Why are British place names SO hard to pronounce? as explained by Map Men | Reaction

Map Men explain why places in the UK are so hard to pronounce. Drop the hardest place to pronounce that you know down below. How are you pronouncing Qatar?
Original Video: • Why are British place ...
Jay Foreman channel: / @jayforeman
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[@crystallinepunk3164]

"He laughed, he laughed....He laughed way more than i think was necessary". LMAO

[@TomTomicMic]

Oops rocky start to Anglo-US relations!?!

[@grabtharshammer]

How many people missed the joke about "just who were the complete anchors who invented these rules" ... - as in silent "w"

[@johnnyhmash]

Derrrr......hilarious.

[@tinaunderhill5412]

Not many Brits would have missed it

[@johnnyhmash]

@@tinaunderhill5412 which is why these two are as funny as shingles.

[@tinaunderhill5412]

@@johnnyhmash 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@presstoeject]

Jeez, so much hate. @@johnnyhmash

[@brianhoskins1979]

8:30 I love how she immediately latches on to "Portishead!!!" ...and right there she reveals her excellent taste in music.

[@LordRogerPovey]

There's a lot of fantastic Jay Foreman videos that are informative and very funny!

[@NoProtocol]

If this video is any indication, I’ll have to check out more!

[@vaudevillian7]

@@NoProtocolthey’re all gold. He had a great couple of appearances on Evan Edinger’s channel as well: one on British vs American TV and that segues into the second on a comparison of Adverts

[@1993smoker]

​@@vaudevillian7but which it, are than goodest of most?

[@Competitive_Antagonist]

I've always avoided Map Men because their intro is annoying af. I know, my tolerance is very low.

[@Isleofskye]

@@NoProtocol Serendipitously, you have discovered a veritable Treasure Trove of English wit and banter with Jay(who has over 1 million Subs for a reason) and Mark. These Guys are hilarious but the jokes and humour come so fast, that it is easy to miss some. Amongst their many excellent videos are many about London and if you put " Map Men: London" in the KZbin search engine then take your pick whether it is about London's 32 Boroughs or Borders or the Tube Map with its 272 Stations plus endless others. Enjoy.

[@pabmusic1]

The 'er' -v- 'ar' thing in Derby is a result of the Great Vowel Shift (GVS) that happened between about 1350 and 1700. Certain vowel sounds drifted higher in the mouth. But, at a time when few people could write, some place names (Derby, Hertfordshire) and occupations (clerk) were so well established that no-one thought to change them just because the pronunciation of newer words did. 'Er' was pronounced 'ar' - Chaucer has Absalom in The Miller's Tale kiss someone's 'ers'. But nothing is clear-cut and there are exceptions. Also borough, burgh, brough, bury, etc., are all from -burȝ or -burh, meaning a walled settlement. Original pronunciation was with a guttural g.

[@stemid85]

All of Jay Foreman's videos for the last few years are amazing. Very nerdy.

[@NoProtocol]

I’m here for it

[@blenderpanzi]

Plus all the videos of his friends and friends of friends (Tom Scott, Matt Parker, Steve Mold, Hannah Fry, ...). Btw. Jay Foreman's brother is famous beat boxer Beardyman. I recommend the video "Stand-up comedy routine about bad science" by Steve Mold where he recites an evening with Beardyman's in-laws.

[@donaldb1]

8:05 - Yes, "Woostersher" is a correct pronunciation. But, just for the sauce, a lot of people just say "Wooster" sauce.

[@mr.pearly7478]

I'd say it's more of a "wuhstersher". Woost has a bit of a "whoo" sound to it.

[@tomsanford9391]

not in massacuetts the citiy is spelled the same but it is said with an i. wister instead worcheter

[@887levi]

@@mr.pearly7478 Correct. Even many English people fail to get this pronunciation.

[@matthewkent-ellis1121]

Id just say wuster sauce. Wustersher if being less lazy.

[@QueeferSutherland1]

There's an American youtuber who cooks and he uses washyoursister sauce lol

[@albinjohnsson2511]

Regarding the Norse suffixes (e.g., by in Grimsby), many of them are still very easy to understand for modern Scandinavians. "By" is still used in all the Scandinavian languages. It means village in Swedish and town/city in Danish and Norwegian. "Beck" (e.g. Holbeck) means stream, and in Sweden "bäck" still refers to smaller streams. "Kirk" means church (Swe: kyrka, Dn/No: kirke). "Thorpe" means smaller house or secondary settlement ("torp" in all contemporary Scandinavian languages). Etc.

