10 London Words You'll Say Wrong

[@ivolloxy3030]

I’m from London yet I love these videos

[@loveandlondon]

:)

[@davidtsang5424]

Same here

[@DC4444]

We have a lot of British place names in New Zealand. Leicester is used as a street name in some towns and cities. We also have a town called Thames, with the Kauaeranga River south of Thames and is also located on the Firth of Thames. We also have Liverpool St, Chancery St and St. Paul Street opposite St. Paul's Church in Auckland's CBD.

[@mpokketscam5611]

nz was British colonial area

[@theautumnjoneslake]

I love this! So helpful. My husband and I will be in London in less than two weeks for a book signing and we're so nervous! I've been watching your videos and starting to feel better about the trip.

[@loveandlondon]

No need to be nervous Autumn, you'll have a GREAT time!! :) You'll see how easy everything is once you arrive.

[@theautumnjoneslake]

Thank you!

[@richardscales9560]

London is used to visitors. Youll be fine Just follow common sense.

[@Bejewelle88]

I'm a Londoner and I never knew Spitalfields came about due to hospitals nearby (I just thought it was a weird-arse name) - the fields are long gone, now, lol!

[@loveandlondon]

Haha wish there was still fields! Although there's kind of a field at Spitalfields Farm... ;)

[@MagicaLucem]

There are loads of places called Spital...in Britain. Not actually hospitals but close! They are from the sites of the ancient medieval monastic order of The Knights Hospitaler. ...not what we normally think of as hospitals. ..more like hotels. ..or rest places...the monks were just being hospitable... The ho part in hospital was aspirated...Brit's do aspirate hard sounds...even the French do it. The word Hotel in french has no H sound....and in the US too the word Herb has no H sound either. ( The Brit's do say Herb with a hard distinctive H...they won't understand "erb" ) Back to the plot.... Aspiration is a big thing in Brit speak...many letters are lost today. Like the letter T in the British word "water"... It's wah-er. Butter is the same... Brit's say BU-er. BU as in but ..but without a t. (??). So finally....why we're there any fields in Spitalfields. . The fields are of course the land owned by the monastery from which the monks earned their revenue and grew their food..one cannot live on charity alone...can one. Oh and while we are at it... The word FIELDS... Is "felled" ... No its not pronounced that way....but that's what it means...land where the trees have been felled. Felled Lands...are fields... Easy isn't it. So sadly. ..no hospital in Spitalfields ..only a place where soldiers ran motels....Oh yes ..real warriors with dangerous weapons and a mean attitude were the Knights Hospitalers.

[@loveandlondon]

(oh also there's no hospital anymore but there used to be one !)

[@DaChaGee]

Spital ist German for hospital! 😉

[@TheCorek1949]

Being English I've always called it Marry-le-Bone, rather then Mar-le-bone. Couple of streets in London and an area in the Midlands called Belvoir, which can throw people. Try Beever.

[@cdeford]

Yes, me too.

[@blackcountryme]

How about Mousehole... Hahaha... Although wyre-piddle is said exactly that way. I'm from West Bromwich.. (Brom itch)

[@SvenTviking]

blackcountryme Mowsel.

[@SvenTviking]

I don’t think there is a real fixed pronunciation for Marylebone. I’ve heard “Mar-le-bone”, “Marry-le-bone”, “Mary-le-bone”, all work.

[@EnglishwithJoe]

I am a Londoner, yet you taught me something new. I always say ' The Thames River' but you are right, it should be 'The River Thames' - Cheers!

[@loveandlondon]

:)

[@The-Great-Brindian]

I'm from London and I've never said 'The Thames River' THOUGH I don't see the issue with someone saying it that way at all. Surprised however you never heard it being referenced as 'The River Thames' , its how the majority refer to it.

[@TripHacksDC]

Very interesting! I've given tours of the National Mall to many Brits over the years but never heard Mall pronounced the way you do in London. I guess they studied up before their trip!

[@loveandlondon]

Actually shopping malls are pronounced the "normal" way btw, it's just that one name ;)

[@leohoward3159]

We Brit's were born here it's unlikely to pronounce it wrong Jess is American so it's understandable she may mispronounced it when she first came here give her a break.

[@leohoward3159]

Plus her audience is mostly American too so she wants to help them pronounce the names of areas better.

[@redsquirrel1086]

Your videos are helpful and informative. Thank you.

