Pronunciation Pickle
Despite the fact that English derived from England, of course, I've noticed that certain letters in the alphabet, when combined with certain other letters of the alphabet, are just not said and are forgotten about all together. Not to mention that what one would expect a vowel to sound like in the English language is apparently not how a vowel is pronounced here in merry ol' England.
Let me demonstrate.
Take the county Leicestershire. Leicestershire is located south of Nottinghamshire and is a part of the East Midlands. You would think that one possible pronunciation would be "Lay-Kess-tur-shur" but that would be quite silly. If not that, perhaps "Lie-Kess-tur-shur?" No, wrong again! Let me tell you, it's because you're pronouncing all the letters which just isn't done!
You pronounce Leicestershire "Less-tur-shur." Yes, you evidently pretend that "C" does not, in fact, exist!
Next you've got Gloucestershire. Same rules apply here also. Although one would be tempted to sound out all the letters, alas, that is again just not the case. What you may think is "Glue-kess-tur-shur" is actually
"Gloss-tur-shur."
Now, if you truly want to sound like a local, you'll slur it a bit more and pronounce all "Shires" as "she" with a short "e" sound, much like the word "wet." Or at least that's according to Wikipedia.
Now, finally, we have Derby. Derby is located in Derbyshire county next to Notthinghamshire. Derby is a reasonable-sized town and actually was home to my dear husband for quite a time.
As I said earlier about vowels, appearances can be vastly deceiving. While you may think that Derby may be pronounced "Dur-bee" I can testify it is in fact "Dar-bee," as in it should be spelled Darby not Derby.
So, in conclusion, just because you see letters in words it doesn't mean you pronounce them! Whereas in America the 'h' in "herb" is silent, here you actually pronounce it. So, any rules you think you know about words and pronunciations....just toss those in the bin because it's a free-for-all!
And now, just to be different.
While they don't have gallon as a standard unit of measure here, they do have cartons that are very nearly a gallon. Now, whereas Americans are used to much more robust-sized cartons, cartons here are made to fit in the doors of much smaller refrigerators, thus the elongated, compact size. Plus, 2% milk doesn't have any meaning here, but not to worry. Semi-skimmed milk is the exact same thing as our 2%. The neatest thing to note is that the price of milk has actually come down over the course of a year so that 6 pints of milk (nearly one gallon) is equal to $2.48 in the US. While the country experiences exceptionally high taxes, I have found that the cost of food for basic necessities is extremely reasonable compared to the US.
For instance, that large box of corn flakes above was 30 pence, which equals to about $0.50 in the states. A box that large would not cost below $3.00 in America!
Let me demonstrate.
Take the county Leicestershire. Leicestershire is located south of Nottinghamshire and is a part of the East Midlands. You would think that one possible pronunciation would be "Lay-Kess-tur-shur" but that would be quite silly. If not that, perhaps "Lie-Kess-tur-shur?" No, wrong again! Let me tell you, it's because you're pronouncing all the letters which just isn't done!
You pronounce Leicestershire "Less-tur-shur." Yes, you evidently pretend that "C" does not, in fact, exist!
Next you've got Gloucestershire. Same rules apply here also. Although one would be tempted to sound out all the letters, alas, that is again just not the case. What you may think is "Glue-kess-tur-shur" is actually
"Gloss-tur-shur."
Now, if you truly want to sound like a local, you'll slur it a bit more and pronounce all "Shires" as "she" with a short "e" sound, much like the word "wet." Or at least that's according to Wikipedia.
Now, finally, we have Derby. Derby is located in Derbyshire county next to Notthinghamshire. Derby is a reasonable-sized town and actually was home to my dear husband for quite a time.
As I said earlier about vowels, appearances can be vastly deceiving. While you may think that Derby may be pronounced "Dur-bee" I can testify it is in fact "Dar-bee," as in it should be spelled Darby not Derby.
So, in conclusion, just because you see letters in words it doesn't mean you pronounce them! Whereas in America the 'h' in "herb" is silent, here you actually pronounce it. So, any rules you think you know about words and pronunciations....just toss those in the bin because it's a free-for-all!
And now, just to be different.
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| Notice the shape of the milk carton! |
While they don't have gallon as a standard unit of measure here, they do have cartons that are very nearly a gallon. Now, whereas Americans are used to much more robust-sized cartons, cartons here are made to fit in the doors of much smaller refrigerators, thus the elongated, compact size. Plus, 2% milk doesn't have any meaning here, but not to worry. Semi-skimmed milk is the exact same thing as our 2%. The neatest thing to note is that the price of milk has actually come down over the course of a year so that 6 pints of milk (nearly one gallon) is equal to $2.48 in the US. While the country experiences exceptionally high taxes, I have found that the cost of food for basic necessities is extremely reasonable compared to the US.
For instance, that large box of corn flakes above was 30 pence, which equals to about $0.50 in the states. A box that large would not cost below $3.00 in America!