13 London place names tourists always pronounce wrong

[@robertwatford7425]

Charles Dickens often published his work in Newspapers. A Tale of Two Cities was first published in two small provincial papers: it was the Bicester Times, it was the Worcester Times...

[@urkerab]

Not having read the book, I always imagine the two cities are the City of London and the City of Westminster. (Please don't enlighten me, I don't want to know.)

[@jimbo6059]

@@urkerabit was London and Paris in the book.

[@paulparkhead]

That is unforgivable 😁😁

[@serinadelmar6012]

😂

[@watchvidjedi]

That is gold my friend! *tips hat*

[@AnnatheBanannaa]

Surprised that Marylebone wasn't on the list

[@carolinetaylor5594]

This was the first one I couldn't understand on my initial trip to London years ago. Waited for the voice over on the tube to hear how it was pronounced.

[@femcymoedd535]

As a child living in London I said 'ma-ruh-luh-bone' because that's what my parents called it. The first time I heard it said on the Tube as 'mar-lee-bone' I nearly burst out laughing because I was convinced the announcer had got it wrong. Even though I now know the announcer was/is correct, I still say it the old way in my head.

[@simonpowell9975]

@@femcymoedd535 I think this is one where they are both considered correct. I remember hearing (but this is totally unverified) that they got the voiceover lady to record it both ways in case it changes again.

[@kooltom4]

Me too, it always stumped me as a kid playing monopoly.

[@scdl-m2z]

@@femcymoedd535the buses say “mah-ruh-le-bon” and the tubes say “mar-lee-bone”, so both are correct

[@durabelle]

Finnish audience here, thanks for remembering us 😄

[@thennuti]

The happy Finnish audience 🎉😂

[@finnsuomi1719]

Here another Finnish fellow who loves ruisleipä 😂

[@mikkomalinen2641]

We are many!

[@didndido3638]

@@thennuti Uuuiuihh...someone's watching the news!

[@DaveCollison]

The river Lea is spelt like the vegetable, pea or the vast expanse of water, sea. And there’s also a canal called the Lee navigation.

[@zoeadams2635]

For many of the "rules", there are exceptions. For example, the W in Sandwich (the place, not the food) is not ignored.

[@barneylaurance1865]

Not ignored in the food either, which named after the place, via its earl.

[@NotThatOneThisOne]

Sandwich isn't in London

[@robertfoulkes1832]

Ipswich, Northwich, Middlewich, Nantwich and Droitwich also pronounce their "w"s, but Norwich and Harwich don't.😊

[@PiousMoltar]

@@robertfoulkes1832 Berwick and Alnwick also don't. But I once got told I was wrong for dropping the w in Ingleby Barwick.

[@paulnewman2000]

'wich' and 'wych' are interesting, as 'wich' usually meant 'place' or 'village', and 'wych' usually meant 'white'. However to an extent the spellings were interchangeable. Aldwych is a place by the river where Alder trees grew, but there is some uncertainty whether the 'wych' refers to the white colour of the stripped Alder branches that were used in basket weaving, or whether it just meant 'place'.

[@ib9rt]

I won't be first to say it, but there are two cities in London, the City of Westminster, where the modern upstart government has lived since around 1200, and the City of London, where the ancient city has stood since Roman times.

[@nealjroberts4050]

Plus the unofficial city of all the boroughs.

[@TheEnthusiasticHobo]

Me, a Canadian, correctly saying Streatham with full pride and confidence because I used to live nearby as if I didn’t get half of the previous words wrong 😂

[@JPRobinso]

Saint Reeth'um

[@MsPeabody1231]

​@@JPRobinso😂😂

[@elaineb7065]

Me, instantly saying STRETHm Evan: says STREThm Me: ???

[@EyeGlassTrainofMind]

As a New Englander who spent some time in Worcester, MA I've never been uselessly prouder to see all of these words and pronounce so many of them correctly at a first go. There are some differences in emphasis on some words i.e., we typically pronounce berry di-sylabically or emphasize 'ham' instead of blending into h^m, but overall it's fun to see a lot of the words over my way have stuck around (especially in a lot of townie accents). Very cool to learn about vowel shifts within the same language that I otherwise would've been ignorant. Thanks Evan!

[@boston_octopus]

Yes! I grew up in Massachusetts and went to college in Worcester. Funny how we kept the English pronunciation of English place names all these years.

[@sariannach]

Agreed on all counts from here in Worcester County 😂 Evan would lose his mind trying to pronounce plenty of New England places... and probably get confused between Southie and the South End of Boston too!

[@metalswifty23]

My experience of hearing New Englanders talk is that you retain a lot more of the original accent of southern England (what you will still find in the West Country today), than, say, if you went even just a little bit south to NYC/NJ where the accents are drastically different (I can't say I've heard an Upstate New York accent, so I won't include that).

[@JuniperBoy]

How do you pronounce 'buoyant', 'buoyancy'? I'll bet they don't start booee...😂

[@felicity2626]

Boy-ance-see

[@Paul99T]

It's funny I'm British but I say "Buoy" as "Boo-ee" but "Buoyancy" as "Boy-ancy" ... cross-fertilisation 🤣

[@BeatboxNorwich]

I've seen those buoys and always thought 'life boy' but having never thought about buoyancy it obvs makes sense it's pronounced 'boy'

[@oliviawolcott8351]

a little. yep. we sneak the u in a bit. not strongly, but its there. it almost sounds like boy, but not quite. and no that is not pronounced Kite.

[@Goldlucky13]

genuinely do say "boo-yincy"

[@caseygecko]

i'm pretty sure that part about leaving out Rs is an accent thing not a pronunciation thing - english accents are non-rhotic, i.e. Rs tend to be left out in certain parts of words. there are place names in ireland with british names, for example there's a grosvenor road in dublin and as irish accents are rhotic we pronounce it grove-ner including the R. similarly if i as an irish person were in london i'd pronounce holborn as hoh-burn - if i pronounced it hoh-bun it'd just sound to me like i were putting on a british accent. hope this helps!