[@thepymes]

Hey lovely people from outside of the United Kingdom, the world famous sauce used in everything from savoury dishes to Bloody Marys is correctly pronounced, Wustersher Sauce! If you find this confusing, be grateful that the city's name evolved from the Anglo-Saxon, Weogorna Ceastre from the time when it was located in the ancient Kingdom of Hwicce!!

[@londoncali6437]

Clapham in South London is pronounced as Clap-um instead of Clap Ham and same applies to Twickenham (Twickenum) or Tottenham (Totnum). I was born in East London (an EastEnder) but raised in LA (Long Beach) although due to job transfer I'm back in London almost 3 years ago with my Cali accent - I used to have a Cockney accent. Maybe you could talk about British TV if you haven't done so and how it is different to programs in the USA. I know from experience living out in USA for 26 years about the lack of knowledge on British TV - the only thing they are exposed to are the likes of The Office, Are You Being Served, Dr Who, Downton Abbey, Monty Python, The Inbetweeners, Red Dwarf, Benny Hill yet when you talk about London the one program that is about life in urban London is the well known hugely popular Britcom called Only Fools and Horses - a lot of the UK slang came from this No.1 Britcom voted by the BBC. But yes, outside of London there are places in and around UK that is pronounced differently to how it is spelt such as Warwick (pronounced as Warrick), Derby as Daaby, Lincoln as Linkon, Cambridge as Camebridge I watched a lot of your videos and they are well done - very informative.

[@The-Great-Brindian]

Jellied Eels Pie Mash n Liqour Sir ? yummy lol

[@teknekon]

Love this Jess! Very helpful. Great job. Thanks again for all the insight and tips. Love and cheers! 👍💗😘🇬🇧

[@loveandlondon]

Hello Teknekon!! Have a great weekend :)

[@gabyroberts9601]

Thanks thanks for the info

[@sallystarz3409]

I lived in London years ago and love reminiscing while I watch your videos. Cheers!

[@loveandlondon]

:) Thanks for watching Sally

[@aleciafinley216]

So helpful! Thanks!💙

[@loveandlondon]

welcome! :)

[@nataliaaaaaa4190]

Studying abroad in London in January and not sure how to pronounce Bermondsey station. Thanks for the help nervous 😬

[@WMD4929]

Ber-mon-zee (d is silent); or maybe ber-mun-zee.

[@wandilemngomezulu5772]

How's studying in London?

[@liukin95]

As a Brit, I never knew that I was saying Marylebone wrong! I would always pronounce that as it looked!

[@loveandlondon]

Haha it's such a tough one!

[@borderlands6606]

Marylebone has a number of pronunciations, all of them acceptable. Marley-bun is the most common. Morilebone is also used.

[@adamnouboud3577]

the word buckingham. you pronounce "bucking-ham" but I thought it was "bucking-em"? PS: love your videos

[@vincebartlett1939]

Yep, Americans tend to pronounce the ham bit fully, whereas the British version tends to be am or possibly em . We have a thing about silent letters ;)

[@waynerooo]

Right, just like Birming-um.

[@loveandlondon]

Yeah the Brits say it as 'em'.

[@crysyeatsthesky]

Hey, great video :) Wondering how Ruislip is pronounced. I've heard it's pronounced Rice -lip is that correct?

[@loveandlondon]

Nailed it!

[@normfarris3430]

Living in new England, we are used to saying some of these places names the UK way (like Greenwich and Leicester).

[@NishaDavdraOfficial]

I think I say the Mall as Maul and you missed Bicester pronounced Bister....that got me until I was 36!

[@loveandlondon]

Hahaha that's a tough one!!

[@eviltwin2322]

Nisha Davdra Never mind Bicester, how about Cholmondley, Kirkcudbright, or my favourite, Belvoir?!

[@NishaDavdraOfficial]

Not even heard of these oops! Or I have and can't put the names to the spelling!

[@severs1966]

bist-uh, chum-lee, ker-coo-bree, beaver.

[@peonyshitake]

Very useful. Thanks!

[@loveandlondon]

You're welcome Adeen!

[@tomkelly00]

How do you say Worcestershire

[@loveandlondon]

wuss-ter !

[@MonikaDaily]

Loved this! I struggled with some of those names too. Another one is Bicester (not in London i know) but a weird one too ;) x

[@loveandlondon]

It definitely is a weird one!

[@anthonyofderby6980]

The rule of thumb for 'cester' is to ignore the 'ce' i.e. Bister though if it follows a double vowel drop the second one e.g. Gloucester > Gloster. Try it with Leicester

[@dianasarg4868]

Thanks that's helpful!