[@rogerblackwell]

we have lots of 'Thorpes' in Norfolk such as Swainsthorpe or Baconsthorpe castle and a Thorpe area and railway station in Norwich.

[@PiousMoltar]

@@rogerblackwell I was kinda stunned when I first saw this video that you could see a clear divide between Viking place names in Norfolk and Anglo Saxon place names in Suffolk. That had never really crossed my mind before.

[@mikeball6182]

@@rogerblackwell Cognate with "dorf" or "dorp" in German and Dutch.

[@annasaddiction5129]

That's true, greetings from Tyskland.

[@SLENDAMANN]

I know a guy whose last name is deadass Torp-Kirkeby 💀

[@ziggythedrummer]

Map Men is an excellent channel. They're really funny, though some people might not immediately get their humour. I also had a mispronunciation experience in New York, although to be fair I was 12 at the time. I asked someone, either a railway employee or a cop, how to get from Manhattan to Syosset but I said "Sigh-Oh-Set". He just said "Sigh-Oss-it?" and then told me how to get there :) The weird thing with Worcestershire (woostersheer) sauce is that most people just call it "Wooster sauce", missing the "shire" out completely!

[@Oxley016]

It’s more like wustershuh

[@Escapee5931]

​​@@Oxley016It depends where you're from. I'm from the Black Country and pronounce the county names as "- - - sheer".

[@johnnyhmash]

Some people may not get the humour because....there's none there!

[@primalengland]

Glad you’ve discovered Map Men and Jay Foreman. Some fantastic videos on the Tube.

[@tawa7546]

Fantastic reaction, your comments were really interesting and I have followed Jay Foremans channel for years now, he has a ton of informative videos and they are funny too! Keep up the good work!

[@valrond]

Spanish is precisely one of the easiest language to read correctly. Nearly every letter has a single pronunciation, with very few exceptions, and the rules always work. So if you know the rules (there aren't many) you will know how to read it 100%.

[@Lyonsbane75]

Unsurprisingly, German is apparently the easiest language for the English to learn and pronounce (from what I was told in German lessons) 😊

[@volundrfrey896]

Finnish has completely phonetic writing. So it's pretty easy too.

[@johnnyhmash]

😂 Italian too.Each syllable.

[@johnnyhmash]

Wilson was one of the Angry Young Man group.

[@smockboy]

Welsh is like that - but I will say that I can understand why someone who didn't grow up with it might find it difficult, especially if your first language is English because there are sounds in there that just don't exist in the vast majority of English dialects and the mutation rule can be a little tricky to get your head around.

[@samoht1288]

Im very glad you found this; I really like their channel. Their style of comedy is also great!

[@stevetheduck1425]

A few close to home: Trottiscliffe, the sings were changed to how it was said Trosley ('s' pronounced like a 'z'), and then changed back again. A set of small villages called whiteball, redball and apparently another one, all are basically small hills with predominantly one kind of tree on them. Quite close together. Then there is the odd 'perntorfell' hill. 'pen' 'tor' 'fell' and 'hill' all mean the same thing. 'Hill'.

[@ninthcouncil]

Trottiscliffe: That area of Kent seems to keen on strange pronunciations. Meopham and Wrotham also spring to mind.

[@j_vasey]

I also enjoy looking into history etymology and semantics. Quite happy to have come across your reaction. Also even he ate and bled he mentioned when the vowels began to shift, he was referring to the ‘great vowel shift’ that may be something you enjoy looking into.

[@fearsomemumbler9946]

There’s a village near me in northern England called Torpenhow, which is pronounced locally as “Tra-pen-a”. Oddly the name is made up of three ancient words all meaning hill, so can be translated to modern English to have a meaning of “Hilly-Hill-Hill”. Apparently each group of settlers who took over the area added their word for hill onto the existing place name to describe the area as being hilly 😂

[@annasaddiction5129]

And how hilly is it really? 😉 😉

[@sanewater9021]

Torpenhow is about 20 minutes from me, not often I see someone online from around the area.

[@fearsomemumbler9946]

@@annasaddiction5129 not as hilly as the name suggests 😂 it's not flat land, lots of undulating hills around that village, but not far to the east it becomes very hilly and mountainous.

[@DerekLangdon]

Absolute nonsense…Hilly hill hill….Drunk were you, when you wrote that?

[@NoQuartersGiven_]

@@DerekLangdon Its etymology is Old English torr, Celtic penn, and Old English hoh meaning hilly hill hill

[@casp11]

love your reactions 👍🤓. much respect Birmingham UK 🇬🇧.

