Place name pronunciation

[Sam Laybutt]

MG added place names pronunciation to his website some time ago, I think it is a pretty good idea. There’s always names around the place that are pronounced different to how they are phonetically written, especially aboriginal names.

 

I always used to say Tathra until I realised that it was pronounced Tar-thra.

 

Does anyone know what the correct pronunciation is for Michelago?

 

Some place names have different spellings in the past which were more phonetic – Jindabyne formerly being spelt Jinderboine is one. In the old days, accents would have got in the way as many people couldn’t write. A street named after my ancestors near Newcastle is spelt “Lieberts” instead of “Laybutts” Lane. Say my surname with a thick Scottish accent and you can work out why J

---

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[Alex Csar]

I think it's mi-SHE-lar-go - think French pronunciation when you say it.

 

Cheers,

Alex.

[Michael Greenslade]

When I lived in Canberra, several of the locals pronounced it "Mick-e-
largo" But I'll stand corrected if anyone knows for sure.

Sam, I am the same as you regarding Tathra.

Other classic ones which I used to get wrong are:

Ulladulla: Oola-dulla
Mackay: Mak-ay
Queanbeyan: Queen-bee-yen
Goulburn: Gool-burn
Wauchope: Wor-chope

The list could go on.

Cheers,


Cheers,
Michael

On Aug 18, 2:48 pm, Alex Csar <alex.c...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think it's mi-SHE-lar-go - think French pronunciation when you say it.
>
> Cheers,
> Alex.
>

> On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 2:45 PM, Sam Laybutt <crazyknights...@hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> >  MG added place names pronunciation to his website some time ago, I think
> > it is a pretty good idea. There’s always names around the place that are
> > pronounced different to how they are phonetically written, especially
> > aboriginal names.
>
> > I always used to say Tathra until I realised that it was pronounced
> > Tar-thra.
>
> > Does anyone know what the correct pronunciation is for Michelago?
>
> > Some place names have different spellings in the past which were more
> > phonetic – Jindabyne formerly being spelt Jinderboine is one. In the old
> > days, accents would have got in the way as many people couldn’t write. A
> > street named after my ancestors near Newcastle is spelt “Lieberts” instead
> > of “Laybutts” Lane. Say my surname with a thick Scottish accent and you can
> > work out why J
>

> > ------------------------------
> > Sell your car fast. Need a new model in your life?<http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fsecure%2Dau%2Eimrworl...>- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Paul Rands]

I think its Mick-ul-ah-go

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Sam Laybutt]

Michelago used to be spelt Micaligo which adds another potential pronunciation.
 
For many years I pronounced Penrith wrong, it's actually Pen-ruff ;)
 

---

From: paul...@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:50:06 +0800
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com

[Paul Rands]

my mum pronounces it pen-worth

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Winston]

Kind of off-topic, it reminds me of "Gloucester Road"—it looks like it
should be pronounced Glow-cest-ter, but then it's actually pronounced
Gloss-ter. Or the time when I went to the Department of Lands to enquire
about a property in Kingsford. The person behind the counter was Asian
and couldn't understand what I meant when I said Kings-furd. I spelt it
out for her and then she went "Oh, you meant Kings-ford" (like you'd
pronounce the car company) and giving me the look that I was pronouncing
it wrong :p.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Sell your car fast. Need a new model in your life?

> <http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fsecure%2Dau%2Eimrworldwide%2Ecom%2Fcgi%2Dbin%2Fa%2Fci%5F450304%2Fet%5F2%2Fcg%5F801459%2Fpi%5F1004813%2Fai%5F866383&_t=758314219&_r=carpoint_tagline&_m=EXT>
> >

[Paul Rands]

Working in radio we have this issue all the time, I have just made the same ad for the 3rd time because everyone has interpreted the pronunciation hint for Eremia in 3 different ways, for the record it's Erruh-mee-ya

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[davis]

Yeah but it's British. Don't try to make sense of the pronounciation
of any British names!

[B.J. Winzer]

Yeah it makes UK Monopoly fun:

Pall Mall
Marylebone Station
Marlborough Street
Leicester Square

At least in classic Monopoly, when you see Reading Railroad, you know it's pronounced Reading and not Redding :)

[B.J. Winzer]

Just these past two days I've been in Lancefield and I've seen signs for
"Darraweit Guim" - have a go pronouncing that, I have no idea :)

[Jason Kumar]

I didn't know how the pronounce Mackay properly either until I heard it on the radio when I was up in the area a few weeks ago.