[@loveandlondon]

Thanks for watching!

[@bingboyify]

Wow I just went to Spitalfields last week when visiting the UK from China and all these names drove me crazy! (not to mention I was living in a b&b in MARYLEBONE. I was trying hard to hear how the London underground voice call it but the broadcasting voice was so unclear. Now i learned.) Love your videos!

[@loveandlondon]

Haha aw it's ok!!

[@musik102]

I notice Covent Garden get pronounced like "Coe-vent" by lots of folks from the US,

[@DenissaAnneS]

Thanks! / Cheers!

[@loveandlondon]

thanks for watching!

[@CalgarySalsaCongress]

Hey - the links in your video for the Guide and other resources aren't working. Can you please update them? Thanks!

[@loveandlondon]

Hi there, unfortunately we're having some unscheduled down time with the site so I will let you know when it's back up. Sorry about that!

[@loveandlondon]

Hi there, our site is back up. You can get the guide here: loveandlondon.com/london-101-guide-main thanks for your patience.

[@CalgarySalsaCongress]

Thank you very much!

[@sdstreiker]

Gerrods Cross?

[@TheTaits08]

I would like to plan a trip to England but not sure I want to stay in London. I was thinking of staying and touring Bath instead. Where do you recommend for a first time visitor? I would like to get a more historical experience rather than a large metropolitan city. I know there are very old and historical parts of London but it seems very modernized as well compared to some of the other cities. Not to mention London is a lot more expensive. What do you suggest though?

[@loveandlondon]

Hey! Well, it really depends on you, you'll have to answer that yourself :) You can really dig into Bath in about a day and a half (when there's nice weather, less when there's not.) There's of course loads more to do in London.

[@loveandlondon]

Also check out this article: www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/london-attraction/historic/historic-houses-and-palaces

[@sharpey2006]

Get the train to Bath, you can do it as a day trip from London Paddington easily enough.As for historical London, you can do the Palaces and the Tower etc. That's a well worn path.Alternatively, you could do the Naval stuff in Greenwich. As an aside, Greenwich Park gives the best views of London in my opinion. The problem is London is such a big city with so many different strands of history. There's much I have never seen but would love to. You'll always have more to do. Most of London is 'historical', you turn a corner and see a blue plaque commemorating something or someone everywhere in London.My biggest advice would be to just walk through the parks. Most people think that's their highlight and I'm thinking former French and American Presidents here. London is expensive but the £ is weak due to the Brexit (fiasco) vote, so you may find you have more bang for your buck...just don't eat in the tourist areas around Leicester Square and you should be fine. One last bit of advice, go see a show.

[@Summerbunny15]

Borough Market is another one people find hard to say- its pronounced "Bara" not "Borrow".

[@mahmoodhussain24]

Knightsbridge - silent K

[@loveandlondon]

Do people say ka-night? 🤣

[@andreichivu7653]

Vauxhall ??

[@loveandlondon]

Vawks-hall

[@The-Great-Brindian]

one of the hardest city names to pronounce in the USA for me once was 'Massachusetts' damn its insanely hard to even spell. 'Mass - a - chew - sits' that is how i say it now. also Mississippi, which if I'm not mistaken is a state in the USA. but when i was 12 i used to say Hawaii as 'Ha - wee - wee', much to the laughter of all my class mates and with that the year started on a dark note, i was bullied for much of it thereafter. i just wish the world gets thru this covid pandemic quickly so i can take a much needed holiday. I've got a few places in mind, most notably payru and papas new guinness.

[@loveandlondon]

haha love it

[@BlaXo11]

Is it kind of an unwritten general rule that all "w" letters in names of places are always silent except for those what are first or last letter of the word? For example Woolwich is the same case and I've heard that pronunciation so many times that I always try not to pronounce those "w's" . Is it right?

[@vincebartlett1939]

No, there are few rules (and even less logic) about British place names. Bideford for instance... (Pronounced biddy ford)

[@loveandlondon]

I'm not sure! I guess all of the cases of that that I know follow what you said :)

[@vincebartlett1939]

Thought of one. Ipswich (pronounced ips-witch), but otherwise this may be the case Harwich pronounced harrich, Norwich as norrich, Woolwich us woolich

[@freddyt55555]

How do you pronounce "St. John Smythe"?