[@kenhobbs8565]

So glad you're reacting to map men / Jay Foreman. 😊

[@turtleandbear1179]

first time watching your videos - really liked this one!

[@JMagician.]

I mean I’m decent with Old English, and Old Norse I love the etymology of place names in England. I always like to talk about the major cities. My favorite is probably York. It was called Eoferwīċ(e͜overwiːtʃ) in Old English, and Jórvík(jorwiːk) in Old Norse. In both languages the name literally translates to Boar-Bay. Anyway how did we go from those to York? The w in Old English is usually cognate with the v in Old Norse. The Northumbrian dialect of Old English changes the eo diphthong to io, so the local Northumbrian population probably called it something like Ioferwīc(i͜uverwiːk). At some point through a mix of the languages the common name became something like Iorc/Ierc, or Jórk for the Danish population sounding basically like how it sounds in Modern English but with a trilled r. In Middle English it started diverging a bit with Yerk, then Early Modern English Yarke. I presume locals probably held on to pronouncing it as “york,” and it’s lasted until today but of course English lost its rhoticity.

[@binxbolling]

English lost its rhoticity? Not everywhere.

[@JMagician.]

@@binxbolling I meant to say that English stopped trilling the r, so I guess it has become less rhotic? I’m not sure if there’s another word for it. I can’t even find a consistent definition of “rhoticity” tbf.

[@binxbolling]

@@JMagician. I think it refers to pronouncing R especially at the end of words like runner, dinner, etc. Standard American English is rhotic. Standard British English is not.

[@mikeball6182]

The Celtic name was eburos -“yew-tree”. There was a misunderstanding somewhere along the way. It's also interesting that New Amsterdam became New York and not New London.

[@brianroberts5048]

Loved your narration. We had our home in Llanfair P.G. for 30 years.

[@RadeticDaniel]

Okay, any jay foreman music video is an amazing experience of silly dry humor 😂 That aside, every written thing in map men videos has a few gags in it. Worthy to pause and read

[@jackcarter5101]

0:14 Leominster is 'LEMSTER', Bicester is 'BISTER', Godmanchester is 'GUMSTER' (traditionally), Loughborough is 'LUFFBURRA', and Keighley is 'KEETHLEE'. More examples - Ulgham is 'UFFAM', Happisburgh is 'HAYZBURRA', Milngavie is 'MULGUY', Barnoldswick is 'BARLICK', and Woolfardisworthy is 'WOOLZERY'. Examples local to me in North East England - Finchale is 'FINKLE', Houghall is 'HOFFLE', Prudhoe is 'PRUDDA', Cambois is 'CAMMUS', and Ireshopeburn is 'EYES-UP-BURN'.

[@quinn-tessential3232]

And remember, Luxury-yacht is pronounced Throat-warbler-mangrove! (Actually, 'yacht' itself is a weird word. The Internet tells me its from Middle Low German. But why did we carry over the 'ch' in the middle if we didn't intend to pronounce it?)

[@lovestardustuk]

I grew up near Cogenhoe which is pronounced COOK-NO :)

[@matthewwalker5430]

And here I've been pronouncing Loughborough "LuffBuruff" all my life ... not really, but it should be pronounced that way

[@jackcarter5101]

@@matthewwalker5430There was a famous case of an American tourist asking for directions to LOOGA-bo-ROOGA

[@CatsAreRubbish]

"Godmanchester is 'GUMSTER' (traditionally)" No it isn't. "Gumster" was an informal name derived from it's ancient name, Gumcestre. It is NOT, and never was, a pronunciation of Godmanchester, traditional or otherwise. Unfortunately the reach of the countless articles on "weirdly pronounced UK place names" which repeat this erroneous factoid is far greater than that of the people who simply live there, and have done for generations, and know it to be complete nonsense.

[@gishfan7007]

Hello from East Yorkshire in the UK 👋😃 Great reaction video, always refreshing to see some well presented positive fun content. There's a small market town in East Yorkshire called Market Weighton. The 'Weight' in Weighton is pronounced 'Weet' "Market Weeton" Non locals often stumble on this one, but it doesn't help that locally, the town is also referred to by it's old name, "Wicston", meaning dwelling or dwelling place. Take care 😁

[@diamondbill9805]

Nice video and your willingness to learn. Respect to you.

[@MrBratalis99]

First time here. Struggled to keep up, your beauty bedazzled me. True.

[@togerboy5396]

MAPMEN!!!