[Paul Rands]

Let's throw some regional spanners in the works:

Wauchope

NSW people call the town in their state war-hope

NT people call the town in their territory war-chop-ee

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[humehwy31]

Place names that threw me out when I first moved to QLD five years
ago ... (and I wish I knew how to type in the International Phonetic
Alphabet)

SPELLING / MY ERROR / CORRECT PRONOUNCIATION

Kuraby / koo-RAH-bee / kurra-BEE
Bethania / bether-KNEE-uh / buh-THAN-yah
Toowong / TWO-wong / twong
Buderim / boo-DERRAM / BUD-rim

Another SEQ suburb that caught me out was Albany Creek, it's
pronounced AWL-bany creek, not AL-bany as is the case in WA.

In a call centre job where I did directory assistance for callers all
across the country, the difference in pronounciation of Malvern VIC
and Malvern SA always threw me. One is MAL-vun, the other is MOLE-vun
but I forget which is which.

[Alex Csar]

It's da-rah-WEET GWIM - a resident of said place set me straight on this a couple of years back.

Cheers,
Alex.

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 7:07 PM, B.J. Winzer <sarcop...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:

[Jason Kumar]

How about Pemulwuy in NSW (Sydney metro)?

[B.J. Winzer]

MOLE-v'n = Malvern VIC. (I've even heard it pronounced "MALL-v'n" but
it's the same really)

For some reason Cranbourne causes problems!! People pronounce it
"cran-born" even though they don't say "mel-born".

One which bugs me a lot is Cairns - I've always pronounced it as it
looks, i.e. the plural of a large rock or a breed of dog (cairn - with
an "air" sound in it). However the way some people pronounce it, it
sounds like it has a film festival: "Cans". (And of course Cannes = "cahn")

[Paul Rands]

Pem-ill-way. Thats what they taught us in high school

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Nihat]

I always thought ballina was pronounced baleena until i went up there for a holiday and everyone was saying ballina as in putting the emphasis on the "bal"

[Laurier Williams]

Paul, I agree with the NSW pronunciation of Wauchope, but I've heard the NT one pronounced war-cup or WAR-cp, and that was in the settlement itself though quite a few years back. I also understand from locals that Michelago is mick-e-lay-go.

 

A few more regional differences come to mind:

 

Tallangatta (VIC) = te-LANG-gt-e, but Coolangatta (QLD) = cool-un-GAT-e

Goonoo Goonoo (NSW) = gunna-ge-NOO, but Boonoo Boonoo (NSW) = BOO-noo-BOO-no

Castlemaine (VIC) = CASS-l-main but Newcastle (NSW) = new-CAHS-l

 

A few interesting ones I'm aware of: West of Michelago and northwest of Cooma is the locality of Yaouk, pronounced yi-ack! The island off the south coast of Tasmania, Maatsuyker, is mat-sigh-ka. Towradgi just north of Wollongong is te-ro-ji or just tro-ji (short o). Canowindra (NSW) is k-NOUN-dra. And, of course, Launceston is lon-ses-tn. Fremantle is fre-MAN-tl. 

 

The ABC commissioned a book giving the pronunciations of Australian placenames back in the 1950s for use by its announcers and newsreaders. I have a copy but it's buried in boxes while I move house. I wonder if they have updated it or if there are any other pronouncing gazetteers available?

 

Right up there with town name pronunciations are town name abbreviations. So the locals call Wollongong "the gong", Dirranbandi (QLD) "dirrin", Wandandian (NSW) "wandy", etc. Then there are the names applied to residents of said towns. So, on the Blue Mountains (NSW), residents of Blackheath are referred to as "blackheathens".

 

There's scope for a PhD here.

 

Laurier 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: aussie-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:aussie-...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of Paul Rands
Sent: Tuesday, 18 August 2009 11:43
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

[Paul Rands]

Hi Laurier

If you do come across that list, I'd live to get a copy, would be very very useful with my line of work.

