronounce Le-min-ster, while apparently it's Lemster in the UK.

 

One of my favorite moments in the old movie "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" is when the Russian sailors are trying to figure out the pronunciation of Cloucester (the fictional name used for the island on which they run aground -- probably Nantucket): "Glou-kes-ter?"

[Alan P]

7 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

and then there are surnames...

 

Wooster  -  Wuster

 

St John  -  Sinjun

 

Menzies  -  Mingus

 

Cholmondeley  -  Chumley

 

Raymond-Luxury Yacht   -  Throatwarbler Mangrove

Not gonna lie, you had us in the first half 😂

[Graham Boak]

Different causes for those.  Most of them are just slurring, missing out parts that slow down the word, and (usually) follow fairly clear rules/trends/habits - like the Ch sound in the old Roman Chester (which wasn't spelt like than anyway, in Latin).  The outsider is Menzies/Mingis, which is an error caused by misinterpreting old handwriting, where the old symbol standing for g has been read as a z.  Much as Ye Olde English Tea Shop comes from the Anglo-Saxons bundling th into a single letter which has been mistaken for a Y.  Actually they had two options (called eth and thorn) for two different ways of pronouncing th, which current English ignores in spelling but retains in spoken language.

 

Linguistics is quite fascinating, at times, in picking out the patterns in how languages change with time.

 

PS But how did Newcastle United come to be pronounced Toon?

[Chimpion]

10 hours ago, hairystick said:

How recently? The locals used that pronunciation when I was there in 1997.

I think it's been called that in Turkish since the foundation of the modern republic. The change is that they're trying to insist on, and seem to have largely succeeded in, is everyone using the Turkish name for the country rather than the English name. It'd be like having to start calling Italy "Italia" all the time. While they're obviously free to call the country whatever they like in Turkish, personally I don't see why they should have the right to impose a change on the English language.

 

[-Ian-]

10 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 

Mind you, we don't help ourselves in the UK.

 

Worcester   -  pronounced "wuster"

 

Costessey,  a suburb of Norwich  -  Cossey

 

Potter Higham,  a town north-east of Norwich  -  Po'ram

 

California,   a village on the coast of Norfolk  -  Carney

 

Setchey,  a town south of King's Lynn  -  Setch

 

 

Caldmore - Karma

Milngavie - Mullguy

Mousehole - Muzzle

Slaithwaite - Slawit

 

 

[RAF4EVER]

Bicester-Bister

 

Towcester- Toaster

 

Reading- Redding [I have heard Americans call it Reading{as in a book}]

 

High Wycombe, have also heard Americans call it Hi Why Combee,

 

Windsor, also been called Winedsore by guess who?

[-Ian-]

55 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

 

 

PS But how did Newcastle United some to be pronounced Toon?

Toon is the geordie pronuncation of town.

 

It's a quirk or British cities that the locals often refer to their city centre as 'town'. My theory as to why the geordie version became the nickname of Newcastle United is it's down to the location of the ground. Compared to other big city clubs, St James' Park is unusually close to the historic centre of the city, so any locals attending a home game would have been 'going into town' in order to reach the ground.

[PLC1966]

14 hours ago, pigsty said:

That's because Turkey has recently taken to calling itself Turkiye in international relations as well as at home.  Unusual for the Yanks actually to change their usage and get it right.  I still occasionally hear one of them mentioning Qatar and it comes out more like Kuddr ... which I suppose isn't much worse than Catarrh.

The cousins ahead of their time.  I was in Incerlik for four months back in 2000, the local American Forces Network Radio station, called maybe Radio Freedom or Radio Liberty, was using the phrase constantly.  It took me a few days and hangovers before I could work out what they meant.

[RAF4EVER]

16 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the origin of the nickname.

 

In the past the nickname "Rock Ape" has been attributed to their traditional role guarding areas of Gibraltar, but this is not so. The term came into use after an accident in the Western Aden Protectorate in November 1952. Two RAF Regiment officers serving with the Aden Protectorate Levies at Dhala decided to amuse themselves by going out to shoot some of the hamadryas baboons (locally referred to as "rock apes"). The officers drew rifles and split up to hunt the apes. In the semi-darkness one of the officers fired at a moving object in the distance. When he reached the target he discovered he had shot the other officer. After emergency treatment Flight Lieutenant Percy Henry Mason survived to return to service a few months later. When asked by a board of inquiry why he had fired at his friend the officer replied that his target had "looked just like a rock ape" in the half light. The remark soon reverberated around the RAF and it was not long before the term was in general use.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Regiment

We used to call Commando comics, [ remember them] Rockape AP's

 

When I joined the RAF, in Nov71, Rockapes were Fireman/Gunners.

