•
Fish and chips: The accents of
Australians and
New Zealanders seem very similar, and the term
fish and chips is sometimes evoked to illustrate a major difference between the two. In
New Zealand pronunciation short
i is a central vowel, . This vowel sound is sometimes caricatured as "fush and chups" by Australians. The
Australian pronunciation has the front vowel (which is more common in most
varieties of English) which, due to an overall
vowel shift in New Zealand, sounds like "feesh and cheeps" to the ears of a New Zealander, sounding like an instance of the "
Fill–feel merger". • Pronunciation of letters of the
alphabet: •
H: in
Northern Ireland pronounced 'aitch' by
Protestants, and 'haitch' by
Catholics, per
Hiberno-English. Also often pronounced 'haitch' in dialects of English spoken in former colonies of Africa, Asia, and the
Pacific, usually among non-native English speakers, but in the case of
Australia, also among native speakers, especially those of Irish descent. •
Z: pronounced
zee in the
United States and the
Philippines; typically
zed in the Commonwealth. Known in
American history and
popular culture for distinguishing American males who fled to Canada from the US to escape the
military draft in the 1950s and 60s. The Canadian pronunciation was featured in the
Molson Canadian I Am Canadian advertisement in 2000.
Place-name pronunciations In Australia •
Castlemaine, Victoria: pronounced by the locals and by those Australians who have a more extensive
trap-bath split (see
Variation in Australian English). •
Melbourne, Victoria: Generally pronounced locally as , non-Australians, particularly from the UK or USA often pronounce it as , as in
Melbourne, Derbyshire.
In Canada •
Calgary,
Alberta: residents pronounce the name with two syllables, , while others pronounce it . •
Montréal,
Québec: Anglophone Montrealers pronounce the name of their city with the
vowel in the first syllable, thus: . The tendency of English speakers, usually from the US, to pronounce the first syllable with the vowel (thus ), immediately marks them as Americans to local ears. (However,
Francophone Montrealers pronounce it , at least in their native French.) •
Newfoundland: Some outsiders pronounce the island name almost as if it were three separate words, rather than the local pronunciation, , rhyming with "understand". •
Regina,
Saskatchewan: Pronounced , rhyming with "vagina". Familiarity with the standard pronunciation may in some cases distinguish Canadians from Americans. •
Saskatchewan: Most Canadians will pronounce the name of this province with a
schwa in all syllables except the second, where the stress is placed: or (). Some locals, particularly in rural areas, may even condense the name further to two syllables: . In contrast, outsiders frequently stress the first syllable and fully pronounce all of its vowels: . •
Toronto,
Ontario: Toronto is sometimes pronounced with the first syllable elided as if it were a two-syllable word: "Tronto". Stronger local forms are "Toronta" and "Tronta", with the vowel reduced to a schwa. However, they are both more noticeable and generally less approved of, possibly because they deviate far enough from the spelling as to make the speaker sound potentially semiliterate. This shibboleth was referenced in the Oscar-winning movie
Argo. •
Vancouver,
British Columbia: Some Vancouver residents may pronounce the city’s name as though there were a “g” between the first two syllables: .
In Ireland •
Dublin has several places with counterintuitive pronunciations: •
Aungier Street: pronounced to rhyme with "danger." •
D'Olier Street: pronounced () •
Dorset Street: pronounced with
stress on the second syllable, although placing the stress on the first syllable (like
the English county) is increasingly common. •
Iveagh Gardens and other places in Dublin named for the
Earls of Iveagh are generally pronounced (like "ivy"), although in Ulster (the location of the place from which the title derives) "Iveagh" is typically pronounced . •
Jobstown: pronounced , like the Biblical
Job. •
Tallaght: •
Drogheda: mostly pronounced by locals whereas outsiders typically pronounce it
In Malaysia •
Genting Highlands:
Malaysians pronounce it as (with a hard ), whereas in English tends to be .
