[ndsipa_pomu]

I don't think I can.

The pronunciation of "Gloucester" (gloster) and "Leicester" (lester) follow a similar scheme for the "-cester" bit which leads to "Worcester" being pronounced "wooster", but Worcestershire sauce is often pronounced "wooster sauce" which doesn't make much sense.

Apparently, Frome in Somerset is one of the hardest place names to pronounce in England, though it certainly doesn't compare to some Welsh towns. (I say it as "froom")

[Symbiote]

I think the sauce is either Worcestershire Sauce, or Worcester Sauce, either is acceptable.

Worcestershire and Worcester follow the same patter as Gloucestershire/Gloucester, Leicestershire/Leicester and (Towcestershire doesn't exist)/Towcester. Towcester, incidentally, being the same pronunciation as "toaster".

The one that annoys me is Cirencester, which is usually "sai-ren-ses-ta", and only occasionally "sai-ren-ster".

[dghf]

> The one that annoys me is Cirencester, which is usually "sai-ren-ses-ta", and only occasionally "sai-ren-ster".

Or, according to my grandmother, "siss-iss-ter".

[ndsipa_pomu]

Just found a Devon town called Woolfardisworthy, but can be pronounced as "Woolzery"

[notahacker]

I like the Northamptonshire village of Cogenhoe, which is obviously pronounced cook-no.

It sits on the River Nene, which is pronounced Neen or Nen depending on which bit of Northamptonshire you live in (Northamptonshire is not very big...)

[ndsipa_pomu]

I think the accepted authority on anything to do with Northamptonshire has to be Alan Moore.

[Doctor_Fegg]

Locals just call it “Ciren”…

[vmilner]

It took me a surprising amount of time to work out where (Ciren) they were talking about after moving to glow-sester-shire...

[wink]

I mean, Sir Terry was British after all. cf https://wiki.lspace.org/Jonathan_Teatime

[ndsipa_pomu]

It amuses me when english words are pronounced differently to make them seem posher. We have a nearby town called Yate (rhymes with gate), but the posh version rhymes with latte.

[wingspar]

“It’s pronounced Bouquet” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_Up_Appearances

[dghf]

"It's spelled 'Raymond Luxury-Yacht', but it's pronounced 'Throat-Wobbler Mangrove'." https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7uv0n8

[denton-scratch]

> "wooster sauce"

"That's just incorrect. It's pronounced "wooster-shuh". The double-O is short, as in "book". Worcestershire Sauce is sometimes simply called "woosters", as in "a dash of woosters".

> Frome in Somerset is one of the hardest place names to pronounce

Hardly. It's pronounced "froom". That's not so hard.

[ndsipa_pomu]

I got Frome from here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-49813249

I agree that it's not tricky to pronounce, but the difficulty is pronouncing it correctly.

Worcestershire sauce can be called "wooster-shuh sauce" or "wooster sauce" or as you say, "woosters".

[chriswarbo]

> The double-O is short, as in "book"

Bad example, since some accents pronounce "book" like "kook" (not like "suck") ;)

[denton-scratch]

Fair do's; scousers indeed pronounce "book" as "bewk".

[mnw21cam]

One of my ambitions in life is to make a pronunciation guide using example words that are pronounced differently by different people.

[ndsipa_pomu]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney_Alphabet

Also, this scene from Archer cracks me up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jxLxZrMfs

[bee_rider]

There’s a town in Massachusetts called Worcester, pronounced something like Wooster/Woostah/Woostuh.

[nobody9999]

>There’s a town in Massachusetts called Worcester, pronounced something like Wooster/Woostah/Woostuh.

And there's a Gloucester[0] (pronounced 'Gloster' or, more likely in MA 'Glostah') there as well. And there's one[1] in Virgnia too, (Wikipedia says it's pronounced 'Gloster', but I don't know the VA accent well enough to know if that's locally correct).

There are other similar place names around the US, mostly on the eastern seaboard, for obvious reasons, as well.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester,_Massachusetts

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester_County,_Virginia