3 ms·
That's interesting because North Berwick, South Berwick, and Berwick in southern Maine are pronounced Ber-wick.
by TrisMcC 9y ago
That's interesting because North Berwick, South Berwick, and Berwick in southern Maine are pronounced Ber-wick.
- chrxr 9y agoSimilarly, Norwich, Connecticut is pronounced Nor-which locally.
- rdiddly 9y agoThose wacky Nutmeggers (who badly need a standard demonym by the way) also pronounce their local Thames River as thaymz and yes that's with the th as in thick. But they do pronounce Greenwich (CT) as the English do.
- richardfontana 9y agoI have read (no source at hand though) that that one used to be "Nor-itch" but during the 20th century the pronunciation was gradually forgotten and replaced with a spelling pronunciation. If I remember correctly the same was true of Warwick ("War-ick") Rhode Island.
- Radim 9y agoSame thing happened with Berkeley in the US: originally "Barclay", and still pronounced "Barclay" in the UK.
- desas 9y agoIt's common for us place names to have drifted from their origin. The Egyptian Cairo is pronounced ky-row but the American is pronounced kay-row. There's a running joke about the American pronunciation of Loughborough.