[@NoProtocol]

Let me know if you have more recommendations from them (:

[@clymtc]

not far from where I live, in Yorkshire, is a village named Appletreewick - pronounced Aptrick by the locals

[@jamesswindley9599]

Love your channel ❤❤❤

[@davidmckie7128]

The Map Men are worth checking out as all their videos are good.

[@hanskneesun123]

I can recommend all of the Map Men video's.

[@audiocoffee]

there's a ton of local place names that are destined to be mispronounced. there are a lot of places called 'Hulme' (the L is silent) and a place not too far away called 'Levenshulme'. the fun I've had with people getting it wrong is a lot! (commonwealth games in 2002 and a very frustrated bus driver trying to direct tourists to hotels not in the city centre because 'bus drivers know where everything is') I've heard it called 'Lee-ven-shull-me', 'leven-shoolm'. it's almost painful sometimes, but, it is 'leh-vehns-Hyoom' (phontic) but there are a ton of places that make Levenshulme' look easy. it would be different if I went to the states and decided to call it 'Ah-mur-Ree-kay'.

[@SimonJM]

Seen this before, but it's a fun one. Good effort at trying the names and quite brave. For the sauce, I (and most people I know) am lazy and call it merely 'worcester sauce' (pron: wooster sauce) I thought Qatar was pronounced as Kay-tar. Not sure about accents in English place names (we may have a couple but they elude me for th emoment), but do you know the one that ends with an exclamation point (!)?

[@Dandroid5000]

8:28 ......I was born in Leicester (Lesstuh), and now live in Woburn, (Woebun) which is situated somewhere in the middle of Bicester (Bisstuh), Towcester (Toestuh) and Flitwick (Flittik).

[@stevetheduck1425]

In the very south-east of England, names begin to shift again, especially in the smaller place-names. - hurst meaning 'clearing in the woods', for example.

[@Mike-rw2nh]

YES!!! As a Brit, I’ve been known to embarrass myself when pronouncing American place names/street names/peoples’ names. As for Australian place names? That’s just taking the piss. Edit: 8:05 Wuss-terr-shear.

[@markhill3858]

yeah well the blackfellas are *probably* the oldest surviving culture on the earth .. I think? so placenames derived from them, Im not sure its even possible to say them by the noob whitefellas wed have to grow a different set of vocal cords maybe?

[@Mike-rw2nh]

@@markhill3858 You make an extremely valid point. Not my intention to offend, but good Lord I made a laughing stock of myself in Oz.

[@markhill3858]

@@Mike-rw2nh thats ok we like a laugh :)

[@markhill3858]

@@Mike-rw2nh and we do pride ourselves on being the MOST foul mouthed lot of mongrels in history, tho the Irish are pretty solid competition .. so we arent too easy to offend .. my own mum would be banned from yank TV I am sure :)

[@Mike-rw2nh]

@@markhill3858 alongside the place names, my Aussie mates had much merriment warning me about the dreaded Greatwhitesaltwaterfunnelwebbedboxjellyfishdingobrownsnake. Fun people, beautiful place - evil sense of humour 🤣

[@danrcash]

Two towns near my dear old mum spring immediately to mind. Happisburgh and Stiffkey, which are of course pronounced 'Haysbra' and 'Stewkey'!

[@beldin2987]

This one is also really funny : What If English Were Phonetically Consistent? kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2ndiIqmZcaei7c

[@martinhughes2549]

It would be like Welsh!

[@thomasbeirne8213]

I love this sort of stuff. For example the word 'bedlam' comes from accented mispronunciation of the Royal Insane Asylum in Bethlehem. How neat is that. Also, subbed.

[@wade_cagle4842]

“Is there a cow in Moscow?” By Charles Harrington Elster is one of my favorite books of pronunciation and grammar, it was a recommended book in a college course.

[@ch44227]

These guys are great. Jay also a couple of other channels. One about London design and another about British Politics. They are really funny.

[@johnnyhmash]

Do you really think that? This faux ironic schtick is so unfunny. Do they make a living from it?

[@ch44227]

I guess that's your opinion. I like it. At least when it's done well. And I think they do it well. @@johnnyhmash

[@digitalbegley]

Yay! My home town was the first example Go Frome!

[@CoNaana]

We have a couple of local names that we can use to spot the non local. "Irsta" and "Skerike" are small villages outside of the larger city of Västerås. Pronounced of course as something similar to "Ischta" and "Shärke".