[@sylvy16]

I am going to London and edinburgh/glasgow in May and my birthday is also in may

[@loveandlondon]

Lovely!

[@Captally]

I thought Greenwich Village is a well known part of New York so there should be little difficulty with that one, surely? Then there is New Hampshire. Americans pronounce the Hampshire part the same way as we pronounce most of our county names so why the hardship when they arrive in the UK?

[@loveandlondon]

Can't assume everyone is familiar with Greenwich Village in NYC or New Hampshire... these videos are watched by people from all around the world :)

[@spartansh22]

Doughty st? As dough-ty or dow-ty or daw-ty?

[@StewartStewart]

How do you pronounce Harringay?

[@loveandlondon]

As you'd think :)

[@martinhughes2549]

The Thames river is in Ontario I believe! In the UK as you say "River" goes first before the river name.

[@quitefranklybb]

I'm American and I'll be traveling to London in the next few months. I'm sure it's pointless and probably rude for me to attempt to use an English accent. But should try to pronounce certain words like the Brits, such as tomato, leisure, mobile, vitamin, etc?

[@loveandlondon]

I wouldn't worry about it. I personally still say many of those words the American way :)

[@liukin95]

Us Brits are very used to American English, we have a lot of American TV shows and films here. Don't try too hard.

[@gracea3213]

I didn't know how to pronounce Trafalgar.

[@gracea3213]

quitefranklybb don't worry about it. It's not expected of you to change your accent. Just be yourself, be respectful, and have fun!

[@eviltwin2322]

quitefranklybb You'll be fine just pronouncing them how you're used to. We'll know what you mean. It's only when we have different words for the same thing that you might have to accommodate us a little, but even then it could be the stimulus for a fun conversation!

[@cookityourself1651]

More importantly, s-cone, or s-con? That is the question!

[@loveandlondon]

Lolz. DISCUSS

[@cookityourself1651]

Either way, delicious with clotted cream!

[@Alex-dm8yq]

s-cone, like gone, scone

[@cookityourself1651]

Very opinion splitting this!

[@Brissles]

Even Brits argue about this, hah

[@b_altmann]

Lots of foreign location names in the US, all imported by the many immigrants. I guess they just named the new settlement after wherever they came from; London, Liverpool, Brighton, Paris, Kiel, Berlin etc. If you’re from NY you already know Brighton Beach and Greenwich Village 😊

[@AM-tb9ps]

How do you pronounce READING

[@loveandlondon]

Red-ing

[@translate2travel-traducciones]

Not in London, but the city of Reading is not pronouced like "reading a book" but as /redin/ :-)

[@loveandlondon]

yes!

[@MattPebb]

Gloucester!!

[@za7426]

OMG - How can I forget Lei - ces - ter Square. Every person gets that wrong first time. And just for good measure there's a city up in the Midlands called Leicester.

[@MarkTillotson]

Several similar UK place names, Bicester (pronouned bister), Towcester (pronounced toaster).

[@du5ksama]

What about gloucester?

[@loveandlondon]

Yup! That's a good one.

[@mscott3918]

Gloster. How about trying cholmondley or Fetherstonehaugh or Buccleuch?

[@KarolisJurevicius]

“Don’t worry, you will be corrected.” Oh boy, yes you will 😁

[@bobbie3359]

I went 🤭when I heard from another channel how Bicester is pronounced 🤓

[@JustinQuiksilver]

Not London but further up north Warwick is pronounced ‘wurrick’. The second w is silent.

[@loveandlondon]

Yes!

[@thechildofgodpodcast116]

A mall is a shopping centre in Australia 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@KeithGadget]

Pronounced like a native 👍

[@loveandlondon]

Bout time. Only 4.5 years in 😂

[@KeithGadget]

TheStgmp44 if you wish to look at it that way, then so is most of the World 👍

[@kxolsen]

How about "Grosvenor"?

[@loveandlondon]

That's a weird one! You ignore the s :)

[@severs1966]

Say it as grow v'nuh

[@kaydahl]

I studied abroad for a summer and was right near Tottenham court. The first thing they told us at orientation was its pronunciation and I'm so glad I was saved from that one!! Another common pronunciation we dealt with was the need to say Westmin-ister... don't know why the tendency always fell that way but that blunder was pretty embarrassing 🙈

[@loveandlondon]

Haha ah no well there's just no way to get them all right! ;)

[@johnswan2642]

Ok Jess, so how do you pronounce Plaistow????? Not that any tourists go there!!! Cheers John Swan

[@loveandlondon]

I'm not gonna lie I struggle with that one for some reason lol

[@Georgie84923]

yorkshire

[@loveandlondon]

That's not a London word but a good addition ;)

[@musicman101ist]

Theydon Bois is often rather difficult to pronounce

[@MycketKar]

There are a lot of words in the UK that don't sound how you think.

