How do you pronounce the family name of The Who’s front man? Is it Towns-Hend, with S and H being pronounced as distinct consonants, or is it Town-Shend, with S and H drawn together to form the sh sound?
“Town’s end”. Never heard it said any other way.
I always thought it was pronounced “Townzend” (with the English Z sound, not the German).
The H is silent.
Well, I pronounce it ‘Towns und’ but that’s probably just my accent coming into play.
So the S sounds like an S and not like a Z?
No, it’s a hard “z” sound, like “town’s end”.
I always hear TOWNZ’nd (the ’ marking a schwa sound).
Roger Daltrey is the Who’s front man! 
Fairly sure it’s “Town’s end”, thanks to my remote family connection (too often mentioned here).
Mrs M’s mother’s younger sister (one of twins) was the first Mrs John Entwistle.
It sounds like an S used at the end of a word, which is to say it sounds like a Z and not like an S used at the beginning of a word.
Just call him Pete. All of us Who-geeks do.
Definite minority vote here. Our high school history teacher always pronounced it just like it’s spelled when discussing the Townshend Acts.*
Actually you pronounce it however the person named Townshend pronounces it.
- 1767 - The perfidious British Parliament wanted us to pay for the French and Indian Wars just because they were fought in our defense. Can you imagine such gall?
Town-shend? Maybe he wanted to sound like Sean Connery. 
And yeah, those bastardos!
Um, the British government thought that the colonies should be more revenue neutral, including covering the cost of protecting the crown’s possessions from the perfidious French. They most certainly were not fighting in defense of the colonists, per se.
Hijack!!! :eek:
From individuals I’ve met named Townshend, I’ve normally heard it pronounced like “TOWNZ-hend” or “TOWNZ-end”. I have never heard it pronounced with the SH together.
Roger Daltrey pronounces it “CUNT”.
Hairsplitting. The colonists were living on the crown’s possessions and it was hardly possible to protect the possessions without protecting the colonists, surely.
“…Not while she poured from Pole to Line
Treasure and ships and men;
Those worshippers at Freedom’s shrine
They did not quit her then.”
Do they not get along?
I thought that the only reason Townshend was still touring with The Who was because the other bandmembers needed the money even though he doesn’t because he gets tonnes of royalties.
i can’t see how we can trust the Engligh on pronunciation of their language.
Anyone who would pronounce “Magdalene” as “Maudlin” is way around the bend.