[@osmaniqbal8354]

I only discovered Towcester as "Toaster" when I heard it on the radio a couple of months ago. I'm born and raised in the UK and I still get a lot of these awkward places names incorrect 😂

[@mickybaus6848]

There's a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, as well as a few streets, and a small town in South Australia called Cockburn. For some reason the 'ck' is silent, so it's pronounced co-burn, with the vowels slightly clipped.

[@ShaolinJaster]

Apart from the obvious Edinburgh one you already mentioned another that instantly comes to mind for me is from a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland called Milngavie. You pronounce it Mull-guy. Also on a side note all our train stations have the names in Scottish Gaelic as well so if I ever find myself bored on a long train journey I can try to pronounce those. (for example the gaelic for Milngavie is Muileann-Ghaidh)

[@AzulinhoAzulinho]

Strathaven.

[@andrewtaylor5984]

@@AzulinhoAzulinho Pronounced Straven.

[@fearnpol4938]

The Gaidhlig pronunciation being Mull-eann-Ghavee.

[@fearnpol4938]

@@AzulinhoAzulinho Strathaven being an English bastardisation of Srath Aibhne, or in Scot’s Straiven, pronounced in Gaidhlig Sraath Aveen. Meaning the valley of the Avon which derives from the old Welsh for river Afon, this area of Scotland originally inhabited by Britons (Welsh).

[@Belleplainer]

For some reason what interests me about place name pronunciation is when two places spelled exactly the same are pronounced differently, but by stress. Newark, NJ and Newark, Del. are a good example. Newark, NJ is stressed on the first syllable, which almost makes the ark sound like erk. Newark, Del. is stressed on the second syllable, almost like you're asking a question. New ark? The second syllable is very clearly ark. And those cities aren't that far apart.

[@avaggdu1]

Newark, UK is pronounced "new-work" (like Newark, NJ) as it was a new town compared to the "old work" of the castle that preceded it. It has nothing to do with Arks, so I don't know what Delaware is thinking.

[@Mercure250]

If you're interested in some historical linguistics, I recommend two Rob Words videos : "How anyone (including YOU) can read German" and "How to translate French words WITHOUT KNOWING FRENCH (3 clever tricks)", and after these two, one video from Jackson Crawford (which might not be suitable for a reaction video) "Grimm's Law and the Regularity of Sound Changes". (Edit : I'm adding "Corresponding Cognates" by Simon Roper, pretty good one too, although it might also not be suitable for a reaction video. I like Simon's videos, but he often uses the International Phonetic Alphabet, which makes his videos harder to follow for the uninitiated, but I just discovered this one which barely uses any IPA.) I think those videos are a good introduction to the concept of regular sound changes, as well as other concepts in historical linguistics.

[@barneylaurance1865]

Yes or anything by Dr Geoff Lindsey

[@Mercure250]

@@barneylaurance1865 He's more on the phonetics side than the historical linguistics side, but yes.

[@peterhowells7309]

Greetings from Scotland! YES, I can confirm (I was born in South Wales) that Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch really IS a place in North Wales, Anglesey! It translates (loosely) as "St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave" more or less. Nobody actually says the full name though, it goes by Llanfair PG. Welsh is more than a little quirky for non Welsh speakers because it has things like - NO letter V for instance. However, it does have the "sound" V or VEE. How? Well we use a single letter F as a VEE sound and two FF's as an F or EFF sound! It gets a lot worse for non speakers, like one single L is said and sounds like L but we also use two L's together (e.g. Llan, which means church) and there is no way I can type that sound, you need to hear it said. Anyway, you get the sort of idea........ Great language to speak behind the back of non-Welsh speakers, and YES, they do that too.......... Because I have lived in Northern Scotland for 50 years, when I go back home, some people think I and not Welsh and I have great fun letting them babble on before I speak to them in Welsh! 😂 I know, it's sick, but such fun, how can I NOT do it! 😊

[@JonathanReynolds1]

It is on Anglesey. It is on the south coast of the island near the Menai Bridge.

[@reaperuk76]

Yep I was instantly thinking if you want hard try welsh place names, and that's coming from a Welsh man.

[@peterhowells7309]

@@reaperuk76 Yeah, as a kid I had a laugh with many tourists trying/failing to pronounce local names. The next village to us was called "Bwlch" - that came out in all sorts of hilarious ways, sounding like they were being sick! The village after that was "Llangynidr" - oh my god! that almost caused convulsions! 😂😂 Such good memories of laughing myself to tears!