[@punit6490]

Orpington and pettswood

[@loveandlondon]

The ton is "tin" and pettswood I believe is just how its spelled :)

[@sthcalguy3024]

I guarantee I'll still say "Mall" as in shopping mall, but thanks for trying to help me... :/

[@loveandlondon]

It's ok :D

[@cloudsofsunset7323]

I say southwark as it's sounds it is horrible but I like it even more in British way

[@unknownunknown-su1cj]

London English

[@chandansharma800]

I remember when I first landed in London and everytime I pronounced the name Piccadilly line wrong 😂😂

[@loveandlondon]

Haha oh no! Oh well, everyone gets a few free passed ;)

[@chandansharma800]

Love and London 😀😀 that was my first ever trip to abroad last year and am lucky that I got to visit London (y)

[@loveandlondon]

:D

[@cyberlion6083]

Both the L and the R are not pronounced in Holborn, most Londoners don't realise this either and like you only make the R silent.

[@loveandlondon]

Hm yeah, I checked with some people and how it sounds seems to really depend on your accent!

[@cyberlion6083]

Yeah its a very traditional way of saying it, you hear it in the announcements on busses and underground. The norm has definitely changed over time. Personally I say it the same way as most other Londoners with only the R silent

[@mahadevan08]

Rotherhithe

[@mohammedmudabeered6821]

British English to American English

[@vxg3206]

Dunno how to read borough

[@northguy2367]

Bura

[@barrymiller3385]

Yup ho bern or hoe bern it is. (Not holl burn.) Otherwise that's a pretty good effort. 😉

[@loveandlondon]

Many people say Holburn, I've asked around on this. It just depends on your accent how it actually comes out.

[@barrymiller3385]

Hmmm..... I realise that a substantial number of British people (including locals) pronounce it with an audible L. So it could be argued that wide usage has made this pronunciation correct. I'm not sure that I would accept this. Many people say less when they mean fewer or infer when they mean imply - but it doesn't make it right. There is another classic example where as many people living in Shrewsbury pronounce it with the first syllable rhyming with shoes whereas it should rhyme with toes.

[@loveandlondon]

Good thing it's just a word then ;)

[@borderlands6606]

When I lived in Holborn we pronounced it Hobe'n, with the n as an afterthought. Not as long as ho-bern, especially with a North American accent, which would make it ho-buurrn. A lot of English pronunciations are contractions, so Cholmondley is Chumley, and Ulgham is pronounced Uffam(!). There are no rules to these things and if people think you're from overseas they won't care how you say it.

[@michaelscott7166]

I live in Keighley in West Yorkshire and most Londoners can't pronounce it properly!

[@loveandlondon]

How do you say it!! :D

[@michaelscott7166]

Love and London. It's not even particularly easy to spell out phonetically but Keethly is close as in the name Keith with the "li" in lit on the end.

[@loveandlondon]

Cool!

[@borderlands6606]

As the "th" sound is increasingly pronounced "ff", a lot of Brits can't pronounce Keighley either.

[@keithlowe9336]

Hampstead is pronounced 'ham sted' rather than 'ham steed. Woolwich is pronounced 'woolitch' . Lewisham is 'lewishum'.... and it goes on

[@alexg3348]

All true, and proves how dumb the rules of original english is! LOL !

[@loveandlondon]

Yes! And how hard it must be to learn it as a second language!

[@eviltwin2322]

Alex Gutierrez We'll the thing to remember is that it's a hybrid language with influences from a load of ancient (and not so ancient) languages - Anglo Saxon, Friesian, Norman French and many more, so every rule has numerous exceptions depending on the ethnic origin of the particular words you're using. So yeah, in short it must be a nightmare to learn! On the positive side, though, it means you can break the rules to a ridiculous degree and still be understood. That can't be said for most languages.

[@Zaintistry]

You've never done a best places to live as a student! 🙄

[@loveandlondon]

There isn't really a "best places to live as a student" because everyone's situation is different, so many different places will work for all different types of people.

[@arullmalhotra2605]

Um... you forget the Buckingham palace!