I never understand why the English always Anglicise foreign names. "Cologne" for "Koln".. "Warsaw" for "Warzawa".. "Prague" for "Praha" and so on. Surely it is common courtesy to say it the way the locals say it?
The one that always gets me is Porto, why do the Brits say Oporto, which is more of a mouthful?
I never understand why the English always Anglicise foreign names. "Cologne" for "Koln".. "Warsaw" for "Warzawa".. "Prague" for "Praha" and so on. Surely it is common courtesy to say it the way the locals say it?
Like none of them ever change the name of our capital do they?
And as for cleaning products, chocolate bars and the like, which we had to re-name because they didn't understand them (not that most of them had English names to start with - Jiff is not an everyday English word.)
Then, what about that strip of water that separates us ;D
EDIT: for some reason this page wasn't available when I first replied, so didn't see the above, but it just goes to show I'm not alone ;D
The English have done a fair amount of Anglicising Welsh names - e.g. Carnarvon/Caernarfon, Carmarthen/Caerfyrddun, Llanelly/Llanelli, Cardiff/Caerdydd, Abergavenny/Y Fenni, Bridgend/Pen-y-bont ar Ogwyr, Newport/Casnewydd, etc. Although some of the English place names are actually Scandinavian, e.g. Swansea (Sven's Sea Place)/Abertawe (Mouth of the River Tawe).
Chris
The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart. --Antoine de St. Exupery
Then there are the double-bluffs. Southwell (of racecourse fame) is always pronounced Suthell by the horse racing community, but this is regarded as offensive by the locals who pronounce it......SouthWell!
BTW Hainault: SB states the correct English pronunciation, but the place of the same name in France IS pronounced I-No, just as we have corrupted Paree to Paris because we do not want to understand French.
Ahh - but Hainault in Essex has nothing to do with French It is a corruption of the Olde English Hyne Holt according to the LT book What's in a Name
What do you mean, you'll be late due to balloons on the line? MA indicator light? What MA indicator light?
A mars bar to anyone who can pronounce the station in Wales with Llanfair.............................................gogoch. I once went there when I was about 14. Theres was a delightful signalbox there that just had Llanfair PG on the name. Now, lets get our european counterparts to pronounce that....
A mars bar to anyone who can pronounce the station in Wales with Llanfair.............................................gogoch.
If you remind me I shall regail you with a pronunciation of it at the meet - albeit with an English accent with a very slight hint of South Walian in it!
Chris
The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart. --Antoine de St. Exupery