accountantpete
OAP
A popular cyclists' coffee stop, the Venetian Marina cafe , is in Cholmondeston - or Chumston as they say in them parts.
The other night they want one better on news night at the start of an interview they said from is home in hell.Bugs me when the BBC can't pronounce Hull. It rhymes with bull and full, it's Hull not Haall
To be honest, I'm not sure I would argue with that description at the moment.The other night they want one better on news night at the start of an interview they said from is home in hell.
This took me on a linguistic journey - "Belvoir" is a contraction of belle voir, or beautiful view. Same goes for Belvedere (from Latin) and then I mentally arrived at Beauchamp, which of course any francophone will tell you is pronounced beecham.Like the Vale of Belvoir and Belvoir Castle which is pronounced beaver much to the amusement of Americans.
Working in nearby Covent Garden, I was frequently asked by American tourists the way to 'Lie-sester square'There are also the common 'cesters', Bicester, Towcester, Gloucester, Worcester etc, which generally trips up foreign visitors.
The accent round the villages surrounding Towcester is an amazing thing, changes from village to village but is all a version of bumpkin. Then it becomes far more Northampton like when you get to Kislingbury, Heyford and those villages on the outskirts of the Town. You go past Weedon, to Buckby and Dav and it becomes far more Coventry/B'ham. All within a radius of no more than 10 miles.It depends where you are. At its westen end in Northamptonshire it's nen, in Cambridgshire it's more commonly neen.
Mind you, Northamptonshire has some right weird pronunciations. Cogenhoe is 'Cook-no', Althorp is 'AlltTHROP', Towcester is pronounced by outsiders as 'toe-ster' but locals pronounce the Tow as you would the word 'how'. Weirdos.
Lord only knows how youd pronounce the name of the Nene jet engine.
MeAnother weird one from Northamptonshire is how a lot of elderly people say me duck to everyone
It's all in the breeding.Now thats odd. I live at the western end of the river, so call it the nen, but I went to prep school so call it a scone with the e on the end.
As a full blown local it's Nen, and a scone would be a scon, not a scown.People who tend to say Scown would also say Neen.