15 of the most commonly mispronounced towns in Britain revealed
From Norfolk to London, and Liverpool to Devon, the UK is home to plenty of weird and wonderful place names, but could you correctly pronounce them all?
It’s well known that English is a surprisingly complex language, and notoriously difficult for foreigners to learn as it’s so illogical and full of conundrums.
But even local residents can struggle to correctly spell and pronounce locations across the country.
Now research has officially uncovered some of the most mispronounced place names in the UK, with Teignmouth, Hunstanton and Gateacre topping the list.
Hunstanton is a seaside town in Norfolk, which seems like it should have three syllables; in fact the correct pronunciation is Hun-ston.
READ MORE: Revealed: 2019's most commonly mispronounced words and phrases
If you want to hang around in Norfolk, you could visit the historic village of Happisburgh on the coast. People thousands of years ago undoubtedly still struggled with the pronunciation of this place, which weirdly is said Hays-bruh, and not the more obviously sounding Happ-is-bruh.
If you’re looking for another seaside visit, Teignmouth in Devon wouldn’t be a bad spot, but instead of being pronounced Tane-mouth, it’s actually said Tin-muth.
Read on for the full list of 15 place names people struggle to pronounce.
READ MORE: These are the top five happiest places in the UK
If you’re struggling to get your head around all the pronunciations, here’s a handy list to refer to:
1. Marylebone (London)
Wrong: Ma-ree-lee-bone
Right: Mar-lee-bone
2. Teignmouth (Devon)
Wrong: Tane-mouth
Right: Tin-muth
3. Bicester (Oxfordshire)
Wrong: Bi-ses-ter
Right: Bis-ter
4. Hunstanton (Norfolk)
Wrong: Hun-stan-ton
Right: Hun-ston
5. Cholmondeley (Cheshire)
Wrong: Chol-mon-de-lee
Right: Chum-lee
6. Godmanchester (Cambridgeshire)
Wrong: God-man-ches-ter OR Gum-ster
Right: God-munch-ester
7. Southwell (Nottinghamshire)
Wrong: South-well
Right: Suth-ul
8. Magdalen College (Oxford/Cambridge)
Wrong: Mag-de-lain
Right: Maud-lin
9. Leominister (Herefordshire)
Wrong: Lee-o-min-ster
Right: Lemster
10. Shrewsbury (Shropshire)
Wrong: Shrews-bury
Right: Shroos-bree
11. Happisbrugh (Norfolk)
Wrong: Happ-is-bruh
Right: Hays-bruh
12. Gloucester (Gloucestershire)
Wrong: Glos-es-ter
Right: Glos-ter
13. Belvoir Castle (Grantham, Leicestershire)
Wrong: Bel-vwar Castle
Right: Beaver Castle
14. Ruislip (Greater London)
Wrong: Roo-i-slip
Right: Ry-slip
15. Gateacre (Liverpool)
Wrong: Gate-acre
Right: Gatt-a-ker
Tim Alcock from LeaseCar.uk, who conducted the research said: “The English language can be challenging at best.
“Not only do we have words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings – read, bank, bat and bear are good examples – to complicate things further, some words contain heaps of letters that just aren’t needed.
“You see this a lot with place names like Leominister, which might as well be spelt Lemster, and Happisburgh, which sounds more like Hays-bruh, rendering the majority of the word useless.”
