Re: Lettice Knollys


"William Black" <william.black@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dp3uhs$ae8$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Brian Austin" <Brian.Austin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:dp3s3v$59p$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Someone told me the other day that the inhabitants of Pepys Road in New
>> Cross in London, call it Pepis Road and that even those who know the
> correct
>> pronunciation fall in with the majority.
>
> Locally a village called Scalby has three different pronunciations locally
> depending on if you live there, live in the local town, or live in the
> next village.
>
> Living in a country where a village called 'Cloughton' has more local
> variations in pronunciation than there are villages called Cloughton I'm
> prepared to bet that the locals have it right...
>

I went to Melbourne, Australia last year and they pronounce it Melburn. If I
pronounce it Melburn in London it would look distinctly odd as the only
people who pronounce it that way are, indeed, people who live there.

Likewise Paris (Paree) or Glasgow (Glazgow).

In a sense all the pronunciations of Scalby are right. I am not sure that
the neighbours of Scalby would be terribly impressed if I went round in
their village as a Londoner telling them that their pronunciation was
"wrong" - it seems to me a subtle way of distinguishing your "family" from
your "friends".

I would imagine that the only people who know and care that Knollys is
really pronounced to rhyme with bowls is the upper class strata from which
the family comes. Indeed the fact that people would know the correct
pronunciation would suggest that they came from that same strata, which
presumably most of us don't.

Nick


.

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