Re:British Placename Mapper
by tompko on Wednesday April 10, 2024 @06:27AM
(#39989092)
The elision of the 'e' in -cester placenames so that the 'c' and 's' have a single sound is reasonably common e.g. Leicester, Gloucester, Worcester, Towcester, Bicester. So English natives should have a reasonable chance of getting the pronunciation of a previously unseen example correct.
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I have heard even Manchester sometimes spoken that way as well, depending on who you’re talking to.
It's not even unreasonable. -caster, -chester, and -cester are related suffixes.
Re:British Placename Mapper
by arrowsmith on Wednesday April 10, 2024 @04:57PM
(#39995638)
All descending from the Latin "castrum", which means "fort". So if a placename has one of those suffixes, chances are high that it was a Roman settlement.
Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire, although now pronunced by most people as 'God-Man-Chest-Er', used to be pronounced (and may still be by some locals) as Gumster.
And then along comes Cirencester.
Re:British Placename Mapper
by kwhitefoot on Wednesday April 10, 2024 @05:27PM
(#39995912)
Sissiter according to the locals in the old days, Siren when I was growing up in nearby Swindon.
And that's why "Worcester Sauce" is the second most mispronounced culinary term in Germany (after "Stracciatella") *
[*] - according to my made-up-on-the spot stats
Re:British Placename Mapper
by tonymillion on Wednesday April 10, 2024 @03:52PM
(#39995042)
Also doesn’t help that it’s actual name is “Worcestershire sauce” which is even more difficult to say.
Now I must know: how do Germans pronounce stracciatella?
Re:British Placename Mapper
by gloria_mundi on Wednesday April 10, 2024 @07:56PM
(#39996941)
Some switch around the "s" and "sh" sounds, so it is pronounced roughly like "shtratsiatella". "st" at the beginning of a word is pronounced as "sht" in German.