Only just caught up with this thread, made me laugh-well most of it anyway. When I did the RHS course we had the inevitable discussion on botanical plant names. Our lecturer said that in a previous group some years before there was one student that claimed that botanical names were pretentious and unnecessary. His response was simple "the RHS expect you to know & use the botanical names if you want to pass the exam you need to learn them"
On place names my father was posted to Scotland in WW2 he was told to get a bus to Mulguy. He waited in the rain for nearly 2 hours before he plucked up the courage to ask someone, it is written as Millengavie, he had let several busses come & go in the meantime !
There may be lots of reasons for someone mis-pronouncing something ... but there is only one reason for embarrassing someone about it ... and that is sheer bad manners
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I didn't say any of it was rude Lyn. Some one had mentioned John Humphrys book Lost For Words and I just commented that there was a 'lost word' in Hosta's post.
Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
Joyce yes I am sure you are right. I think it is now a well known one but to my Dad, a 19 year old raw recruit at the time, he had never heard of it. That said as a family we always love these local place names that are pronounced completely differently from the way they are spelt.
Posts
Only just caught up with this thread, made me laugh-well most of it anyway. When I did the RHS course we had the inevitable discussion on botanical plant names. Our lecturer said that in a previous group some years before there was one student that claimed that botanical names were pretentious and unnecessary. His response was simple "the RHS expect you to know & use the botanical names if you want to pass the exam you need to learn them"
On place names my father was posted to Scotland in WW2 he was told to get a bus to Mulguy. He waited in the rain for nearly 2 hours before he plucked up the courage to ask someone, it is written as Millengavie, he had let several busses come & go in the meantime !
There may be lots of reasons for someone mis-pronouncing something ... but there is only one reason for embarrassing someone about it ... and that is sheer bad manners
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Which bit did you think was rude LB?
I didn't say any of it was rude Lyn. Some one had mentioned John Humphrys book Lost For Words and I just commented that there was a 'lost word' in Hosta's post.
Sorry Iain, but it's Milngavie pronounced 'Milguy'
Joyce yes I am sure you are right. I think it is now a well known one but to my Dad, a 19 year old raw recruit at the time, he had never heard of it. That said as a family we always love these local place names that are pronounced completely differently from the way they are spelt.
Some of my mothers cousins had the surname Fyvie
Iain, my great grandfather worked on Fyvie estate.
Three odd English pronunciations that spring to mind are Cholmondley (Chumley), Belvoir (Beaver) and Beauchamp (Beecham).
... and of course, Featherstonehaugh pronounced Fanshaw.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.