[@oliversherman2414]

I'm from the UK. Specifically I'm from a county in England called Berkshire which is pronounced "Bark-sheer"

[@GarrySturley-vq1ir]

As a northerner, I'd argue it's pronounced Bark-shuh, which adds a whole new layer of complication for foreigners trying to get to grips with this!

[@oliversherman2414]

@@GarrySturley-vq1ir lol yeah depends on where in the UK you're from

[@stevenredwood7205]

In West Yorkshire, we have the famous village the Bronte sisters came from Haworth, which is pronounced. Howath. Also very close by is Keighley pronounced Keithley

[@grahamholmes9630]

Just to clarify Howarth is pronounced How-arth (Not Ho-warth).

[@stevenredwood7205]

@grahamholmes9630 Not in Bradford it's not.

[@Jonathan-ug9yu]

You’ve got a treasure of a channel here

[@gaelsomerville5163]

One of our favourite seaside towns when I was growing up, is Happisburgh. Tourists had no idea that the name is pronounced, Hazebrrr

[@nickmoore5105]

Your "derbyshire" was perfect

[@Jord73]

I always watch your videos till the very last second, where you shoot me with your wink 😊

[@deja-view1017]

In my area there is the river Teign (Teen). The town at the mouth is Teignmouth (Tinmuth - home of Muse). Further up river there is Bishopsteignton (Bishops-tane-ton) and Kingsteignton (Kings-tane-ton - known locally as K-town). All this in the Teignbridge (Tinbridge) council area. Outsiders don't have a chance!

[@jamespasifull]

As a teenager, I lived in a tiny village, called Tydd Gote, on the border of South Lincolnshire, & North Cambridgeshire, a few miles North of Wisbech. The name of the village is pronounced 'tid-goat', & apparently, it began as 'tide-gate' during the reclamation of marshland around The Wash, by Dutch drainage engineers, a few hundred years ago. I'm not sure about the 'tide gate' theory, as there are two other nearby villages called Tydd St Mary, & Tydd St Giles, neither of which are close to any tidal waterway, & were named many many hundreds of years before any land drainage! 🤔

[@Adam_Le-Roi_Davis.]

Here are a few to have a go at: Bicester = Bis'ter, Abercynon = Abba'cun'on, Fowey = Foy, Cholmondeley = Chum'lee, Ruislip = Rye'slip, Beaulieu = Bew'lee, Hereford = Herri'fud, Leominster = Lem'ster, Gloucester = Glos'stir, Worcester = Wus'stir. There are many more, but these are a start.

[@AzulinhoAzulinho]

That last one is only because English people really struggle pronouncing the letter 'R' - unless it's a phantom/fantasy 'R' in between a word that ends with a vowel sound and the next word that starts with a vowel sound. Like Law(r) and order. How we rhotic speakers laugh at your idiocy.

[@AzulinhoAzulinho]

For clarity, I would pronounce it as Wurs'stir. You would hear the 'R'.

[@Adam_Le-Roi_Davis.]

@@AzulinhoAzulinho That's fair comment.

[@martinhughes2549]

Abercynon is phonetic. No problems with pronunciation IF you know the rules of Welsh pronunciation.

[@AzulinhoAzulinho]

@@martinhughes2549 👋👋👋 aye, I wasn't certain enough, but well said. These typical English ignoramuses, the y think they know Cymru and Alba but they know F all.

[@evenflow1981]

Interesting that you've got a friend in Derbyshire which is my neck of the woods! If you ever come over to visit them then I'd be happy to give you some recommendations of interesting places to visit in the area!

[@dyoung3536]

"Sault Saint Marie" (Michigan/Ontario) = "Soo Saint Marie". For a "Literary Reference"....Author Rudyard Kipling has 2 cities (townships) named after him....both in Upper Michigan (Rudyard, MI & Kipling, MI). Despite growing up near them and having been through both many times, never read any of his works.

[@dalehepworth1647]

I think one of the most basic rules to english place names is that anywhere that you see "shire" at the end is generally pronounced as "sher", like Lincolnshire is pronounced as Lincolnsher.

[@keithorbell8946]

Keighley, where my Dad was born. A market and mill town in West Yorkshire pronounced “Keithlee”. Drayton Beauchamp (Beecham), Chesham Bois (Boys), Lymm,

[@dobbinthe]

Chesham Bois is pronounced Boys if you don't live there and Bwah if you do (and you're a posh snob)

[@bingbong7316]

Hunstanton is pronounced Hunston for some reason. A bit like the surname Featherstone-Haugh being pronounced Fanshaw.

[@leeangell8889]

Yay! I'm from Frome and we spend an inordinate amount of time correcting people.