In New Zealand •
Bluff: The town of Bluff is almost always referred to by locals with the definite article as "The Bluff". •
Central Otago: Whereas most New Zealanders would talk about travelling to Central Otago or being in Central Otago, locals refer to travelling or being "up Central". •
Otago: Older residents will often end and begin the region's name with a
schwa as rather than the usual rounded "o" (). •
Saint Arnaud: While the official pronunciation is the same as would be expected from a French-language name (), locals often voice the name's end as . •
Waiwera South: Officially pronounced as , older locals will often use the non-standard . •
West Coast and
East Coast: Without context or further description, among New Zealanders "The East Coast" usually refers to the northeast of the North Island, whereas "The West Coast" usually refers to the west coast of the South Island. Various town and street names are pronounced in counter-intuitive ways. These include: • Antigua Street, Christchurch: pronounced . •
Eltham: Although named after
Eltham in England, the town's name is pronounced , not or . • Filleul Street, Dunedin: pronounced . • Jervois Street, Dunedin: pronounced . •
Levin: pronounced . •
Te Puke: pronounced .
In the United Kingdom • Belvoir Park,
Belfast: Another French derived place name in Belfast. Belfast locals pronounce it , as in "beaver", instead of the French-influenced pronunciation such as . • Boucher Road,
Belfast: Despite its derivation from the French word for 'butcher', Belfast locals pronounce it , as in "voucher", instead of a French-influenced pronunciation such as . •
Kingston upon Hull,
Sunderland, and many other cities and towns in Northern England and the Midlands are pronounced with by the locals ( , ) and in Scotland, Southern England and most of Wales ( , ). •
Magdalene College and Magdalene Bridge,
Cambridge: In both cases, locals pronounce Magdalene as . •
Magdalen Street,
Oxford: The street is pronounced as while the name of the
College is always . This inconsistency has non-locals mispronouncing one or the other, regardless of their default way of pronouncing the name. •
Newcastle Upon Tyne: The name is pronounced with penultimate stress and a short in the region ( ), whereas in the southeast of England it has an initial stress and a long : .
In the United States •
Albany, New York: Locals pronounce the first syllable as "all" ( ), whereas many non-locals pronounce the first syllable like the male name "Al" (cf.
Albany, Western Australia) •
Amherst, Massachusetts: Locals do not pronounce the "h". •
Appalachia: Residents of the region pronounce it as , with short vowels, but non-locals rather pronounce it as . The name was originally Native American, but came to English via Spanish as the local pronunciation is based on the Spanish equivalent. •
Auchentoroly Terrace is a neighborhood and street
Baltimore, Maryland which is often cited as a name that people from outside the city are unlikely to know how to pronounce. •
Berlin Turnpike in Central Connecticut. People from out of town pronounce it like the city in Germany: . However, locals pronounce it . •
Boise, Idaho: The city's name is commonly pronounced . However, locals actually pronounce it as . •
Botetourt County, Virginia: Outsiders may pronounce this county in southwestern Virginia as
/ˈboʊtətoʊrt / BOW-tə-tourt or
/ˈbɑtətoʊrt/ BOT-ə-tourt). The actual pronunciation is
/ˈbɒtətɒt/ BOT-ə-tot. •
Buena Vista, Colorado. Unlike other places bearing this name in the United States (typical pronunciations include ) the town in Colorado is called by locals.
Buena Vista, Virginia, is pronounced the same way. •
Portland, Oregon's
Couch Street is pronounced , rhyming with "pooch," unlike the identically spelled sofa synonym pronounced . •
Dacula, Georgia: Residents local to
Gwinnett County pronounce the city as while those unfamiliar with the area may pronounce the name of the town as . Gwinnett County and the city of
Gwinnett, GA itself is subject to a shibboleth. The names are pronounced by locals as with the stress on the second syllable. Many visitors to the region pronounce it as stressing the first syllable and pronouncing the second syllable with little emphasis. •
Detroit: Most residents (as well as most speakers of
African-American Vernacular English) pronounce it as with the stress on the first syllable, while non-locals pronounce it as (, with the stress on the second syllable. •
Forked River,
New Jersey: Locals pronounce the first word as , while most visitors pronounce it as . •
Houston Street in Manhattan is a common differentiator between tourists and those who live in the city. Tourists tend to pronounce it like the name of
the city in Texas, while the local pronunciation is HOW-stun (). •
Hull, Massachusetts, would seem to be pronounced , as in the exterior of a ship, but locals will invariably render it homophonous to "hall", as in a corridor. •
Hurricane, West Virginia: Residents pronounce it as , while non-residents pronounce it like the weather phenomenon, . •
