# If Worchester is pronounced "Wooster" is... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592 "2008-11-01T17:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/21 "2008-11-01T23:00:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Ah, but nothing identifies an outsider like somebody who mispronounces Peabody. Or Billerica. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/22 "2008-11-02T00:13:34Z")
> [@Lionne](#): > > Or Billerica. You guys are on an East Anglian theme tonight - Billericay proves tricky for many, too 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/23 "2008-11-02T01:42:42Z")
I’m from Yeovil, which is quite close to Dorchester. We always pronounced it as spelled (doorchester, where the e represents a schwa because I don’t know what the windows code for a schwa is) ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/24 "2008-11-02T01:54:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m from Yeovil Good god. . . . . [change subject] . . . . No love for Bicester, then? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/25 "2008-11-02T01:56:41Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > Good god. …but haven’t been there since about 1998. I did most of my growing up in Sherborne, anyway- I remember Westlands, the Quedam, Huish Park, and the Barclays Bank on the High Street, and that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/26 "2008-11-02T01:58:57Z")
Nothing, but nothing is more nonsensical than the pronunciation of English town names. I have a D.Phil in English history and I lived in England for seven years and I still managed to mispronounce “Southwark” during a major presentation (only four people complained). ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/27 "2008-11-02T01:59:20Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > Worcestershire is thus the Anglo-Saxon name for the district around an old Roman garrison town. God knows who or what "Wor"was The Brits like to drop their "H"s, so it’s pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/28 "2008-11-02T02:07:11Z")
> [@Lionne](#): > > Or Billerica. Or Haverhill. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/29 "2008-11-02T03:30:06Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > …but haven’t been there since about 1998. I did most of my growing up in Sherborne, anyway- I remember Westlands, the Quedam, Huish Park, and the Barclays Bank on the High Street, and that’s about it. Westlands the helicopter engineering social club? Don’t know it. What of Picester-Savart anyway? I fear some English town-names are falling out of fashion. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/30 "2008-11-02T07:25:31Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Don’t be obtuse. It’s “Master”. :rolleyes: Yes it is. We don’t like to boast about it though:cool: ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/31 "2008-11-02T07:41:36Z")
I lived in Seattle and Washington state has its share of crazy pronunciations, starting with Sequim, pronounced “skwim”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/32 "2008-11-02T09:11:54Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Or Haverhill. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/33 "2008-11-02T11:09:44Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Nothing, but nothing is more nonsensical than the pronunciation of English town names. I have a D.Phil in English history and I lived in England for seven years and I still managed to mispronounce “Southwark” during a major presentation (only four people complained). Just down the road from here is the town of Southwell. Nobody (including the BBC) can decide whether it should be pronounced south-well of suth-ell. Now for a really difficult one, how do you think Happisburgh, in Norfolk should be pronounced? Mind you we won’t have to worry for much longer as the whole place is rapidly falling into the sea because of coastal erosion. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/34 "2008-11-02T11:59:22Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > No love for Bicester, then? No. The designer outlet doesn’t have big enough discounts. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/35 "2008-11-02T12:24:51Z")
No outsider ever gets the pronunciation of Havre right, especially if they assume we’re secretly French. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/36 "2008-11-02T13:09:28Z")
I’d like to say that Americans who pronounce Leicester as ‘Lie - Sester’ are completely logical. On behalf of the English, I hope we didn’t embarrass you. :o Soon my campaign to replace ‘pavement’ by the more descriptive ‘sidewalk’ will gather steam… ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/37 "2008-11-02T13:34:22Z")
This is a little bit off-topic, but years ago Massachusetts had a governor named Peabody and his critics used to say that he was the only governor to have three towns in the state named after him: Peabody, Marblehead, and Athol. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/38 "2008-11-02T14:06:14Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > Now for a really difficult one, how do you think Happisburgh, in Norfolk should be pronounced? Mind you we won’t have to worry for much longer as the whole place is rapidly falling into the sea because of coastal erosion. Not sure about that one, though I wrote about the place in my dissertation. “Haps-boruh” was my guess. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/39 "2008-11-02T14:13:44Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Don’t be obtuse. It’s “Master”. :rolleyes: Supporters of Manchester’s attempt to stage a marathon have to be very careful. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592/40 "2008-11-02T18:08:14Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Not sure about that one, though I wrote about the place in my dissertation. “Haps-boruh” was my guess. Believe it or not, it’s Haze-borough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-worchester-is-pronounced-wooster-is/470592.md?page=3)