trivia

[electricland]

Apropos of same, I had always vaguely assumed (passing the exit on the highway) that Bermondsey was pronounced BURR-mund-zee. My uncle, however, says ber-MUN-see.

I don't know where one would go to check this out.

Comments

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

I've always heard it the way your uncle says it.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a stray passing Brit of the south-eastern persuasion, we tend to to place emphasis on the first syllable of a word rather than on the second, so it is precisely as you surmise.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Yes, I was always told that the stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable, and was going with that. (Although given the many, many strange pronunciations for English proper names out there -- Featherstonehaugh, Berkeley, St. John, Mousehole, Ruthven, Strachan all come to mind -- I'm not sure I'm going to accept this ruling 100%. OK, so one or two of those may be Scottish.) But we have some weird place-names in this country, and you never can altogether tell. Witness:

Gananoque
Port Coquitlam
Etobicoke
Kapuskasing
Sioux Ste. Marie
Spadina (has 2 different pronunciations, just for fun!)

and sometimes people just pronounce things weirdly, 'cause.

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

i've never heard of the place before, but i also naturally stress the middle syllable. like ralph benMERgui.

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

or, brrr! MUNcie, indiana is cold!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Always? How do you feel about Eglinton, Roncesvalles (OK, no clue how that one's pronounced either), Davisville? Or Pat BENatar?

Have to admit, I hadn't thought about Ralph.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I think I'm outnumbered, then.

[monkeycommando.livejournal.com]

Spoken, I've only ever heard the stress on the second syllable (and I been there).

With the exception of spa-DEE-na (original pronunciation I'm told) the other places are native-derived.

Ganonoque should be pronounced, I'd wager, gunna-NAWK-ee, but because it's first printed interation was French, anglophones see the "que" and say something like

GAN-a NOK WAY.

(See "keh-bek" vs. "KWA-bek"

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

oh, it's not a conscious or subconscious "rule" on my part by any means.

[monkeycommando.livejournal.com]

Roncesvalles (visibly French) and Davisville (obviously compound) don't make for good samples.

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

i guess i evaluate unfamiliar words on a case by case basis. i don't have a strong preference one way or another. i had two ways to go with the word (i mean i wouldn't pronounce it bermondSEY for whatever reason), and 50.1% of me went with berMONDsey. ;-)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

You're trying to make me crazy, aren't you? Scarborough, Wellesley, Adelaide...

And while we're at it, what's your take on Bermondsey?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

...yes...?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

hee! I like your Indiana option.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

oh, nevermind. I am outnumbered.

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

how do you feel about "vacation"? ;)

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

thanks. i think i used up my wit reserves for that one.

[pretentiousgit.livejournal.com]

Well, I took it to school every day for eleven years and I always pronounced it "Ber-mund-zee." So there, uncle and everyone who agrees with him.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

or indeed "Toronto", with which everyone has considerately refrained from smacking me? ;)

although I think it comes under MC's Native-derived rule, so may not apply.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

aha! well I'm certainly glad I'm not the only one!

[stilldeepwater.livejournal.com]

I've always thought it was the second option (emphasis on the MUN). There's an area in London by the same name, I think.

[monkeycommando.livejournal.com]

To be clear, (and maybe to shoot a dead horse) I've been to thetrnasfer station, talked about it, heard the street mentioned in traffic reports, and have never heard a stress on the first syllable.

Scarborough is both a compound and pronounced as two syllables. Wellesley is two syllables, and the emphasis in Adelaide seems to be on the last syllable. (You put the em-PHA-siss on the wrong syl-AH-bul, to steal a line from Mike Myers in a movie noone saw.)

Basically, I think the rule you posited is generally true, except for place names.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

What? In what universe do people say a-duh-LAID? I've never heard anything but ADD-uh-laid. And I don't know what you say, but I say SCAR-buh-ruh or SCAR-buh-roe -- maybe it's only 2 1/2 syllables, but it's definitely more than 2.

to be equally clear and equally redundant, I wasn't originally marshalling supporting examples, but I will be happy to concede defeat if you'll explain to me what we're arguing about. ;)

[monkeycommando.livejournal.com]

Okay, so my Adelaide was a stretch (I get confused trying to suss empasis from ennunciation, and I guess because the first syllable starts with a vowel, it frequently gets swallowed, so that "laid" is the only clear syllable). Same way the middle syllable gets swallowed in "Scarborough" to result in a "SCAR-bra" pronunciation.

Thank you for not noting my unorthodox spelling of "transfer".

[electricland.livejournal.com]

the consensus is in! it's me and pretentiousgit and brisingamen against the world!