# Another British pronunciation question.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 13, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813 "2005-08-13T01:46:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/1 "2005-08-13T01:46:33Z")
More ignorance fighting needed.
I havn’t seen it for a while, But James bond’s fake last name in _A View to a kill_ is always said as 'Sinjin Smythe". But later Walken looks him up on a computer and his name comes up as ‘Saint John Smith’(I think, but I havn’t seen in in a while it could be ‘St. John’)
That’s one I never ran across before. Is Saint(or St.) John commonly called sinjin? Is it just a variation that some families with the name use? Are other Saint names similarly contracted? is Susan St. James called ‘Susan Sinjum’ over there?
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### Author:  [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/2 "2005-08-13T01:50:12Z")
There’s a character in _Jane Eyre_ with the name of St James, and my English Lit lecturer, and every adaptation I’ve seen of the novel, called him “Sinjin”.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/3 "2005-08-13T01:50:28Z")
> [@wolfman](#):
>
> More ignorance fighting needed.
> I havn’t seen it for a while, But James bond’s fake last name in _A View to a kill_ is always said as 'Sinjin Smythe". But later Walken looks him up on a computer and his name comes up as ‘Saint John Smith’(I think, but I havn’t seen in in a while it could be ‘St. John’)
>
> That’s one I never ran across before. Is Saint(or St.) John commonly called sinjin? Is it just a variation that some families with the name use? Are other Saint names similarly contracted? is Susan St. James called ‘Susan Sinjum’ over there?
This was also a joke. St. John Smythe was a well-known pseudonym for the Saint. 😛
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### Author:  [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/4 "2005-08-13T01:51:20Z")
> [@Sarah Woodruff](#):
>
> There’s a character in _Jane Eyre_ with the name of St James, and my English Lit lecturer, and every adaptation I’ve seen of the novel, called him “Sinjin”.
:smack: Actually it was St John - so “Sinj **u** n.”
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/5 "2005-08-13T02:06:43Z")
Yep, “St John” as a surname is pronounced that way. The confusion this causes also crops up in _Four Weddings and a Funeral_ (the name’s uncommon enough cause many Brits problems, too).
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### Author:  [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/6 "2005-08-13T02:35:38Z")
And don’t forget St. John (Sinjin) Hawke (Stringfellow’s brother) from Airwolf!
Not as classy as Jane Eyre, I know. Sorry…
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/7 "2005-08-13T03:00:09Z")
Not to mention St. John Quincy from [OK Crackerby](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058834/) (pronounced “sinjin quinzy”).
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/8 "2005-08-13T07:16:54Z")
And [Norman St John-Stevas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_St_John-Stevas,_Baron_St_John_of_Fawsley) (ennobled as Baron St John of Fawsley), the well-known British author, barrister and member of Parliament.
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### Author:  [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/9 "2005-08-13T09:08:53Z")
It’s one of those names like Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw) or Cholmondeley (Chumley).
Just say Sinjun and don’t worry about it.
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### Author:  [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/10 "2005-08-13T09:48:52Z")
Same sort of thing - when she was a young girl in Co. Laois (Ireland) in the 1930’s, my mother knew an Anglo woman whose name was St Leger - pronounced “Sellinjer”.
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### Author:  [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/11 "2005-08-13T11:35:00Z")
[St. John Polevaulter](http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/python/Scripts/TheContradictionSketch)
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### Author:  [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/12 "2005-08-13T18:11:15Z")
> [@irishgirl](#):
>
> It’s one of those names like Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw) or Cholmondeley (Chumley).
Or, “Alexander Luxury Yacht”.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/13 "2005-08-15T09:06:25Z")
> [@irishgirl](#):
>
> It’s one of those names like Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw) or Cholmondeley (Chumley).
>
> Just say Sinjun and don’t worry about it.
These could be said to be examples of a ‘shibboleth’, the correct pronunciation of which confers a higher class status on the user.
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### Author:  [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/14 "2005-08-15T13:39:19Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#):
>
> Or, “Alexander Luxury Yacht”.
Raymond Luxury Yacht?
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### Author:  [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-british-pronunciation-question/316813/15 "2005-08-15T14:03:54Z")
> [@av8rmike](#):
>
> Raymond Luxury Yacht?
Damn, you’re right, now that I check it. Don’t know why I remembered “Alexander”.
Thanks.