Richard III's remains: Leicester car park dug up

Priene

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On the other hand if they are bad jokes it would be cruel to inflict them on the readers of this thread.

Bad jokes are all I have. That and my collection of Salman Rushdie hardbacks.
 

Haggis

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As a Yank I've been struggling with the pronounciation of the word "Leicester."I asked my English friend (who was quite excited to learn of the dig, BTW). She told me it's pronounced "Lester." My question--who added the "ice" and what was the purpose of all those extra letters?
 

Shakesbear

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Bad jokes are all I have. That and my collection of Salman Rushdie hardbacks.

Not all - you have us, the AW community.

As a Yank I've been struggling with the pronounciation of the word "Leicester."I asked my English friend (who was quite excited to learn of the dig, BTW). She told me it's pronounced "Lester." My question--who added the "ice" and what was the purpose of all those extra letters?
Shire of Leicester. Leicester itself derives from Ligore, a Celtic tribal name of unknown origin, with the OE suffix 'ceaster', denoting a Roman town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymical_list_of_counties_of_the_United_Kingdom#England

UK place names have so many origins which may account for some of the pronunciations. I used to live in Stratford-upon-Avon and the two localish names that flummoxed most people were Alcester, pronounced Al-Ster not Al-ces-ter, and Bicester - pronounced Bis-ter not Bi-ces-ter. Mind the weirdest mis-pronounciation of Leicester I've ever heard is 'Lancaster'!
 

Priene

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As a Yank I've been struggling with the pronounciation of the word "Leicester."I asked my English friend (who was quite excited to learn of the dig, BTW). She told me it's pronounced "Lester." My question--who added the "ice" and what was the purpose of all those extra letters?

It's a very old name, and bits have gone missing in pronunciation over the centuries. See also Gloucester.
 

Haggis

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Thanks. I've always struggled with certain English city/town/regional names. But that makes sense. Roman influence along with Celtic along with others too, I suppose. Welch and Scottish names offer their own fun. :) But it's all wonderfully interesting.
 

Rufus Coppertop

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I've heard an allegation that there's a place in England called Cholmondeley. Apparently the pronunciation is Chumley.
 

Shakesbear

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Haggis

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Xelebes

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As a Yank I've been struggling with the pronounciation of the word "Leicester."I asked my English friend (who was quite excited to learn of the dig, BTW). She told me it's pronounced "Lester." My question--who added the "ice" and what was the purpose of all those extra letters?

Clipping is common.

Edmonton, Canada is pronounced by locals as Emmaton or Emton.
Calgary, Canada is pronounced by locals as Cal-gree.
Toronto, Canada is pronounced by locals as Traw-na.
Wasketenau, Canada is pronounced as Wasset-na.

I note that we Merikans have our Worcester, pronounced IIRC Wooster.

Acorn, tree.

I've always been told it is pronounced Werster. Worcestershire is Werstersher
 

CassandraW

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Yep. English place names have been around longer than 'Merican ones, so they've had a longer time to be clipped. But we're well on our way.

Niagara Falls comes out a lot of Niagara residents sounding more like "Nagra Falls."

My friends from Mississippi keep insisting they're from Missippi.

And so forth.
 

Haggis

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I've always been told it is pronounced Werster. Worcestershire is Werstersher
That's because our friends from Massachusetts always put a "r" on the end of every other word. :D

Cuber

Africer

Malaysier

....
 

CassandraW

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I've always been told it is pronounced Werster. Worcestershire is Werstersher

There may well be more than one Worcester, pronounced in a different way The one I know is indeed pronounced Wooster.

That happens a lot. E.g., the folks in Cairo, Illinois say "cay-ro," not "c-eye-ro." :)
 

Shakesbear

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LOL! Are the people from Worcester wusses?

A place not far from from me is called Bressingham - pronounced Bressnam.

How do we do this? Get from RIIIs possible bones to place names and how they are pronounced? Fun, innit?
 

Parametric

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Grew up or popped up?

I was pretty burnt by the time I left, that was for sure. :tongue Never going back there. It is a dead, soulless place. Like Northampton, but smaller.
 

Anaquana

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That's because our friends from Massachusetts always put a "r" on the end of every other word. :D

Cuber

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....

*clears throat*

I would just like to point out that those of us from the Western part of the state have a fairly healthy relationship with the letter 'R', unlike our colleagues to the East. It's the letter 'T' that many of us have issues with over here. ;-)
 

shakeysix

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Because it may be weeks before they release any findings on Richard 3 and we don't want the thread to die. By the way==that line of rufus' --a hearse, a hearse my kingdom for a hearse" was the funniest thing i've read all day! ---s6
 

Xelebes

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LOL! Are the people from Worcester wusses?

A place not far from from me is called Bressingham - pronounced Bressnam.

How do we do this? Get from RIIIs possible bones to place names and how they are pronounced? Fun, innit?

I always liked how Bedlam comes from Bethlehem. :)
 

Priene

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A place not far from from me is called Bressingham - pronounced Bressnam.

Then there's Wymondham down my manor, pronounced Windham. As opposed to Wymondham near Leicester, pronounced -- if you can believe the folly -- Wimondam.
 

gothicangel

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As a Yank I've been struggling with the pronounciation of the word "Leicester."I asked my English friend (who was quite excited to learn of the dig, BTW). She told me it's pronounced "Lester." My question--who added the "ice" and what was the purpose of all those extra letters?

It's our British sense of humour, we do it so we can have a laugh at your expense. Our particular favourite is when you say 'Edin-boro.' My personal favourite is when you try saying Coquetdale, which comes out as 'Cocket-dale.' :D