[@jujutrini8412]

English accents are non-rhotic. Scotland, part of Great Britain, is rhotic!

[@caseygecko]

@@jujutrini8412 thank u, corrected!

[@johnbaird4912]

@@jujutrini8412 Not in the West Country, it’s rohtic accent

[@jujutrini8412]

@@johnbaird4912 Oh yeah, how could I forget about the beautiful West Country accent. I LOVE listening to Cornish and Bristolian people speak.

[@stevenhuffnagel]

You're from Ireland, so you're rolling your R's. That's not the same as rolling your arse.

[@njiska]

Shrewsbury is fun. Famously, even the locals can't agree between Shroosbury or Shrowsbury

[@neuralwarp]

In the County of Shrewpshire?

[@janebaker966]

Shrowsbury is supposedly the posh version while us common oiks say Shrewsbury. I know someone of the former practice,let's say that uppper poshness is either incongruent with the lifestyle or very congruent as the rackety alcohol fueled lives of many artists and intellectuals through history prove. Posh but pissed.

[@crose7412]

@@neuralwarp In the county of Salop.

[@nigellong51]

I lived in Shrewsbury in the 1960s. Although the different prounuciations are now class-based (Shrowsbry being the posh version), back then it was more whether you lived on the English or Welsh side of the town (the latter saying Shrewsbry).

[@djs98blue]

@@nigellong51 A bit like the class-based difference between Baarth and Baff - both are used in and around Bath by locals.

[@felicity2626]

If you’re really posh and live in the Home Counties, a quick journey by train into London, you say you’re going ‘into town’ when going to London… even if you actually live in a town, an hour from London…

[@ciara1045]

i live in a small town near birmingham and when my parents say theyre going into town it can mean going to the local high street, going to the larger town nearby, or going into birmingham :')

[@jimbo6059]

We do say that. I live on the Surrey Sussex borders and we say going into town.

[@nathangamble125]

I used to live in Watford. Whenever we were "going into town", it meant we were walking or driving to Watford's town centre, not going to London. "Going into the city" would be taking the tube to London. I don't think we were really posh though, definitely middle class. Maybe it's a more upper class thing, or maybe it's more of a thing on the South side of London or in smaller villages.

[@therealpbristow]

Not necessarily posh. We were "lower-middle class" (according to the quiz-test in our regular newspaper!) when I was growing up, and Mum would refer to her frequent trips up to London (to visit her own Mum) as either, well, "going up to London" or "going into town".

[@petergaskin1811]

Or... Up Lunnon.

[@zetectic7968]

Quay is key and makes perfect sense because it is from the French quai(kay), as in Quai d'Orsay in Paris thus the u is silent. From Wikipedia "The word borough derives from the Old English word burg, burh, meaning a fortified settlement; the word appears as modern English bury, -brough, Scots burgh, borg in Scandinavian languages, Burg in German. " the abbreviation boro' for borough is used on signage but that doesn't imply pronunciation.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

ok, but in american english Qua always makes a Kwa sound. so its always prouned Kway in american english. a Quay as you pronounce it, if there is one will be spelt Key in american english, like the florida keys. it isn't wrong, its just different.

[@j.wellens5660]

What is your stance on Bury? ( the town on the outskirts of Greater Manchester?) - should it be Berry as most people pronounce it, or Burry as most locals do?

[@nathangamble125]

We are the borough. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

[@therealpbristow]

@@nathangamble125 Heh! Local politics just got real... =:oD

[@erinh7450]

​@@oliviawolcott8351 Quay is pronounced 'key' in American English too. Look it up, you can even toggle between Brit/US - both key, no alternatives. You probably have only read it? If you live where there are quays, you'll hear it pronounced that way.

[@orangew3988]

It never fails to tickle me how many videos and content the Great Vowel Shift continues to provide for the internet. Obviously there's other influences and reasons for unexoected pronunciation in London, but the vowel shift really does explain a lot of the vowels.

[@RequiemWraith]

Some others from around the UK: Gotham - pronounced Go-tam Belvoir - pronounced Beaver Cholmondley - pronounced Chumley Fowey - pronounced Foy Teignmouth - pronounced Tinmuth Leominister - pronounced Lem-ster Gateacre - pronounced Gataka Daubhill - pronounced Dobble Blackley - pronounced Blakeley And just to further confuse things, Greenacres - pronounced Grinickers (note the difference to Gateacre, got to love regional differences!)

[@mitabpraga7487]

Trottiscliffe in Kent. That gets pretty much everyone...

[@RequiemWraith]

@@mitabpraga7487 t-row-ts-clif?

[@jandenijmegen5842]

What about Beaulieu (UK). A disaster to pronounce when you (also) speak French. Don't forget to visit the motor museum if you can find it once you mispronounced Beaulieu.

[@RequiemWraith]

@@jandenijmegen5842 I think that's Bew-ley? Can't recall how I know it, but I've come across the name before

[@jandenijmegen5842]

@@RequiemWraithBew-ley is right. It is pronounced unlike the Cuvée Beaux Lieux 2022...

[@nicka3697]

I love how everywhere south of the Thames is South London and everywhere North is north London even when the wriggly River is actually running North to South or South to North which means of course that some small bits of South London are actually north of bits of North London.

[@marionbayley1351]

You really have to realise what a divider the River Thames is! That’s from way back in history when London only had one bridge (London Bridge) which led into the square mile that WAS London. Westminster was a separate city. I have only ever lived in South London and feel as though I’m in a foreign land when I cross the river.

