[john.margetts]

Spelling doesn't just mimic pronunciation, sometimes it represents what the writer knew to be the case. With 'Alnwick' the people who established the spelling knew the place was a wick even if no one actually pronounced the 'w' so the 'w' had to be there. Same with the 'l' as they knew the wick was on the banks of the river Aln.

[timb64]

The pronunciation of many English place names leave you scratching your head,Norfolk in particular has several "peculiarities".Wymondham is pronounced Windem,Happisburgh,Hazeburr,and Norwich,Naaarrich(OK the last one is an in joke for Ipswich residents!)

[WPRESTO]

Spelling doesn't just mimic pronunciation, sometimes it represents what the writer knew to be the case. With 'Alnwick' the people who established the spelling knew the place was a wick even if no one actually pronounced the 'w' so the 'w' had to be there. Same with the 'l' as they knew the wick was on the banks of the river Aln.

Is the river pronounced "A-L-N" or A-N-N?" When was the spelling of the river established, by whom, what was the pronunciation of the river's name at that time, and was there any variation in pronunciation between the educated who established the spelling and "ordinary folk?" Is the "w" in "wick" as applied to an open field pronounced or not pronounced? If the river is pronounced "A-L-N" and the "w" is pronounced in "wick", why is "Alnwick" pronounced "Ann - ick?" Again, I think I know, understand, and accept, but it is not logical, and logic has been used in this thread to criticize pronunciations used in the USA.

[timb64]

English must be such a difficult language to learn as there are no hard and fast rules on pronunciation. Just think of the seemingly similar words,rough,though,cough,bough,pronounced ruff,tho',coff and bow (as in bow down, not bow in your hair!!)

[Tom S.]

English must be such a difficult language to learn as there are no hard and fast rules on pronunciation. Just think of the seemingly similar words,rough,though,cough,bough,pronounced ruff,tho',coff and bow (as in bow down, not bow in your hair!!)

I don't believe English is alone in these problems, as I've heard Japanese and Chinese also contain many words that sound the same but have completely different, in some times, even vulgar meanings.

[Canada_Rockies]

Family sir names

Are all your family Knights of the Round Table?

[timb64]

I don't believe English is alone in these problems, as I've heard Japanese and Chinese also contain many words that sound the same but have completely different, in some times, even vulgar meanings.

I think that's the case with a lot of Asian languages. I heard a joke in Vietnam, Bar Bar Bar (three,three,three) is the name of a Vietnamese beer but depending on the intonation can also mean loose women,the joke is about three foreign guys who go into a bar and ask for three beers and are chased out of town!

[john.margetts]

English must be such a difficult language to learn as there are no hard and fast rules on pronunciation. Just think of the seemingly similar words,rough,though,cough,bough,pronounced ruff,tho',coff and bow (as in bow down, not bow in your hair!!)

I once worked with a Thai woman who complained we had too many words. The example she gave me was how to greet someone. She maintained that in Thai there is only one greeting but in English we have: hello, hi, good morning, wotcher, good day - and many more. It seemed to her that every time she met an English person they used another greeting which she didn't understand.

[WPRESTO]

English must be such a difficult language to learn as there are no hard and fast rules on pronunciation. Just think of the seemingly similar words,rough,though,cough,bough,pronounced ruff,tho',coff and bow (as in bow down, not bow in your hair!!)

In total agreement. English is far less than a phonetic language (BTW: Italian is supposed to be the most phonetic of western languages), My son learned to speak Chinese and he would sometimes tell us about the subtleties of intonation and rising or falling or flat inflection giving different meaning to the same "sound." However, at Disney World he was speaking in Chinese to a performer at the EPCOT Chinese pavillion - elderly man who was playing a flute-like instrument. The flutist subsequently turned to me and remarked that my son spoke Chinese very well, but then Matt had learned what might be called academic Mandarin, the form of Chinese spoken in Beijing schools. It's akin to learning "the Queen's English" as opposed to the pronunciation near the London docks, or in Birmingham, or along the Marches, or in York, or in Cornwall, or..........

[pete-tarmigan]

Police in NZ refer to themselves as pleece for some reason
Bit like doctors with their medcin or my old prof with his zo ology

As someone with a graduate degree in zoology I must assert that it is pronounced "zo-ology". The "-ology" part is a suffix modifier just as the "-oin" is a suffix in the ancient Greek word "zoion" (animal). If pronouncing it "zoo-ology" were correct it would be spelled zooology. Just because "zoological garden" is shortened in every day vernacular to "zoo" doesn't mean that zoology is pronounced zoo-ology.

[WPRESTO]

As a paleontologist I note that in Europe it is spelled "palaeontologist," which inevitably produced a respected journal: Palaeoecology. Do you know of other words in English that have four vowels in a row?

[SpecialK]

As a paleontologist I note that in Europe it is spelled "palaeontologist," which inevitably produced a respected journal: Palaeoecology. Do you know of other words in English that have four vowels in a row?

queueing.

[WPRESTO]

queueing.

Touche!! And one-up-man-ship as well!!

[Tonytee]

What I don't like is people calling all type of pop 'Coca-Cola...
This is Coca-Cola:

This is not:

I was born and raised the Boston area. I can recall when I was a kid, everyone (including adults) referred to it as "tonic".
Sometimes we would call it soda.

Tony

[WPRESTO]

I was born and raised the Boston area. I can recall when I was a kid, everyone (including adults) referred to it as "tonic".
Sometimes we would call it soda.

Tony

My in-laws, in southern NH, also tended to use "tonic" for soft drinks, pop, soda, etc.