What is the correct pronunciation of Lerwick ?

MawB I really like Marsali Taylor's books, not least because the "love interest" develops so slowly (over at least four books!) So many detective stories have a "wham bam, thank you ma'am" encounter between a (male) detective and a different woman in each book of a series.

Sorry for the spoiler, MawB! but it was obvious that it was going to go somewhere, eventually.

Locals say "Lerrick" but most English speakers say "Lerwick"

Parisian locals refer to their city as "Paree" but most English spakers say "Paris"

Not a spoilerElegran - I’m about to start Book 6!

Varian Paree/Paris, well obviously, given that they speak French and we don’t . I think Lerook is a fair phonetic approximation of * Lerrick*
If we’re going to get on to foreign language versions of cities (Londres/London, Roma/Rome etc etc ) we could be here all night

WheniwasyourageTue 05-May-20 11:17:57
I think natives pronounce it Lerrick and others pronounce it to rhyme with Berwick

Erm, Lerrick does rhyme with Berwick (Berrick )

I suppose in this country we should try to pronounce place names like the locals do.

Strathaven = Straven

Milnigavie = Millguy

Kirkudbright= Kirkubrie

I'm sure there are many others

.,

I would say Mullguy With the emphasis on “guy”- what do others think?
Always used to laugh at “alien” pronunciation of Dumfries and actually we often referred to it as Dumb- fries as a joke!

To add further confusion,
Shrewsbury was pronounced as it sounds (As in Taming of the Shrew...) or referred to as Salop, by the locals. Even found on some of the road signs, back in the 50s and 60s.
In Herefordshire, Leominster was and is pronounced Lemster, and Weobley as Webbly.
Farcet, outside Peterborough is Facet

Lerick

Sorry MawB, you're quite right and my brain was obviously not in gear . I meant that others pronounce it Ler-wick, with the w sounded. I shall go and lie down quietly now!

Living 12 miles away from it, I have always said Mullguy with a Glasgow accent!
Pronouncing it as Milngavie would raise a smile with the locals.

By the way, it has great charity shops!

NotAGran55

I am listening to an audiobook book by Ann Cleeves set in Shetland narrated by Kenny Blyth .

He is alternating between ‘Lerrick ‘ and ‘ Lurwick ‘ which is rather odd .

My Grandmother was a "Shetlander" - she and her friend who migrated to Australia before WW1 both insisted it was pronounced LerWick...they both grew up there. I visited myself in the late 60s and it was definitely LerWick then too.

Our Sat Nav speaks place names literally. For example Witham is "with 'am" when it's pronounced "Witem". We really need to take her to Scotland!!

My own personal favourite is Sauchiehall Street (in Glasgow) have heard a fair few interesting attempts at that one ?

Grannmarie

In our area, Lanarkshire, we have Dalziel Estate, the historic Dalziel House, Dalziel High School..
Local pronunciation is DL, dee ell, like the names of the capital letters.

Irrelevant but my ex went to dalziel high school......
Belvoir castle ? Alnwick ? Ulgham ?

Local to me is Knaresborough. An American visitor once asked a student of mine if kanaresberg was worth a visit.

Relating to Shrewsbury, I am a proud Salopian going back for many generations, I never heard any member of my family refer to our county town as anything other than Shroesbury. There is a theory that the Shrew pronunciation came into usage when the local football team were nicknamed the Shrews.

I once heard a speaker on the radio pronounce Ballachulish as Baa latch ulish instead of Balla hoolish.

Beever, Annick Lucca? Not sure about the last one!

Uffam....

In the Glasgow area we said Lerrick and Kir'coddy as in The De'ils deed, the De'ils deed and buried at Kir'cody
Some say he's risen agin, risen agin tae daunce the Hielan' laddie.

My father maintained he had been shown the Devil's grave in the kirkyard at Kirkcady when he was a boy.

I remember the town mainly for the smell of lino that was made there in my childhood. We drove through on our way to Pittenweem where my grandparents lived.

The w is silent. It is pronounced Lerick.

Anybody want to have a go at Burntisland?

Clue - it's not, as I heard on the TV recently, Burntis-land ?

Or in a TV program last week supposedly set in Dundee; Lochee pronounced Lotch-ee, emphasis on the Lotch.

As for foreign cities, one of my favourites is Munich/München. Back in the early sixties, the local American Forces Network in Bavaria used to describe its midday records programme as “your luncheon in Muncheon”.

Now people move around s so much now, the old not phonetic pronounciations are now being lost.

My aunt and uncle always pronounced Cirencester 'Cissister' . I was in troubleif I said anything else.

I used to live in a village, name pronounced 'Finch'mstead. Now always called FinchHAMstead.