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Bicester is another canonical example. Pronounced like "Mister" with a "B" in place of the "M". I don't think a single native English speaker would correctly pr
by Shrezzing 3y ago
Bicester is another canonical example. Pronounced like "Mister" with a "B" in place of the "M". I don't think a single native English speaker would correctly pronounce Bicester on their first attempt.
- tompko 3y agoThe elision of the 'e' in -cester placenames so that the 'c' and 's' have a single sound is reasonably common e.g. Leicester, Gloucester, Worcester, Towcester, Bicester. So English natives should have a reasonable chance of getting the pronunciation of a previously unseen example correct.
- pirates 3y agoI have heard even Manchester sometimes spoken that way as well, depending on who you’re talking to.
- JdeBP 3y agoIt's not even unreasonable. -caster, -chester, and -cester are related suffixes.
- arrowsmith 3y agoAll descending from the Latin "castrum", which means "fort". So if a placename has one of those suffixes, chances are high that it was a Roman settlement.
- NeoTar 3y agoGodmanchester in Cambridgeshire, although now pronunced by most people as 'God-Man-Chest-Er', used to be pronounced (and may still be by some locals) as Gumster.
- darrenf 3y agoAnd then along comes Cirencester.
- kwhitefoot 3y agoSissiter according to the locals in the old days, Siren when I was growing up in nearby Swindon.
- rob74 3y agoAnd that's why "Worcester Sauce" is the second most mispronounced culinary term in Germany (after "Stracciatella") * [*] - according to my made-up-on-the spot stats
- tonymillion 3y agoAlso doesn’t help that it’s actual name is “Worcestershire sauce” which is even more difficult to say.
- brnt 3y agoNow I must know: how do Germans pronounce stracciatella?
- gloria_mundi 3y agoSome switch around the "s" and "sh" sounds, so it is pronounced roughly like "shtratsiatella". "st" at the beginning of a word is pronounced as "sht" in German.
- hoseja 3y agoSimilar to Worcester.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoIf you take the M40 to Bicester, you pass by High Wycombe.