Edited February 16 by RAF4EVER

[Chrisj2003]

1 hour ago, -Ian- said:

Toon is the geordie pronuncation of town.

 

It's a quirk or British cities that the locals often refer to their city centre as 'town'. My theory as to why the geordie version became the nickname of Newcastle United is it's down to the location of the ground. Compared to other big city clubs, St James' Park is unusually close to the historic centre of the city, so any locals attending a home game would have been 'going into town' in order to reach the ground.

 

"going into town" sounds southern; "in toon" sounds right.

 

Chris

 

..siting at my desk looking at St James as I type.

[Mike]

We've got one close by.  Hawarden, where the Mossie used to live, which is right next to the Airbus factory that used to make A380 wings IIRC.  It's pronounced Harden.  I remember a financial adviser in Liverpool telling me she wanted a mortgage arranging for a client in Harwarden (pronounced as it's spelt). 19 year-old me thought that was hilarious

[593jones]

51 minutes ago, Chrisj2003 said:

 

"going into town" sounds southern; "in toon" sounds right.

 

Chris

 

..siting at my desk looking at St James as I type.

 

Here in Barnsley is's ''gooing rahnd tarn'

 

Any other variations?

[pigsty]

45 minutes ago, Mike said:

19 year-old me thought that was hilarious

12-year-old me would have found Harden pretty funny, too.

 

As this started out with punctuation, quick QI question: what's the only place in the UK with an exclamation mark in its name?

[Mike]

8 minutes ago, pigsty said:

12-year-old me would have found Harden pretty funny, too.

It wasn't the smutty connotations of 'Harden' that made me laugh, as I've lived with the name since I was a nipper, so I didn't even think about it.  it was just the shock of someone NOT knowing how to pronounce it properly.  I was young and had lived a sheltered life, I guess?

[RAF4EVER]

11 minutes ago, pigsty said:

12-year-old me would have found Harden pretty funny, too.

 

As this started out with punctuation, quick QI question: what's the only place in the UK with an exclamation mark in its name?

Westward Ho!   

 

https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjt6cG2irCEAxVBxQIHHfrfCVwQFnoECDEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWestward_Ho!&usg=AOvVaw2IWA0Dnmxi8wy417Qf-_3S&opi=89978449

[IanHx]

20 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 

 

 

I'll let you all speculate on the abbreviation of the Technical Instructor Training course.

 

 

Do Technical Instructor Training courses have to be taken in pairs ?

[Mark Harmsworth]

Bosham = Bozum

Cosham = Cosham

[Skodadriver]

Up here in Scotland

 

Milngavie = Mulguy

Strathaven = Strayven

Culross = Cooross

Footdee = Fittie

 

I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.

 

I got caught out in Northumbria by not realising that Ulgham is pronounce "Uffam", of course.

 

Dave G

[Retired Bob]

51 minutes ago, IanHx said:

Do Technical Instructor Training courses have to be taken in pairs ?

I only did it once. 

 

4 hours ago, RAF4EVER said:

When I joined the RAF, in Nov71, Rockapes were Fireman/Gunners.

I was a few months after you, square bashing at RAF Swinderby in Feb 72.  You are correct about the firemen wearing the RAF Regiment shoulder flash but the trade nickname was Water Rats, not sure if that sounds better than Rock Apes?  

[Wez]

From the Isle of Wight:

 

Shorwell - Shorrel

Bowcombe - Buccum

 

From the New Forest:

 

Beaulieu - Bewlee

Dibden Pulieu (about 3 miles from the above) - Dibden Perlew

 

Hampshire (at least as spoken by non-poshos or should that be posho's ) - Ampshur

[Seawinder]

4 hours ago, pigsty said:

As this started out with punctuation, quick QI question: what's the only place in the UK with an exclamation mark in its name?

I've been to the only town in the world (according to Wikipedia) with two exclamation marks in its name: Saint-Louis-du Ha! Ha! It's a tiny municipality in Quebec, Canada. A brochure from the municipality states that the Ha! Ha! is an old French slang term for "impasse," referring to a lake located in the town.

[RAF4EVER]

1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

I only did it once. 

 

I was a few months after you, square bashing at RAF Swinderby in Feb 72.  You are correct about the firemen wearing the RAF Regiment shoulder flash but the trade nickname was Water Rats, not sure if that sounds better than Rock Apes?  

If I remember correctly [Nov 71, was a long time ago{where have all the years gone}], we had a guy that was posted to RAF Mount Batten, after square bashing, for Trade Training and final posting, he was MTB crew. a trade that no longer exists.