[@ianhopping105]

So, not a proper Londoner then 😅

[@KenFullman]

I used to lived in East London for the first 20 years of my life but felt distinctly uncomfortable on the few occasions I travelled south of the river. Before the M25 was built, if I ever travelled to the west of town (Heathrow or the west country), I could save over an hour on my journey by simply crossing to the south at Tower Bridge, then returning to the North at Battersea Bridge. The traffic on the North side was always grid locked while the south (especially at weekends) was a ghost town. The reason for this was that, most people on the North side of the river, didn't have a scoobie what was on the other side. So they never went there. I could have probably saved even more time if I'd travelled further west on my detour but Battersea was where my own knowledge of the south side ran out.

[@SiqueScarface]

For Ruislip, the pronunciation makes sense, as the name is Old English (rysc hlyp), with the y turning into ui in spelling, but into i in the pronunciation, similar to the ij in Dutch.

[@SiqueScarface]

The problem with City of London vs. city of London is that for most of its history, London was not incorporated into a city at all. It was just London, a region around the two cores of City of Westminster and City of London stretching into several counties. If I remember correctly, Greater London was incorporated for the first time in 1981, disolved and again incorporated.

[@mystixa]

That could be (and probably is I just don't know for sure) correct legally, but thats not what most people are (mis) speaking over. When asked about the major cities of the world one of them would often include London. So when talking about a large pile of building near the Thames with a London Bridge, a famous clock, and some castles many people will say its the city of London. Perhaps legally incorrect, but the object we're communicating over is still understood which is the whole purpose.

[@SiqueScarface]

@@mystixaProblem is: There is a place called City of London. And this is, where the Tower of London and the London bridge are actually located. But there are Islington, and Kensington and City of Westminster and Soho and Mayfair and what the names of the boroughs are. They don't belong to the City of London, they belong to Greater London though. It's a similar issue with Holland vs. The Netherlands. Many people, especially those not living in The Netherlands like to identify Holland with The Netherlands, despite actual Holland being only the two provinces of Noord and Zuid Holland, but not Zeeland nor Utrecht nor Limburg nor Groningen. It makes no difference if you are outside of The Netherlands. It also makes no difference if you are outside of Greater London, then you just throw everything into the "London" pot and are fine with it. But as soon as you are there, and ask for the city of London, then people will point to that one little place north of the Thames river with the big medieval castle.

[@thorstenjaspert9394]

Were the London boroughs independent cities before the Industrial Revolution? London is similar to Berlin in Germany. It is said that Berlin consists of a thousand villages.

[@SiqueScarface]

@@thorstenjaspert9394 They were independed cities until 1981, and then again in the 1990ies.

[@WMD4929]

'London' wasn't really a thing until the County of London was established in 1889. It was split into a number of boroughs and was under the control of the London County Council (LCC). The built-up area was referred to as the metropolis and certain functions were carried out across it. There was a Metropolitan Board of Works which looked after infrastructural works across it. In 1965 the current Greater London was established and the resultant boroughs combined to give the present 32 (and the City).@@thorstenjaspert9394

[@charleshedley4381]

Of course there is part of Woolwich on the other side of the river. It's called North Woolwich, and it's in East London (Borough of Newham [pronounced "nyoo·uhm"]). Check it out.

[@DavidJCane]

Indeed that's the part of East London that used to be Kent until the County of London stole it in 1888.

[@michaeljeacock]

the only purpose for north Woolwich is to be a place for the ferry and foot tunnel to connect to on your way to somewhere more interesting. I would hardly say it is worth checking out.

[@tappyg]

"Not sponsored, please stop gambling!!!" That's gold!!!

[@therealpbristow]

You wanna bet? =;o}

[@waynemansfield1527]

On one of our trips to the US from here in Australia, we were staying at the Warwick Hotel in Seattle and on arrival at SeaTac we could not understand why no-one had ever heard of the Warwick until someone finally said, "Oh you mean The War Wick" so it goes both ways

[@vrenak]

I'm from Denmark and I too woukd have talked about the "Warrick".

[@oliviawolcott8351]

oh, yeah... that's something we should warn other english speakers from around the world about. especially from the uk and austrailia/NZ.

[@elaineb7065]

WHAT THE Heck!!! It's clearly WARRick, you don't pronounce that second w...

[@mystixa]

Well .. we in the US have a long history of changing a lot of British english word pronunciation into American english versions for use over here. ...soccer anyone? (not the best example really since the brits used that one originally as well, but is a famous difference). The Warwick hotels started in New York originall named by Hearst who was born in San Francisco, so lacking a lot of our NE tendency toward more British pronunciation. So when its traditionally british but over here in the US you may well just have to wait to hear a local say it in order to know which variant is 'correct' for the area. ..cause we often but not always go with pronouncing the letters as general American.. and ignoring them as local american.

[@davidconnor2458]

In Boston, they pronounce Greenwich Street the way it is spelt (as heard on the automated announcement on a Green Line train).

[@dglthrawn1]

Wait till you get out into deepest, darkest Devon. There are two villages about 40 miles apart that are spelled the same, but pronounced completely differently. I'm talking about Woolfardisworthy and Woolfardisworthy. The one near Bideford is pronounced Woolsery, and the one near Crediton is pronounced as it is spelled.

[@hannahbee567]

Gotta love names in the South West ❤

[@lucie4185]

Justice for FrithelstockStone

[@seashore961]

This is going to haunt me, thank you

[@jorgehurford1742]

I'm from devon; in my opinion we set these wierd names up as a joke, to confuse people!

[@magicmulder]

"I'm from Raxacoricofallapatorious, it's pronounced weesh." :D

[@JennaGetsCreative]

My sister's middle name is Lea pronounced Lee. We've always figured you need the H in Leah to pronounce it with 2 syllables. Quay wouldn't trip me up because we have a few Quays in British Columbia. My friends and I spent many weekends in high school making a day trip down to the market at Lonsdale Quay.

[@Arksimon2k]

This reminds me of the Map Men town name video. But very much welcome! See you next week.

[@doctorf1144]

Whether something is south or north in London is determined by its position vis a vis the river Thames, and whether west or east is determined mainly by position relative to the ancient City (the so called square mile). Londoners do not use the terms ‘uptown, downtown or midtown’, but colloquially refer to the west end, the east end, and north or south of the river.

