Why are British place names so hard to pronounce?

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Written, presented and edited by
JAY FOREMAN @jayforeman
MARK COOPER-JONES @markcooperjones

Director/DOP
JADE NAGI @jade_nagi

Thanks for help with graphics
PETER HAYES

Wacky Wheels music by
MARK KLEM

Royalty free Music by Giorgio Di Campo for FreeSound Music

[Szaam]

"Could you mispronounce Frome for me?"
"Portsmouth."
"That'll do."
That joke was made even funnier by Mark deciding to wear a wig very briefly for no reason.

[EpicScizor]

Pronouncing english names is easy. Pronounce the word like you think it should be pronounced, then repeat it faster and faster until you've swallowed three syllables. That's the actual pronunciation

[AaronMichaelLong]

I don't know if it's the double margarita I just had, but "BELGIC OPPIDVM which was sensibly renamed 'Braintree'" has me quite literally in tears of laughter. You guys are geniuses.

[thomasoates]

An extra 'map' this time. I see you like to keep us on our toes.

[nessai]

"contain nonsensical phonetic traps that are impossible to predict"

That should be a warning on English language textbooks.

[Doviderus]

Frama, located in Cantabria, northern Spain is the very same celtic word that turned into Frome in England. In the heart of the Liebana Valley, Frama is visited by hundreds of British tourists who ignore this point altogether.

[jorambannister]

I once heard a story about an Australian hitchhiker in the UK who was asking for a ride to "Loo-ger-bar-oo-ger"
After much head scratching from the locals they realised he was wanting to get to Loughborough! (pronounced Luffburuh) 😀

[mollychristman]

I once saw something that said "English is what happens when Vikings learn Latin and use it to yell at Germans"

[MTRfundamentalist]

Programmers: Ransomware
People from England: Rampisham-ware

[NovaAge]

"Mousehole"
"Braintree"
"Speen"
Gosh I love the UK

[AlexWJ]

Love how knowing languages can teach you even more things hidden in plain sight. Learning Norwegian made me realise that kirk is church and gate is street. So when I realised there was a street called Kirkgate, I went to google to see if it was literally church street, and it was!

[Yitewewoteli-dQwwWgXcQ]

Didn't expect the Liam Dutton nails pronouncing parody, but I'm happy it's there.

[christopherdeangelis]

As an american, I was having trouble understanding the video, but after that "yippie kay-ay" I get it now. Thank you Map Men for great translations.

[kenb]

I live in New England in the USA and we have many towns and cities named after those in England - and yes, we use the same English pronunciation which drives those from outside of New England - crazy. But i love it. 😇

[kenlewis]

Actually, Welsh place names are very easy to pronounce. The spelling is consistent. There are only 15 or so pronunciation rules and almost no exceptions. (Except for Hirwaun, which should be pronounced heer wine but the locals say er-win)

[aknee]

This is basically adult Horrible Histories and I’m not complaining

[therealjetlag]

I moved to the UK 40 years ago and about 5 years in, I was invited to a party in Toaster. Being without satnav back then, I looked it up in a map but couldn’t find it. I was assured it was easy to find and signposted off of the M1. Just head north.

I let out an when I saw the sign for Towcester.

[callistogarnet]

Once heard an American man on a train very patiently saying “no mother it’s pronounced ‘Ip-sich’, they don’t pronounce the W here” when he and his mum were on the way to Ipswich. He would have been right for 99% of the words with a similar ending...

[leocervidae]

I got told in school the Normans also changed a lot of Anglo-Saxon place names that they struggled to pronounce, and were responsible for a lot of the shortening. They were also responsible for the very creative name “Newcastle”, named after the new castle they built there 😂.

[zahrazarqaa]

1:49 "Mousehole" being pronouced "Mou-sel" MUST have been the inspiration for "Not Weaseltown its prounouced 'Weselton'!"