[@TimeyWimeyLimey]

The very best way to learn how to say British placenames is to listen to the classified football results at 5pm on a Saturday. You'll hear how to pronounce over a hundred British towns and cities in minutes along side seeing them on screen. There are some old ones on YT if you want to do a video on it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5zXfqmqfrGfh9U

[@EdMac40]

The first place that came to mind was Gloucester, Massachusetts, but that's not fair because it was named after the city in England (pronounced here as Glahster), so let's go with Cairo, NY; pronounced as the American- English word "care" with an "oh" at the end (CAIR-o). Greenwich, Connecticut is another good one, pronounced Grenich, but again, it's the British influence. I guess Boise works too. OMG, there are a lot.

[@bentover5701]

In the north of England there’s a town spelled Irishopeburn but pronounced I-sop-burn tricks a lot of people

[@philmckenna5709]

Like your show. Good mix of topics. Derbyshire is a county (region), not a city.

[@Group51]

The county town in Berkshire (bark-shire) is Reading (red-ing).

[@supernovaleftover1812]

I've lived in Triangle, Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Luddenden Foot. I used to think they were strange names but the more I travel, the more I think they're pretty tame.

[@NoProtocol]

Mytholmroyd is a mouth full

[@earthwormandruw]

Well know I know what to name my kid if I have one! Mytholmroyd Martinez 😈

[@primalengland]

Many happy times in Hebden Bridge with an old mate, Ian Davies from Mytholmroyd. Beautiful part of the country. And this coming from a Lancastrian.

[@stevenredwood7205]

​@NoProtocol Close to that there is a place called Slaithwaite pronounced Sloughit.

[@stephengraham1153]

Loughborough, north-east of Birmingham is one name that catches out a lot of people outside of the UK.

[@ironklaw]

I pronounce Worcestershire as "wooster-sher" (where the "oo" sounds like the "oo" in "book" or "foot", but that was only after being corrected by someone from the UK. Growing up, my mom always pronounced it "werster".

[@nadaduo1765]

Frome is lovely, all the south west is lovely really, Bath, Bristol, ect, ect I've been to Soho as well, interesting place lol

[@meorgegoran]

please watch an Interview with an Anglo Saxon, by Simon Roper. It showcases just how different Old English was when these place names first came into being

[@GenericUsername1388]

As someone with a standard English South African accent I'd say i sound like a mix between British and American pronunciation. I would say 'Darbyshire' exactly like an american bar the rhotic R's.

[@surpoz4321]

Love your T-Shirt :)

[@nac5901]

Belvoir (Castle, pronounced beaver), Magdalen (college, pronounced maudlin), Mainwaring (pr. mannering), Ralph and Ranulph (Fiennes, pr. rafe and ralph respectively), Menzies (Campbell, pr. mingus), Beaulieu (pr. byoolee), Beauchamp (pr. beecham), and the ever-famous Featherstonehaugh (pr. fanshaw)

[@McKavian]

Comedian Ben Brainard has a series of hard to pronounce city names by state. (And a lot of other things, but this was relevant to your topic.)

[@gantorisdurran710]

Ive worked in customer service/security in London for many years and listening to American tourists attempt to say "Leicester Square" is a gift the keeps on giving.

[@tonyod.1161]

My english teacher told me, in general, if a word is longer than 3 syllables, only pronounce the first 2, then just mess up the rest into one sound, and I would be fine...

[@andyjohnson4907]

There's a place near(ish) to Glasgow called Milngavie, pronounced 'mull-guy'.

[@PbThunder]

Here in the midlands we have a few hard to pronounce areas due to local dialect. Brewood - pronounced brood Stourbridge - pronounced starbridge Wombourne - pronounced womburn And my personal favourite: Coldmore - pronounced Karma 'no joke'.

[@matthewbarratt4935]

Alcester - pronouced ol-ster Stivichall - pronounced sty-chl

[@TheGrimLlama]

Wurrs-chester-shire. My brother lives in Carlisle which is just on the Scottish border. It's actually pronounced carl-ly-il. Crazy place. But we originally come from south africa where some suburbs have clicks in the names so I guess everywhere has their own thing going on.

[@matthewhoward-white463]

My home village in Northamptonshire is called Bozeat...have a go with that one 😂. Newsreaders get it wrong all the time (understandably so). The "Bo" is ok (Same as bow and arrow) But the zeat is pronounced "gut" but with a soft g sount and the "ut" the same as you would say "put" ( I put my clothes on for example). There are still arguments today about its origins.

