4 ms·
Plus it's not like Lynchburg is some tiny unheard of town. It's actually a decent sized city, and it's fairly well known for being home to Jerry Falwell's Liber
by gph 10y ago
Plus it's not like Lynchburg is some tiny unheard of town. It's actually a decent sized city, and it's fairly well known for being home to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Not to mention the history both in Lynchburg and the surrounding area from Revolutionary times to the Civil War.
It's like being surprised that there's a city called Reading in England. "Must be a bunch of libraries there".
- eru 10y agoFor non-locals: Reading (town) and Reading (verb) are pronounced differently. (And don't even try to guess how Leicester is pronounced from the spelling.)
- jdmichal 10y agoFor those whose curiosity was piqued: Reading - /rɛdɪŋ/ or "red-ing" Leicester - /lɛstər/ or "less-ter" No idea how they worked out that second one, and Wikipedia isn't too helpful there.
- throwanem 10y agoProbably just elision for convenience in speech - the same reason the name of the state in which I live is usually pronounced "Merlin". Perhaps ironically, the only person I've met who pronounced the full name was an English fellow.
- CPLX 10y agoHey that's where I am from too. I call it merelan though.
- throwanem 10y agoThe second vowel sound seems to occupy a continuum of elision from "a" through "ə" to complete absence, depending on the speaker, the rate of speech, the degree of sobriety, and the phase of the moon.
- eru 10y agoMight be Schwa-deletion at work? It's a wonder we don't call the first two month Jan'ry and Feb'ry, yet.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoIt's pronounced like Worchestershire. Almost :)
- nottorp 10y agoAs a non-american, when I hear Lynchburg I do not think of lynching, but of Lynchburg Lemonade :)