On Friday 30 July 2021 at 22:50:22, Antony Stone wrote:

> On Friday 30 July 2021 at 22:30:34, Rowland Penny via Dng wrote:
> > On Fri, 2021-07-30 at 22:18 +0200, Antony Stone wrote:
> > > On Friday 30 July 2021 at 22:04:28, Hendrik Boom wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 07:13:43PM +0100, Rowland Penny wrote:
> > > > > We also have a habit of having letters in words that we do not
> > > > > pronounce, 'pterosaur' for instance :-)
> > > >
> > > > But it's *fun* pronouncing both the p and the t.
> > >
> > > Who in their right mind would pronounce the 't' in that :) ?
> >
> > Just about everyone in England, it is the 'p' that you do not
> > pronounce. Unless you are actually referring to the 'that' on the end
> > of your sentence, in which case 'ha' :-D
>
> I suspect I under-emphasised the smiley in my sentence :(
>
> > > German pronounces all the letters in a word, in as consistent a way
> > > as possible.
> >
> > They would.
>
> At least it's easy to learn how to say German words, and how to know which
> word a German has just said.
>
> > > French pronounces as few of the letters in a word as it can get away
> > > with.
> >
> > Terrible language, we stole the best parts of their language.
>
> Yes, mostly from the original Latin...
>
> > > English pronounces most, but not all, of the letters in a word, in as
> > > many different ways as possible.
> >
> > How about the name 'Cholmondeley ' which is pronounced 'Chumley'
>
> Agreed.
>
> St. John = Sinjun
> Featherstonehaugh = Fanshaw
> Gloucester = Gloster
> Worcester = Wooster

Oops, I forgot:

Southwark = Suthark
Mousehole = Mousal
Southwell = Suthell
Leicester = Lester
Cockburn = Coburn
Magdelen (college) = Mawdlin
etc...

I also caused some confusion when asking for directions to "Schenectady" in
New York State, USA, some years ago.

Antony.

--
Behind the counter a boy with a shaven head stared vacantly into space,
a dozen spikes of microsoft protruding from the socket behind his ear.

- William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)

                                                   Please reply to the list;
                                                         please *don't* CC me.