We have some peculiarities here in WA too:

Northam pron: nor-th'm

Avon pron: av'n not ay-von

Albany pron: al-b'nee not all-b'nee

Plantagenet pron: plan-taj'n't

Dunsborough pron: duns-bruh

Erskine pron: ers-k-eye-n not ers-k'n like in NSW

Coogee pron: cooo-gee not like in NSW

Osborne Park pron: oz-b'n not oz-born

Ascot pron: as-c't not as-cot

Norseman pron: nor-z-m'n

Walpole pron: worl-poll

Capel pron: kay-p-ul

Mandurah pron: man-druh

Baldivis pron: bal-d-eye-v's not ball-d-eye-vis

Kwinana pron: kwin-arrr-nuh

Dalwallinu pron: dal-wal-lun-yew

Narrogin pron: na-roh-j'n

Manjimup pron: man-jer-mup

Gnangara pron: nang-ga-ruh not nang-gar-ruh

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Sam Laybutt]

I thought Towradgi was pronounced Toe-rad-ji?
 
Jason - Pemulwuy is pronounced Pemmel-woy
 

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From: inf...@ozemail.com.au

To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:59:57 +0000

Towradgi just north of Wollongong is te-ro-ji or just tro-ji (short o).

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[Vincent Muller]

You hear quite a few variations on Towradgi, personally I say ta-ROD-gee but the majority of people know what you're talking about anyway. One that comes to mind is Unanderra (pronounced YOU-nan-derra), which was cocked up spectacularly on the Today show a few years back when Sami Lukis did the traffic report as well as the weather. Apparently a truck had crashed in you-nan-doora. Go figure.

 

Vincent

---

From: Sam Laybutt <crazykn...@hotmail.com>
To: aussie highways <aussie-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August, 2009 8:27:19 AM

Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

I thought Towradgi was pronounced Toe-rad-ji?
 
Jason - Pemulwuy is pronounced Pemmel-woy
 

---

From: inf...@ozemail.com.au
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:59:57 +0000

Towradgi just north of Wollongong is te-ro-ji or just tro-ji (short o).

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[Paul Rands]

Towradgi is supposed to be t-ow-rod-jee, but it's one of those Wollongong town names that gets messed up all the time.

Variations of the Unanderra theme: un-an-dair-ra and ooo-nan-dair-ra

Another one that sometimes gets muddled is Kiama, I have hard it pronounced as Ky-arm-ah instead of the accepted ky-am-mer

The classic Canberra is another, a lot of older folk say Can-beh-rah, when the media and locals say Can-brah

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Vincent Muller]

That reminds me, which is it? Can-ber-rah or Can-brah? We had a huge spack about this at college because I say the former whereas everybody else says the latter. Is either pronunciation correct?

Vincent

---

From: Paul Rands <paul...@gmail.com>
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August, 2009 9:30:47 AM

[Trent Thomson]

I think either of those are acceptable.

A few from the Sunshine Coast

Kawana - ka-WAH-na

Warana - wa-RAH-na

Tanawha - tenna-WAH

Mudjimba - mud-JIM-ba

Peregian Springs - pe-RIJ-ee-an Springs

Tewantin - te-WAN-tin

Eumundi - you-MUN-dee

Gympie - gim-pee

Cooloola - COO-loo-la  

Regards

Trent

[Nihat]

i havent heard too many politicians say the first one and we know they're always right

[Choko]

On the local airwaves, the Towradgi Hotel advert pronounces it as Ter-
rod-gee Hotel.

Unanderra is pronounced You-nan-dair-rah by the locals.

Speaking of the Kiama example you have provided, many people stuff up
Jervis Bay by pronouncing it Jarvis Bay - it is said as it reads. This
is possibly a spin-off of the name Hervey Bay which is pronounced
Harvey Bay.

Peter Harvey, Can-brah.

On Aug 19, 9:30 am, Paul Rands <paul00...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Towradgi is supposed to be t-ow-rod-jee, but it's one of those Wollongong
> town names that gets messed up all the time.
> Variations of the Unanderra theme: un-an-dair-ra and ooo-nan-dair-ra
>
> Another one that sometimes gets muddled is Kiama, I have hard it pronounced
> as Ky-arm-ah instead of the accepted ky-am-mer
>
> The classic Canberra is another, a lot of older folk say Can-beh-rah, when
> the media and locals say Can-brah
>
> --
> Paul Rands

> paul00...@gmail.com

[MisterMarcus]

Spending time in Sydney I got confused with a few names:

Is Clovelly "CLOVE-ly" or "Clo-VEL-y"? I assumed the first but have
heard people pronounce it the second way.

Waitara...."Wai-TA-ra" or "Wai-TAH-ra"?

Kyeemagh...."Ky-EE-Mar"?