[@phwbooth]

City of Westminster?

[@neilchristensen6413]

In Toronto, there's a place called the Queen's Quay. So those who live in or near Toronto, know it sounds like "key".

[@ANNAKAZBERUK]

We have Heron Quays on DLR. Same pronunciation 😉

[@SquishyOfCinder]

Quay is a word

[@RCassinello]

Most of these are down to where the stress goes - Americans tend to stress the end of a place name (eg. Birming-HAM, Notting-HAM), as opposed to British stressing the beginning (eg. BIR-mingham, NOT-tingham).

[@oliviawolcott8351]

depends on the American though.

[@missharry5727]

Actually it's BURming'm. Though that first vowel in a Brummie accent is not capable of being accurately rendered in the phonetic alphabet.

[@serpentious]

It's boy like the first part of buoyant/buoyancy, because they float. Once I realised that, it make more sense for me to call them 'boys'.

[@MacUser200606]

But the american pronunciation is closer to the french version of the word, « bouée », pronounced approximately "boo-AY".

[@therealpbristow]

@@MacUser200606 Which illustrates a common mistake made by Americans: Trying to go back to the "original" French pronunciation of a word (or word-stem) that probably came into English via *Norman* French back in the 11th or 12th century. (See also: Herbs.) Hint: Modern French pronunciation has deviated almost as far from Norman French (which wasn't even 'tyoical French' for the time) as Modern English has.

[@FFM0594]

boo-ee-an-cy.

[@petergaskin1811]

@@FFM0594 boy-anc-ee

[@serpentious]

@@FFM0594 lol

[@musicevangelist]

Was waiting for Theydon Bois, the place that even Londoners aren't quite sure on pronouncing.

[@JPRobinso]

Well it should be They done bwo, but is more like they done boys.

[@amazingpurplegirl0903]

Taydon boys

[@oliviawolcott8351]

is it bwah? like in french?

[@helloworld0911]

It's boys

[@jujutrini8412]

Same. I was very disappointed. 😂

[@richmerch]

I grew up in Plaistow and even the tube and bus stop used to say Play-stow, until I guess someone complained and they corrected it. This also happened to a road there called Balaam Street, pronounced Bay-lam, but the buses would pronounce it Bal-am.

[@therealpbristow]

Ah, yes... Those charming robot voices working from phonetic scripts that were written by people with no idea how to pronounce the words themselves. =:o}

[@plrndl]

I remember travelling east on the tube, and being surprised to hear "playstow" announced. I didn't know there was a posh part of Plaistow, and of course there isn't.

[@chriswalker2753]

Westminster Abbey is actually in the City of Westminster. The clue, as they say, is in the name.

[@eddyk3]

Which is in the city, of London.

[@emjayay]

@@eddyk3 But not in the City of London.

[@LivvyAlexW]

I’m Canadian. I can say Worcestershire. I can also say Gloucester because mum was born there

[@hendrixinfinity3992]

Try Leominster

[@JPRobinso]

Lemster. How about Alcester?

[@noodlesinabowl3682]

W cathedral

[@rustledjammies8769]

A lot of these place names are actually weird standardisations based on the (mis-)pronunciation of the locals or outsiders in the 18th or 19th century, which in a lot of cases had even then diverged from their original. The Ordnance Survey has to blame for alot of this and many times getting it completely wrong. An example of this is Torpenhow Hill, which is said to mean "hill hill hill hill" (Old English "torr," Brythonic Celtic "*penn", Old English "hoh" and Modern English "hill") although the hill apparently doesn't exist. You get similar in Irish, Cornish and Welsh place names that have been translated or transliterated to English and are often completely butchered in the processed.

[@magicmulder]

Welsh: "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - it's pronounced 'that over there'". :D

[@rettawhinnery]

Even though I'm from Kansas (in the Mid-West of the USA), I knew that "lea" is pronounced "lee" -it's a common crossword puzzle word. Plus, there was Anne of Green Gables who talked about Avonlea. In high school, we read Bridge over the River Quai, so I knew that is pronounced "key," like the Florida keys, which are the same as cays. I always enjoy your videos, especially the ones about language and pronunciation. Keep up the good work.

[@rednammoc]

I think you mean the novel is "The Bridge over the River Kwai" (not pronounced "key") - there's no book called "Bridge over the River Quai" that I'm aware of. The river is a reference to the Khwae Yai River in Thailand, so in this case has nothing to do with English inheriting some interesting pronunciations from French words.

[@rettawhinnery]

@@rednammoc Thank you. You are correct. Someone told me that pronouncing it "Kwai" was incorrect, but they must have been confusing it with a French word. I apologize. I stand corrected. Thank you.

[@finlandtaipan4454]

Rye slip, LOL, brilliant!

[@ijmad]

Ah yes Ruislip, nestled between Eastcote (East-cut) and Ickenham (Ick-en-um) on the Piccadilly line!

[@brianharris7243]

That's my manor! @@ijmad

[@finlandtaipan4454]

I can hardly wait for the next episode about Billericay.

[@quintuscrinis]

@@ijmador at the end of the Central (sort of). Best part is the Lido and attached woods.

[@ProgressiveRoxx]

I remember on a bus I used to take regularly in Bristol there was a robot voice that would announce the name of the next stop for people who were vision impaired or not paying attention. The funny thing was, whoever had set it up clearly hadn't run it by a local and just had it "read" the programmed words because the street names were pronounced with ALL the sylllables included. They did give it a friendly westcountry accent, but that just made it sound stranger.

[@victoriageere]

I always assumed buoy was pronounced like "boy" as the word buoyant is pronounced "boy-unt"

[@magicmulder]

How silly to assume language follows sensible rules. :D See infinite vs finite.

[@seijika46]

Things get a great deal more complex outside of the insular world of London. Out in the provinces the rules and customs change wildly according to competing influences of Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, Celtic, Brittonic, Norman, vaguely religious and others besides. Even with surnames it can get complex, an old test for foreigners was 'Cholmondeley' (its 'Chumly').

