I remember reading that some British names and places weren’t pronounced phonetically as a shibboleth for the aristocracy to determine who was merely a bourgeoisie pretender with “new money”. A couple of other examples from the nobility:
Spelling - Pronounciation
Belvoir - Beaver
Beaulieu - Bewlee
This one for “schedule” irks me:
Us: Skedule
British: saidule
All the above examples seem to depend on the degree to which the speaker is open to French influence. Is is the case that British aristocrats generally speak French?
How about Featherstonhaugh pronounced /fanshaw/ or /fenshaw/? And then Worcester pronounced /wooster/?
Actually I think its Shed-u-al
For some reason the c isn’t pronounced.
I assume this is the column?
I think they’re trying to schmooze us.
I always hear it as “shed-jewel”.
No one’s mentioned Quixote, St John, or jaguar yet?
I remembered being baffled when I learned that Thames doesn’t rhyme with James…
Drunken French, then.
Right up into Victorian days, it was pronounced “sedule” on both sides of the Atlantic.
The latin schedula became the French cedule on the way to our schedule.
Schmooze is a great example.
Have you heard how the Dutch pronounce “sch”? That’ll throw you off the scent. Be warned before you try it yourself, it can get a bit phlemy!
It’s Americans that mispronounce Jaguar as “jag-wah”. Everywhere else, it’s jag-you-ah. And if we’re talking big cats, I was completely mystified as to what a “poo-ma” was until I saw a picture and realised it’s what Americans call a puma. Which is correctly pronounced “pew-ma”, in case you’re wondering.
It irks me too, because Aus has a holier-than-thou attitude towards pronunciation that they turn on themselves.
It was skedule in my school, which was 75% hereditary Australians, and skedule all across northern Victoria according to my friends and contacts. But shedule is the “correct” pronunciation, and anyone who doesn’t pronounce it that way isn’t Australian enough.
I want so, so much to believe this about enlisted men in the British Army.
“Sergeant, what is your report?”
“Well, Lieutenant…”
[smirks] “That’s leff-tenant.” [/sing-song]
Both are mispronunciations, though I’d argue that jag-wahr is a darn sight closer to what they’re called in their natural range.
The same holds double for “puma” (they’re our cats, for crying out loud).
Two I’ve noticed:
Aluminum
American: A LOO mi num
British: Al you MIN you mum
Nicaragua
American: Nic a ROG wa
British: Nic a RAG you wa
The spelling is different: aluminum vs aluminium
I don’t think any English speaker knows the correct pronunciation of Quixote. Is it kee-o-tay or quik-sot?
Lord Byron went for the latter:
A jest, a riddle, Fame through thin and thick sought!
And Socrates himself but Wisdom’s Quixote?
Another oddity is Magdalene College - Mawdlin College to you and I.
But, for me, the stupidest pronunciation of all is Cholmondeley - which of course we all recognise as Chumley. Really.
Enroughty, of course.