[@Dude_Slick]

I pronounce Qatar the same way you do, but my son in law was over there in the USAF and he says it like cutter. I also pronounce Worcestershire the same as you. I believe that to be the common pronunciation, at least in the US.

[@CalebJMartin]

I love Map Men! If you enjoy etymology, I highly encourage you to check out Simon Roper. He has an invitingly easy pace, enjoyable narration, and he’s very thorough with what he does! He has a couple videos where he acts as an Old English speaker living in the modern day, but all his videos are fascinating!

[@acidcrow4051]

USA, Arkansas. It is apparently still illegal to pronounce it Ar-Kansas.

[@jasonremy1627]

North Carolina has a bunch of place names which are hard for people to say right. Conetoe, Rutherfordton, Mebane, Fuquay-Varina, Pfafftown, Uwharrie, Chalybeate...

[@pokemongeek10000000]

A reaction video where you give a reaction that isn't it just "wow that's crazy bro" well done

[@hughcromwell7845]

To be fair, even as someone born and raised in England and having travelled all across Britain some of these are hard. Also, love the Morrissey shirt guessing you are a also a fan of the Smiths.

[@_uncredited]

PS. Susie Dent's books on various strands of etymology are a fun read. She also does daily etymology on the twitters.

[@NoProtocol]

I haven’t heard of her yet, will look it up! Thank you

[@Robbie3004]

Susie is a regular on the words and numbers quiz Countdown, and also it's comedy version, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, which is hosted by Jimmy Carr.

[@colinmorrison5119]

Suzie has been on TV for decades now. Her Twitter game is unparalleled, with commentary on the latest mishaps given in the form of a 'word of the day'.

[@zwhtan]

'Qatar' gets its pronunciation from two things The first sound is a Q/K consonant pronounced at the back of the throat, and is not something that is found in european languages (to my knowledge) And the vowels are arabic short vowels that are deemphasized in pronouncing the word

[@4canspoon]

Try some Lincolnshire: Aslackby... A-zil-bee or Osbournby... Ozzen-bee or Sproxton... Spro-sun.

[@sami2503]

Near me is a town called Slaithwaite, pronounced 'Slow-it' (ow like in power)

[@cr10001]

Yes Llanfair P G is genuine, though it may have been - emphasised a little bit for publicity purposes. Beaulieu ('Bewley') is one that I lived near to. From the French 'beau lieu' - beautiful place. Launceston ('Lornston') in Cornwall. And Fowey I believe is pronounced 'Foy'. Teignmouth - 'Tinmouth'. Salisbury - 'Sawls-buh-ree'. Greenwich - 'Grennitch'. Harwich - 'Harritch.' High Wycombe - 'High Wikkam'. Oddly, Keighley in Yorkshire is not 'Keeley' but 'Keithley'. And Berwick (upon Tweed) - 'Berrick'. (Not Barick, even though Berkshire is 'Barkshire'). There are thousands more.

[@Nutrient-Gold]

A common one I hear in London regarding Leicester Square (an area in the West End area) and indeed Leicester City, itself, is hearing people pronounce it as “Lysester” instead of “Lester” - phonetically.

[@debbielough7754]

There's a tiny village / hamlet in Northumberland, called Featherstonehaugh. It's pronounced Fanshaw. Or Fanshuff (depends where you're from). The local pronunciation of 'gh' is as 'f'. Eg, lakes in Northumberland are 'loughs', pronounced 'loff' (same as my surname, which is Northumbrian).

[@mobilesamsung533]

Featherstonehaugh is also a surname, pronounced Fanshaw. In fact it claims to be the longest non-hyphenated British surname.

[@MrHws5mp]

The local one to here is Wildboarclough: pronounced "Will-ber-cloo". There's a few personal names that are ridiculous as well. "Featherstonehough" is pronounced "Fan-shor", "Cholmondeley" is pronounced "Chum-lee" and "Saint John" is pronounced "Sin-jen" (but only if it's in someone's name, not when you're talking about the actual saint). If it's any consolation, I was more than half as old as I am now before I realised that the "Arkansas" that I saw written down was the same as the "Ark-an-saw" I heard people say. I thought they were two different places...

[@terryhunt2659]

For reasons I won't bore you with, I have several times visited the Devonshire village of Woolfardisworthy, which locally is pronounced "Woolsery".

[@stuartbrittain7835]

Auchterarder, Auchtermuchty, Achiltibuie, Hawick, Milngavie........all in Scotland and all trickier than Frome