[@jdm1505]

Another is Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw).

[@mattseaton3521]

Some people that live in Streatham will comedically refer to it as St. Reatham (said Saint Reatham), to ironically 'poshify' what is a pretty 'unposh' area.

[@crose7412]

@mattseaton3521 Apparently Battersea became verbally-gentrified as Bu-ter-see-uh.

[@stephenlee5929]

Similar to its neighbour Clapham pronounced Clarhm.

[@stephenlee5929]

@@crose7412Oh, you mean South Chelsea.

[@crose7412]

@@stephenlee5929 Probably!

[@therealpbristow]

@@stephenlee5929...Or sometimes "clay-f'm". (To batch Burpham, which is pronounced "bur-f'm", rather than sounding like an instruction given to the mother of twin babies! =:o} )

[@danic9304]

1. Lea ...just rhymes with sea so not that weird. 2. There are in the UK 2x places called Wymondham in two different parts of the country. One of them is pronounced 'Why-mundhm' and one is pronounced 'wind-hum' 3. I grew up in Bolton and heard a place referred to as 'Dobble' as in 'going up Dobble'. When I was old enough to be out and about by myself I saw a place name on a bus 'Daubhill' and i thought they were two different places. Like for years I thought there was a Daub Hill and a place called Dobble in Bolton.

[@iancomputerscomputerrepair8944]

Another great funny and entertaining video. I'm British living in the UK and to this day still mispronounce place names, remember Place names could be of Viking, Roman, Angles, Saxon or Norman origin dating backing hundreds of years.

[@Marli-o4g]

Also Celtic (the infamous Frome in England apparently always trips people up).

[@Aima952]

In some areas they stay pretty consistent with which of the conventions they use, in others it's a near perfect melting pot of chaos! I live in an area with plenty of -by's but several -ham's, -cester's, -well's and -ich's are also in close vicinity, alongside a fair smattering of what look like typos. Then you have old local dialect words that get chucked out in place of the actual name - even though the local dialect is technically a dead language. And all that is before you get into the in-group out-group debates, where the locals decide they are going to start pronouncing their 'w' again but don't tell anyone; including the people who run the local school.

[@Bopsterboy]

Westminster is now a borough of London but is also the City of Westminster, as it has the abbey. Ergo, the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and Westminster Abbey are in the City of Westminster, which is now part of Greater London but distinctly different from the City of London, which is also in Greater London, and is a city because of St Paul's Cathedral. Westminster and London were originally completely separate and are still quite different, except all falls in Greater London. The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and not Greater London. The Mayor of London is the mayor of Greater London but not the City of London.

[@Aetheraev]

The most important thing to remember is that every time you learn a new rule in English pronunciation there is always an exception. -cester is "ster" except for cirencester, don't pronounce the w in the last syllable except for wandsworth or ipswich, "-shire" is "shur" except when you are talking about worcestershire sauce when (for many people at least) the "shire" is entirely silent. Good luck!

[@Paul99T]

I grew up in "Berkshire" and heard it called "Bark-shire", "Berk-shur" and "Bark-shur" ...

[@urmother212]

I think the w’s are still there just very soft

[@ac1646]

Thank goodness I learnt this stuff as I grew up. 😁😁

[@neuralwarp]

Sha. Never tell an American to pronounce a word with an R.

[@AstoranSolaire]

That's not variance in pronunciation, that's just people not knowing if the sauce is called Worcester or Worcestershire.

[@jenniedarling3710]

Just to clarify any confusion, Bicester is a town, "Bicester village" is actually just an outdoor shopping centre.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Evan, I thoroughly enjoy your channel and watch avidly. It's fun, entertaining, suitably satirical at times, and educational when appropriate. My one niggle is with your ditching of adverbs, as many US KZbinrs tend to do, even ones who are now adopted Brits. It must be your education system. Tourists don't pronounce Tottenham wrong. It would be absurd of they did. "Wrong Hotspurs lost to Liverpool in a key match" would sound strange coming over the radio. What tourists often do is to wrongly pronounce Tottenham. 😅

[@marekh3296]

" Tourists don't pronounce Tottenham wrong." No, they pronounce it incorrectly.

[@axolotlgamer615]

All the correct pronounciations Tottenham = Tottnm Tottenham hale = Tottnm hale/TCR Grosvenor = Grovenah Grosvenor square = Grovenah square Holborn = Hobun Plaistow = Plasto Ruislip = Rislip Streatham = Streatm Borough = Buruh (added because was mentioned) Edinburgh = Edinbruh Southwark = Suthark Greenwich = Grenich Chiswick = Chisik Bermondsey = Bermundsy (added because was mentioned) Berkshire = Barksher (added because was mentioned) Bicester village = Bister village (added because was mentioned) Leicester square = Lester square River lea = Lee/Leah trinity buoy wharf = Trinity Boy wharf West india quay = West india Key City of london = City of london London = Greater london Woolwich = Woolich THE FOLLOWING ARE OTHER COMMON MISPRONOUNCIATIONS NOT JUST IN LONDON OR NEAR LONDON Scunthorpe = Scunthorp (obviously) Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch = just call it "St Mary’s Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near to the Rapid Whirlpool of Llantysilio of the Red Cave" or Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll Thats a good few that you can now pronounce! any mistakes Give me a reply and let me know!

[@agharries]

This was a funny video, trying to teach everyone to talk like they are from London. Even us Brits not from London don’t pronounce some of these as the locals do. Our American cousins who have spent significant time in London hopefully had learned Grosvenor Square, as that is where the US Embassy used to be located.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

why is the S dropped?

[@alexdawson5293]

if in doubt, say the name fast and see what letters disappear. Doesn't work for everything but helps when guessing

[@awaredeshmukh3202]

Which works because it's essentially what happens over centuries!