Sans Souci....Oh this one, please tell me is it: "Sans SOO-CHI" or
"Sans SOO-SI"?

Also interesting was that Sydney's Heathcote ("Heath-COAT") was
different to Victoria's "HEATH-C't"

> > paul00...@gmail.com- Hide quoted text -

[Sam Laybutt]

Pretty sure it is Clo-vel-y
 
Waitara = Wai-tah-ra
 
Kyeemagh is correct
 
San Souci = San-soo-si
 
> Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:12:04 -0700

> Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

> From: markm...@gmail.com
> To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com

>
>
> Spending time in Sydney I got confused with a few names:
>
> Is Clovelly "CLOVE-ly" or "Clo-VEL-y"? I assumed the first but have
> heard people pronounce it the second way.
>
> Waitara...."Wai-TA-ra" or "Wai-TAH-ra"?
>
> Kyeemagh...."Ky-EE-Mar"?
>
> Sans Souci....Oh this one, please tell me is it: "Sans SOO-CHI" or
> "Sans SOO-SI"?
>
> Also interesting was that Sydney's Heathcote ("Heath-COAT") was
> different to Victoria's "HEATH-C't"
>

---

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[humehwy31]

Clovelly = kloh-VELLY or just kluh-VELLY (very little stress on the
first syllable)
Waitara = why-TAH-ruh (like a Maori name)
Kyeemagh = kye-EE-mah
Sans Souci = Like the woman's name "Suzie", the C is definitely
pronounced like a Z and the S at the end of "Sans" is silent - so it's
"San Suzie". It's French for "without care" or "carefree" so it should
be pronounced something like "SONG soo-SEE" (with SONG being a nasal
vowel like when you have a nasty head cold)

As for demonyms (i.e., what people from a given place are called), I
love "Sydneysider". This would have to be a type of demonym not found
for any other city name. There are many cities in the English-speaking
world where you have "westsiders", "northsiders", etc. but nothing
with the "-sider" suffix applying to everyone in the city. My
unresearched guess is that people from the North Shore (before the
Harbour Bridge was built and North Sydney was a very self-contained
community) referred to people from the southern shore as coming from
the "Sydney side", and it spread virally from there.

Another Brisbane one that stuffed me up once: Inala. I pronounced it
"inner-LAH", when it's actually "in-AAH-luh".

[humehwy31]

In Captain Watkin Tench's journals of the First Fleet and the founding
of Sydney, it's interesting to note that Tench spelt the Aboriginal
warrior's name "Pimelwi".

[Rob Tilley]

Also Beerwah some say beer waahhh and others say beer wore and also Beerburrum can be Beerbrum

[Sam Laybutt]

Merriwa is actually Merri-wore, I always used to say this phonetically.
 

---

From: yobbor...@gmail.com

To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:16:31 +1000

Also Beerwah some say beer waahhh and others say beer wore and also Beerburrum can be Beerbrum

 

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[Rob Tilley]

With the proper pronunciation of towns topic going on, how about a
town name slang?

Eg:

Craigieburn > crazyburn
Broadmeadows > badmeadows
Aspendale > aspenjail
Frankston > Frankscum > frankstoned
Morayfield > moronfield
Ringwood > ringworm

any others?

Rob

[John Graham]

Surfers Paradise.....Sufferer's Parasite
Southport.....Soushpit

John

[humehwy31]

That's Merriwa NSW. Merriwa WA is just "MERRY-wuh", or in IPA 'mɛrɪwə

[Trent Thomson]

Not sure if it counts, but Griffith University Mt Gravatt busway station is nicknamed Moron Mountain because of all the annoying students paying bus fares with cash (especially $20 notes). 

Regards

Trent

[Sam Laybutt]

What about Merriwa Street in Gordon, NSW?!
 
> Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:15:33 -0700

> Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

> From: hume...@yahoo.com
> To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com

>
>
> That's Merriwa NSW. Merriwa WA is just "MERRY-wuh", or in IPA 'mɛrɪwə
>
> On Aug 19, 8:18 pm, Sam Laybutt <crazyknights...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Merriwa is actually Merri-wore, I always used to say this phonetically.
>

[Darren Hodges]

Place name pronunciation could make a great game show don't you think?

 

Although there must be many many places with names that are easy to get wrong, one I've been pondering a bit in Victoria is Bealiba

 

Is it Beel-LEE-bah, Beel-EYE-bah, Be-ALLAH-bah, Be-ALLIE-bah, Be-AH-leeba or something else?

