The English language can be a funny thing sometimes. There are a lot of linguistic quirks that differ in each part of the country and sometimes it can be tough to know your Shrewsbury’s from your Loughborough’s. In fact we have created a list of most common UK place mispronunciations and we have even included some handy tips on how to say them correctly (even though often the local’s will say it completely differently). Good luck and make sure you impart your pronunciation wisdom with your travel buddies… or not and watch them get questionable looks from the locals.
Greenwich
Like the colour, it is common to think that ‘Greenwich’ is said ‘Green-Witch’, but far from it being a Halloween outfit it’s actually pronounced ‘Gren-itch’. Greenwich is a district is South London and is the home of the Greenwich Meridian line and the time zone Greenwich meantime, so it’s a pretty important place with a strange name.
St Pancras
Another London location, this famous station is often named after the upper part of the abdomen, known as the Pancreas; this can get confusing as St Pancras station is actually pronounced ‘sent Pank-rass.’ This station is one of the biggest in London and mostly has trains going to and from the Midlands; you can also get on the Channel Tunnel from this station.
Bicester
Bicester is a town in North-eastern Oxfordshire that is pretty well known for Bicester Village a luxury designer outlet where you might spot Kate Middleton shopping well-known designers like Celine, Sandro and Gucci. But forget designers, Bicester is pronounced ‘biss-ter’ NOT ‘bi-sess-ter’ which is how it’s commonly mispronounced. So make sure you are heading to the right place to get your discounted designer clobber.
Shrewsbury
This town is located in Shropshire and has a population of about 72,000 people and 660 listed buildings. The town of Shrewsbury is not so simple when it comes to the pronunciation of the place with even locals disagreeing on the exact way to say it. With the difference apparently being which side of the river Severn you live on. So either ‘shrows-bury’ or ‘shroos-bury’ you can decide for yourself.
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of the UK; it is also the name of a famous sauce made since 1835 by Lea and Perrins. A video went viral of Italian-American Pasquale Sciarappa trying to say Worcestershire Sauce with true dedication. The proper recognised pronunciation of Worcestershire is ‘Wuss-ter-shear’, so next time you’re looking for this famous sauce remember this pronunciation and hopefully you won’t struggle like Mr Sciarappa.
Edinburgh
The Scottish capital city is often mispronounced as people can get confused by the different ways to say ‘burgh’. For example in America ‘Pittsburgh’ is said ‘Pitts-berg’, whereas Edinburgh is said ‘Edin-burra’. The Edinburgh locals are especially concrete in the way people should say the name of their city, and it sounds especially great when said with a unique Scottish lilt.
Chiswick
Chiswick is an up-market West London Borough and is also home to the gorgeous Chiswick House and Gardens. London is home to many phonetically disruptive places and Chiswick is no exception, it’s pronounced ‘Chiz-ick’ with no ‘w’ sound to be heard.
Ely
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, and was recently named one of the most commonly miss-pronounced words in the UK. Many people have apparently been pronouncing it ‘Ee-lie’ when actually it’s pronounced ‘Ee-lee’, of course! Ely also has a beautiful Cathedral that started being built in 1083, making it 932 years old and an amazing reason to visit this commonly mispronounced place.
So there you have it, a plethora of commonly mispronounced places that you can now drop into conversation and visit with ease, safe in the knowledge that the locals won’t instantly know that you are a confused tourist.
The article is written in partnership with Virgin Trains to promote their new route to Shrewsbury.
20 Comments
Shikha (whywasteannualleave)
14 March, 2015 at 9:48 pmHaha this made me chuckle – I’m local to Greenwich and can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it pronounced green witch! Though for many years as a child of thought St Pancras was pronounced St pancreas!
Hrvoje
11 March, 2015 at 8:16 pmBoth funny and entertaining 🙂 I haven’t thought of this before. I wouldn’t have a clue how to pronounce Ely if I haven’t read here!
Emma
10 March, 2015 at 9:21 pmHa ha brilliant, so many of these kind of places!
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:24 pmVery true!
Scott
10 March, 2015 at 9:20 pmVery fun post, nice one 😉
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:27 pmThanks Scott!
Mens Flip Flops
10 March, 2015 at 12:33 pmGreat article, so true how many people I have heard mispronouncing Worcestershire and Bicester!
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:27 pmYes another to add to the list!
Andrea
9 March, 2015 at 10:59 pmTry Oswaldtwistle, pronounced Ozultwissle. It’s a town in the North West of England
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:28 pmHa ha that’s definitely a tricky one!
Vicky
8 March, 2015 at 12:46 pmIn the U.K. I realized that a few citizens are using the English language a bit different than others.
Yes, I know that they switched the “a” with “o” in pronouncing, but this is not all.
There are also a few idioms and slang words which I first heard only when I visited a pub in east London.
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:30 pmThe East End has a language all of it’s own! That’s another post… 😉
Jean | Holy Smithereens
7 March, 2015 at 12:11 pmTricky!! This is very useful. I find St Pancras the hardest to pronounce among the lot 🙂
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:31 pmYes I think many people do, the English language is a funny thing!
Mike
7 March, 2015 at 4:55 amWe have an Ely in Nevada! Pronounced the same way. This was sooooo much fun to read, Graham! It would be fun for a trivia game at parties – seriously. A really funny thing is how badly Americans (even constantly on tv cooking shows) absolutely slaughter the pronunciation of Worcestershire. Great post and have a fantastic day! 🙂
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:32 pmHey glad you liked it Mike, have a fantastic day too!
The Guy @flightsandfrustration.com
6 March, 2015 at 4:21 pmAh great points made here, we certainly do have a weird and wonderful language. Little wonder many other nations tell us that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn.
Good example with Shrewsbury, I’m never quite sure on the correct one.
This also reminds me of when they released telephone directory numbers (118 etc) to the free market. Do you remember when they outsourced the call centres to Asia. There was uproar in the UK media because everytime someone asked for a number in Leicester the call centre handler asked “How will you be spelling Leicester?”
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:33 pmHa ha great story thanks Guy! 🙂
Elle Croft
6 March, 2015 at 2:23 pmHaha, great piece. Helpful for first-time visitors. Don’t forget the often mispronounced Leicester (and Leicester Square) too, though! It’s ‘Less-ter’, not ‘Lye-chester’ as it’s often called.
Graham
10 March, 2015 at 10:35 pmThanks Elle, yes that’s a commonly mispronounced one too!