[@katrinabryce]

Going to Westminster Abbey and saying you are in the City of London is I guess a bit like going to Buffalo or Rochester and saying you are in New York City. You are in New York State, but not the city. Marylebone is another place in London that a lot of people often get wrong. If you are visiting your girlfriend in Marlow, you might take an Elizabeth Line train towards Reading, and change at Maidenhead. Reading is another place that a lot of people often get wrong.

[@davedavids57]

It's strange I am from the South coast of England and we actually saying Buoy and boy slightly differently. Buoy is slightly lower in the mouth and the o sounds is just slightly longer and flatter. Also boy goes up at the end slightly and buoy doesn't it stays flat. I wonder that just because I grew up on the coast and sailing a lot.

[@MatthewJBD]

Bicester is in Oxfordshire, not Berkshire (Bark-sher)

[@evan]

Ahhh yeah the one north of where we started

[@heirandspare]

Thanks for posting. See you next week. 😊

[@Thomashorsman]

Bicester is in Oxfordshire not Berkshire lol. I live here. 51 miles from London but I will forgive you for including it

[@TheFigurehead]

It wasn't until I moved to Bucks that I realised it wasn't pronounced By-cester!

[@Thomashorsman]

You wouldn’t pronounce Leicester as Lye-cester lol@@TheFigurehead

[@TheFigurehead]

​@Thomashorsman but Bicester is Bi not Bei

[@Thomashorsman]

you still don’t say the cester on its own, its joined to the first part of the word; if you said byester then I would understand@@TheFigurehead

[@ukfatman1169]

You might like this Evan. Me and my pals went to Vegas for my 40th birthday and we decided that if we ever got into a conversation with an American lady we would say our names as District Line tube stations. I was Parsons Green We had Elm Park Stepney Green All the American girls loved our cute names but the posh one, Ravenscourt Park killed it. He was a City Trader who convinced them he went to school with Prince William

[@jillybrooke29]

My dad was born in Plaistow when it was still in Essex, he said pronounce first bit like plast (ic), also I worked in Burra Road and lived in Suthark

[@neuralwarp]

It still is in Essex, and don't you let those Norman-French politicians tell you otherwise.

[@DadgeCity]

Is the Plaistow in SE London pronounced the same?

[@PiersDJackson]

Evan, you mentioned Grosvenor Square as the former site of the US Embassy, anecdotal stories go that "A" President enquired about purchasing the land that the building stood on, as they owned the building but the land was on a Peppercorn Lease, the landholder (Lord Grosvenor, aka Duke of Westminster) gave the reply that they were "willing to exchange rather than sell, to be specific the land on which the Embassy then stood, for those lands taken by the US Government at the cessation of insurrectionist hostilities as forfeit in Mat 1784, and this would include all capital improvements made upto that point"... to which the state office noted that these lands included Langley and Arlington, and a secton of coastlinein Norfolk, Virginia.

[@calum5975]

Regarding "Grosvenor"s ending R - British English is non-rhotic. This means when a syllable ends with an R it's not pronounced. This is why we in the UK say "caah" for car, or "maahmite" instead of Marmite. That being said, we do say the R when it forms the first part of a syllable, so we would for example say "Royal" not "Oyal". That should be obvious. Yes, I know some Scottish accents have trilled R, and there are many accents across the UK which are rhotic. But *most* English accents (as do many American accents in New England) are non rhotic. In some areas of the South East too we don't pronounce the L sound at the end of the word too, it's called L Vocalisation. We curve the L sound into what sounds almost like a W. It's fairly hard to hear if you don't listen to it. Words like "bell" will be pronounced as "be-ww". Just say be and a W sound and fluidly combine them, it's easy and sounds almost the same as Bell. Yes, we can say L but at the end of a word it's rare.

[@marionettekent]

I actually have seen in a few videos on KZbin which show some Americans may not be aware of this difference (e.g. a clip where Bobby Lee asked Ronnie Chang why he doesn't speak the R ("is it an Asian thing?" was what he said. He makes so many stereotyping jokes this one is pretty mild), or another video where an American youtuber tried to do an English accent but it's full rhotic). I've also heard an English person saying my accent (non rhotic) sounds kind of American. So clearly the rhotic nature may not be as clear to native speakers/isn't a strong factor to them when it comes to telling the difference between accents.

[@stevenhuffnagel]

Also, most Americans are rhotic, but interestingly they don't do the "intrusive R": the idea is (the idea ris) drawing (drawring) Anna and Mary (Annarand Mary)

[@topilinkala1594]

About the east vs. south-east. To me, and I'm a finn not londoner, it's easy: everything south of the river is south by definition and then you check if it's south-east, south or south-west. Am I right?

[@frankpennycook7802]

That's about it. Born south londoner here. South of the river is always south-something. North of the river it can be just East or West, without qualification. Then further up you get NE and NW of course. It's like a compass with 8 points (plus the centre makes 9) with the River Thames cutting off approximately the lower 3. A simplification, because the river twists and turns, but this is the basic framework.

[@dominictemple]

Talking of history and place names, Grosvenor Square is named after one of William The Bastard's henchmen when he invaded England, Hugh d'Avranches who was made Earl of Chester. His title within the French court was 'The Master Huntsman' which in French was Le Grand Veneur. He was also heavily overweight and so was called The Fat Huntsman, Le Gros Veneur. His descendant is currently The Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, a godfather of Prince George of Wales, so anyone who says historical events like 1066 don't effect us anymore are very, very mistaken.

[@NikonJeremy]

Try a few from Norfolk and Suffolk - Wymondham, Costessey, Bungay and the village where I was born - Old Buckenham. There are many more!

[@jaycee330]

Wymondham - "Windum" (unless you are in Leicestershire) Costessey - "Kossee" Bungay - "bun-gee" Buckenham - "Buknum"

[@Catsandcamera]

Tea is tea, so Lea being Lea isn't so strange!

[@qwertyTRiG]

Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take-and sometimes tea.