 

I'm guessing Be-ALLAH-bah although I used to just think Beel-LEE-bah.

 

Darren.

[JR]

Place names are intriguing... always the way to know if you are a
local or not.
E.g. Castlemaine in Victoria. The locals always know those from New
South Wales because they pronounce it "Car-sel-main"; the Victorian
pronunciation is "Cass-el-main". Another one I heard about lately is
Jerrabombera, a suburb of Queanbeyan. ACT and Queanbeyan residents
pronounce it properly - "Jerra-BOM-bra", but outsiders always
pronounce it "Jerra-bom-BER-ra". I've heard Mandurah, WA pronounced by
Sydneysiders as "Man-DEW-rah", I think the locals pronounce it as
"Mand-uh-rah" or "Man-do-rah".

Some ones I didn't know about were stations on the CityRail network -
e.g. "Telarah" is not "Teller-ah", it's "Tel-LA-ra". Towradgi is not
"tow-RAD-gee", but "too-rod-gee" or "ta-rod-gee". I also thought Wangi
Wangi was pronounced phoenetically - it's not ("Won-gee" is correct).

Then there's the ones that non-Australians don't get, e.g. Canowindra
NSW, Strahan TAS, I believe Launceston in England is pronounced "Lawn-
ston", is that right?

Then there's the multiple names between states - e.g. Maryborough VIC
is "MAIR-ree-bor-ough", but Maryborough QLD is "MER-re-bra". Mosman in
New South Wales is pronounced "Moss-man" but Mosman Park in WA is
often pronounced like "Moz-man Park".

Mind you, Australia is not that bad when it comes to place names. Try
Scotland if you want to mispronounce names - anything derived from
Scottish Gaelic you are destined to get wrong...

On Aug 18, 2:45 pm, Sam Laybutt <crazyknights...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> MG added place names pronunciation to his website some time ago, I think it is a pretty good idea. There’s always names around the place that are pronounced different to how they are phonetically written, especially aboriginal names.
>
> I always used to say Tathra until I realised that it was pronounced Tar-thra.
>
> Does anyone know what the correct pronunciation is for Michelago?
>
> Some place names have different spellings in the past which were more phonetic – Jindabyne formerly being spelt Jinderboine is one. In the old days, accents would have got in the way as many people couldn’t write. A street named after my ancestors near Newcastle is spelt “Lieberts” instead of “Laybutts” Lane. Say my surname with a thick Scottish accent and you can work out why J

> _________________________________________________________________
> Need a new model in your life? Sell your car fast.http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fsecure%2Dau%2Eimrworl...

[Laurier Williams]

Similarly, Marrawah in NW Tasmania is marra-WORE, and the locals will correct you witheringly if you get it wrong.

[Laurier Williams]

Blackheath, the coldest, windiest town in the Blue Mountains has two -
Bleakheath and Lackheat. The seats on the station carry the name in upper
case - "BLACKHEATH" - and it's usually only a matter of hours before the B
and H are scratched out.

Laurier

-----Original Message-----
From: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:aussie-...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of Rob Tilley
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:22
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

[JR]

Another couple:
Wallan VIC is pronounced - "WAL-len"
but Ballan VIC is pronounced "Bal-LAN"

I forgot about Coogee NSW and Coogee WA.

And then there's the commonly misspelt - Outer Harbor, SA (no "u" not
as in "Harbour").

[Laurier Williams]

Victor Harbor, SA, also takes the old English spelling of harbor, as do the
americans :)

-----Original Message-----
From: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:aussie-...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of JR
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August 2009 13:43
To: Aussie Highways
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation

[Paul Rands]

Mandurah is pronounced wrong by everyone outside if Perth or Bunbury.

It's definitely Man-drah.

--
Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Trent Thomson]

This is one of my emails that didn't get through...

>
> On 19/08/2009, at 9:38 PM, "Trent Thomson" <trent....@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Is Delhi Rd in Sydney pronounced Del-eye or Del-ee? I've heard both.
>>
>> Regards
>> Trent

[Sam Laybutt]

Del-eye

 
> From: trent....@gmail.com
> To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:12:36 +1000
> Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Place name pronunciation
>

> This is one of my emails that didn't get through...
>
> >
> > On 19/08/2009, at 9:38 PM, "Trent Thomson" <trent....@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Is Delhi Rd in Sydney pronounced Del-eye or Del-ee? I've heard both.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> Trent