Long Island,
New York: Residents pronounce it as while non-residents pronounce it as . See
wikt:Lawn Guyland. • Kuykendahl Road, Houston, Texas: Non-locals will try to sound this out, but most locals know to pronounce it as or . •
Los Feliz,
Los Angeles, California: The name is pronounced by many locals as , but many Angelinos of Hispanic descent will use the . •
Louisville, Kentucky: The dominant local pronunciation is . However, non-locals will usually use . •
Manvel, Texas: Pronounced by locals as , but outsiders may pronounce it as . •
Miami, Oklahoma: Locals from northeastern Oklahoma pronounce the name as , while others pronounce the name like the city in Florida, . •
Mobile,
Alabama: City is pronounced , while many non-local/regional residents pronounce it as similar to the common pronunciations of
mobile phone or
mobile home. •
Moyock,
North Carolina: Locals pronounce it as , while most visitors pronounce it as . •
Natchitoches, Louisiana: Locals will recognize the city and parish name as being pronounced while people unfamiliar with the name may pronounce it as or similar. •
Nevada: Nevadans (and other people who live in the Western US) say . Visitors from outside the Western US often say . Additionally, there are a number of smaller towns in other states bearing the name Nevada pronounced yet another way, such as in
Nevada, Missouri, and
Nevada County, Arkansas. •
Newark,
Delaware: The town is pronounced though many outsiders will conflate the pronunciation with
Newark,
New Jersey, pronounced . •
Hampton Roads,
Virginia: Locals pronounce the name of
Norfolk, Virginia, as , while most visitors pronounce it as . Similarly,
Suffolk, Virginia, is pronounced as by locals and as by visitors (but not British visitors, who are likely to render the names as and , following the British pronunciation of the counties in
East Anglia). •
Pierre: South Dakotans read the name as rhyming with "beer," not like the French given name or the anglicized form . •
Prescott,
Arizona: Arizonans pronounce the name as , rhyming with "bit", while non-Arizonans pronounce it as , rhyming with "got". •
Punta Gorda, Florida: Locals will pronounce it whereas others tend to pronounce the first component as , more in line with its Spanish origin. •
Quincy, Massachusetts: The city's name is commonly pronounced by non-locals as . However,
locals will pronounce it . •
Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania: Located in eastern Pennsylvania, this name of this river is said to be a Dutch translation of the original Leni Lenape name. •
Tulalip,
Washington: Locals pronounce it with the stress on the penultimate: . Some non-locals analyze it by extension from
tulip and try . •
Zion National Park,
Utah: Locals of
southern Utah typically pronounce the park as , rhyming with "lion", while interstate or international visitors will often pronounce it as , rhyming with "spy on."
Place-name terms • In
Southern California, locals generally use the article "the" preceding the number of a
freeway.
Northern California locals generally do not use "the" before a numerical freeway name. For example, Southern Californians usually refer to
Highway 101 as "The 101," whereas Northern Californians will refer to it as simply "101." By comparison, people in the rest of the United States more often precede a freeway's route number with its highway classification, as in "U.S. 101" for a Federal highway or "Interstate 5" or "I-5" for an interstate highway. • Long-time and/or
Democratic residents of
Washington, D.C., often refer to
Reagan National Airport by its older nickname, "National," out of habit or political pique, while
Republicans and visitors are more likely to call it “Reagan National”. • Additionally, some residents of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area will refer to it as "The DMV" (the
District, Maryland, and
Virginia, specifically referencing the
Fairfax,
Alexandria, and
Arlington Counties of Virginia; the city itself; and the
Montgomery and
Prince George's Counties of Maryland). This frequently leads to outsiders confusing it with the local
Department of Motor Vehicles or "Delmarva", the portmanteau of
Delaware,
Maryland, and
Virginia (referring to the combined areas of the
Eastern Shore of Maryland,
Eastern Shore of Virginia, and Delaware), both of which can also be abbreviated to "DMV". • In the
San Francisco Bay Area,
San Francisco is generally referred to by its full name, "SF" or as “the City”. In contrast, new residents and people from other parts of the US will often say "San Fran", clearly distinguishing transplants from locals.
Other In the 1949 British film
Obsession, a British doctor plots to kill an American visitor who has been seeing his wife. The clue that gives away the doctor to a policeman is his continued use of the
Americanism, "thanks, pal." The doctor's use of incorrect grammar attracts the superintendent's suspicions. == Non-verbal shibboleths ==