[@tillneumann406]

​@@qwertyTRiG I initially wondered if Pope pronounced the first word "obee" or the second one "tay" to make it rhyme (after a bit or research, the latter seems to be the case). That being said, "tay" sounds more similar to the French "thé", Italian/Spanish "té" and German "Tee" (list not complete), and maybe also the various forms of "chai". But besides, @Catsandcamera has a point. There's not just "tea", but also "pea" and "sea" to make you wonder why "Lea" being pronounced "lee" should be extraordinary.

[@qwertyTRiG]

@@tillneumann406 Irish is another example, with _tae_ pronounced identically to "tay".

[@petersilvester1315]

Somebody has probably already mentioned Woolwich - the only place in London, I believe, that exists both north and south of the River Thames. North Woolwich is in east London, with its postcode of E16, whereas (south) Woolwich is in south east London. And remember that when you were at Westminster Abbey, you were in the City of Westminster - very different from the City of London. Finally, like your girlfriend, I was brought up in Marlow, and I was always able to say Bermondsey correctly! And that was before the M4 was built; before that, Marlow was in the middle of nowhere.

[@kathhobson5727]

Brit guilty of also calling it Bi-Chester before I heard someone else say it 😅 also we had a house in school called Lea after the river!

[@NzUddin]

First time I've sat through a full ad read in a WHILE. 🎸🎵

[@razzlejazzled]

The Map Men made an excellent video on the origin and pronunciation of UK place names. Highly recommend it if people are looking for more on this subject.

[@evan]

Every map men video is excellent

[@nathangamble125]

PORTSMOUTH!

[@atlantic85]

@@nathangamble125that’ll do!

[@mitabpraga7487]

You could do one of these videos for every county in England. We do it on purpose to confuse any enemy who tries to invade us, they won't have a clue where they are. It's why England hasn't been successfully invaded for over 2000 years, and even the Romans gave up in the end. We told them all our treasure was at Happisburgh, they never did find the place.

[@stevenhuffnagel]

And now go to Wales and try to find your way through the letter soups for placenames.

[@RobGibraltar]

Wait until you go to Towcester. And then the odd one out Cirencester.

[@tcroft2165]

Though that used to be sis-sis-ter and still is to some.

[@nealjroberts4050]

@tcroft2165 I'd swear it used to be "sinister" !

[@tcroft2165]

not heard that one

[@TheSunnyOne]

Very late to commenting on this, but as a Brit I have to say that I was laughing my way through this video until you mentioned Bicester. I used to work in an IT Servicedesk call centre that supported basically every hotel in the UK. I only ever received a handful of calls from a hotel in Bicester, but gods damn if it didn't always trip me up while searching the system to help them. "You said you're calling from Bister? Could you spell that for me?" "B-I-C-" "Gods damnit!" *shakes fist at Bicester

[@gazs7237]

I had 2 tourists ask me where "looga burooga junction" train station was... It took me a good few minutes to work out what the F they were talking about. Turns out they wanted Loughborough junction. We pronounce it "Lufbra" and I realised how stupid that is

[@heneagedundas]

I first heard the joke about 30 years ago, and have to it as Looga Barooga ever since.

[@Lilly8Listens]

My uncle told me that Ruislip was always pronounced as rewslip, before the Americans came over during world war 2 and they started calling it ryeslip and the name stuck, so blame America for that one.

[@Paul99T]

"Lea" ... even you Americans don't pronounce "Sea" as "Se-a" Gotta love the nuances and inconsistencies of the English language wherever you're from 😂😂

[@THuk44444]

Half the stuff along that river is spelt Lee instead of Lea too, tbf it makes no sense.

[@AlphaBee6]

@@THuk44444The idea is that the river itself is called the Lea, but the area that it runs through is called the Lee Valley. I still see official signs with 'Lea Valley' though, so what the heck! XD

[@oliviawolcott8351]

not in Sea. but in Lea we would.

[@alinaqirizvi1441]

​@@oliviawolcott8351what's the difference? ea is pronounced the same as ee

[@elaineb7065]

I was thinking peas, the veggie

[@magicmulder]

English: "French has too many silent letters." Also English:

[@johnmcgaw2753]

I'm happy to say that I've not butchered those pronunciations TOO badly, perhaps because of so much British TV, audiobooks and films. The wonder is that any sense can be made of local place names given the mish-mash of languages involved and a thousand years of shifts and regionalisms. I'd bring up Scottish place names: how is anyone not in the know to pronounce Kirkcudbright? And don't even get me started on Welsh...🤣

[@kiamso]

Most locals have always pronounced Greenwich as Grinidge. Grenitch is a middle class affectation, boosted by its use on the media. Similarly Woolwich is pronounced Woolidge (South East London by the way). However one of my favourites is Marylebone, which is correctly pronounced Marrabun :)

[@timflatus]

One of the funniest journeys of my life involved reading the names of towns on the M5 to a German hitch-hiker.

[@elaineb7065]

Me, in Elgin one time: sees a French fellow asking for Low SEAmouth Me: where??? French fellow insists it's Low SEAmouth Me: Sorry??? French fellow points to it on a timetable Me: Oh, LOSSiemouth!!!

[@frselsig]

There is the rover that flows from Northampton, via Peterborough, to The Wash in Lincolnshire. It's universally spelt as the Nene, but in Northampton it's pronounced as Nenn, and in Peterborough as Neen.

[@keelferm]

To be fair, Marlow is pretty darn posh!

[@JillyGriffin]

Westminster: City of Westminster. Our MP is the MP for Cities of Westminster & London. Politicos tend to say Westminster (emphasis on the West); locals say Westminster (emphasis on the Minster).

[@serinadelmar6012]

😂 love this! Thank you for being so exquisitely entertaining old chap!

[@evan]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@serinadelmar6012]

@@evan It was brilliantly done! I had to share with a few friends too (who presumably have now subbed, or I might need question our friendship!). Always enjoy your videos, Evan, but this especially!

[@peabody1976]

I live in a US area with a "Grosvenor" in it, and this trips up even people from the area. But, we say either "Grove-ner" or "Grove-nor". You will hear the odd "Groves-ner" sometimes though. 🤔 I like also how the infamous "Marylebone" isn't in here. Or "Hainault".

[@Beejay950]

Born and lived in Greenwich til my twenties, locals would pronounce it Grin-ich, not Gren-ich.

[@monicastamant]

As an American, Reading was tricky 😂😂 I was shocked when asking the station attendant for which train to take to Oxford and he pronounced it redding instead of how I said it in my head! This is all good info to know! I think it’s part of the charm that nothing sounds like it looks 😅

[@RJRJ]

American league of legends players pronouncing "Warwick" as war-wick is painful to my English ears

[@Breakfast_at_]

How is it pronounced? 😂

[@kitty_s23456]

​@@Breakfast_at_it's war rick (w/o the 2nd W sound)

[@Ni.61]

More like wah rick than war wick

[@frozzie108]

@@Breakfast_at_Imagine the Wa sound in Wand (in an english accent) and then rick

[@sataandagifr]

I'm from England and ive always pronounced it war wick

[@grahamriceukulele]

I was born in Bermondsey and I would say Plaistow as 'Play-stow' however its north of the river its none of my business how they say it

[@aaronnrodgers]

Pronouncing buoy, the british way makes sense, because it comes from buoyant

[@stephenlee5929]

Isn't that pronounced Bo-ey-ant?

[@aaronnrodgers]

@@stephenlee5929 I mean. I've only ever heard it pronounced "boy-ant"

[@stephenlee5929]

@@aaronnrodgers Same here but assumed it must be pronounced differently is US 😁

[@gagenater]

The city of New Orleans on the Mississippi River has the same problem but even worse - the river runs north south, and you can say you are on the east bank, or the west bank. Simple right? Except at New Orleans, the river makes a huge curve around ~ 270 degrees (3/4 of a circle) so at any given time the actual river might be north, south, east or west of you, and you could be on the west bank (but east of the western side) and vice versas, because in some places the west bank really IS further east than the east bank of the river.

[@splattsville]

There are LOADS of weirdly pronounced places In the UK. I live in the Vale of Belvoir - pronounced "Beaver". T'other side of Nottingham is Il'son (Ilkeston - an absolute dump btw, wouldn't recommend a visit).

[@craigcook9715]

A station on the Washington, DC Metro system is pronounced "Gro-vnr" (approx, best I can write it) and spelled Grosvenor

[@hendrixinfinity3992]

Tottenham: it's three syllables but the e is the most common vowel sound "ə" (really softly) and the Ts are a glottal stop. TOH--ə-NAM Grosvenor: from the french gros-veneur or fat huntsman. In french the s is silent as well. Now try Beauchamp. Holborn: like Holm and folk, this likely comes from Old Norse. Plaistow: again, probably old norse. Ruislip: really simple this one. How do you say guide, and equine? (jk this one's ridiculous, see guinea, suitor. squire, acuity and equity for the six different pronunciations of -ui-) The rest can mostly be put down to "just posh people things" also "ad-VER-tiss-ment"

[@PrototypePlatform]

borough is a regional thing. i used to live near (and drive through) a place called Wellingborough, and for 30 years, ive always pronounced it [welling-buh-ruh], most of my friends do too. and some people pronounce it [welling-bruh], other friends do that, its completely a regional accent thing so when you brought up Borough, at first i was like "no, you're... wrong?" and had to think about it for a minute. all in all, both are fine, how you said it originally is fine, and how you corrected to is also fine.

[@AngryPacifist-kd6md]

Same way that the “mid-West” is actually still in the east of the USA.

[@WrenJeger]

The cardinal directions one is always easily sorted by saying "northern" or "southern" instead. East London and eastern London are different the same way North America and northern America (north of the US) are different :)

[@oliviawolcott8351]

that's just Canada to us in the US.

[@Rogue136]

Quay got me the first time I was in Toronto. Queens Quay in this case.

[@tarahanratty8140]

I had the reverse problem and for years thought it was Florida Quays until I saw it written down...

[@tonys1636]

We learnt the art of silent letters from our Norman French ancestors, although have put some back in. We have put the T back at the end of fillet, Americans use the French fillay pronunciation. We have put both the H and the S back in the pronunciation of hospital, H is still silent for many at the beginning of a word as was normal for all until the 19th century.

[@johnvonundzu2170]

Sorry to have to say it, but key is the correct pronunciation of quay - everywhere; not just in the UK.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

no its not. not sure where you are from, but I'm from pennsylvania and I say quay. if its a key its pronounced key.

[@johnvonundzu2170]

@@oliviawolcott8351 Check any dictionary.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

@@johnvonundzu2170 I did. merriam webster says that key, kay, or kway are all legitimate pronunciations.

[@johnvonundzu2170]

@@oliviawolcott8351 MW is being very lax, giving every heard variation . The order WM places pronunciations in is NOT random. Pronunciation #1 always being most legitimate and the others minority enthusiasms. The OED (US version) & most other sources omit kay & kway altogether.

[@maureenlea572]

Merriam-Webster is an American dictionary brand that features American pronunciations and usage first or only. If it lists British pronunciation or usage at all, it usually clearly marks it as such with abbreviations like "Br." etc.. That it also starts with the pronunciation "key" listed first means that it is also the majority pronunciation in the US. It's likely that about 20 or more years ago, kway wouldn't have been listed at all as no one said it that way then.

[@liamkelly6628]

Southwark is from Southwark! To walk south of the river! Over London bridge.

[@alanparkinson549]

Booey has to be the silliest of American pronunciations, do they say buoyancy that way?

[@christopherwaller2798]

Typically, the River Lee is used to refer to the canalised navigation sections, and the Lea to the natural channels of the river and the wider 'Lea Valley'