(Rosie)Us Bristolians call it Shrowz-brie. And why is Berkshire "Barkshire"?

(Dr Q) In one of the jazz pubs I go to is a vast mural with a map of the lower Mississippi and New Orleans and there is a place on the river called D'Lo (presumably at one time De l'eau). We don't take anglicisation quite that far because we've got places such as Grosmont (N. Yorks) and Grosvenor (London) in which the "s" is silent, even though the names are several hundred years old. (Bigsmith) Yes, why, particuarly as Berkhampstead is BURK, but not Berkeley Square. Re Shrewsbury - two locals I have known call it Shrooze, for what it's worth.

Towns in America often have names reflecting the language its settlers spoke, or occasionally that of the natives who previously occupied the area. Mind you, these don't quite explain some towns just East of Lancaster, PA....

What a great name. I also like Zook's Corner ! In Tassie there is a Paradise and a Penguin, which I kind of liked.

In Saltfleet, Linconshire, there is a Paradise Car Park, with a sign reading Paradise Car Park, No Caravans or Camping. It's unpaved, but it's a parking lot all the same.

[Rosie] Yes, we can blame the French for dropped "w", silent "s" and all kind of manglings. I say "Shroozebury", btw, but then I also say "Sisister" for "Cirencester", and I may well be wrong about that. I also insist on "Alster" for "Alcester", despite the tendency of south Brummies towards voicing every letter in the name of the main road that I live just off. Bah!

[Dr Q] How about "Day Moyn" for Des Moines, but "Noo Orleenz" for New Orleans (refer to Orleans, Normandy for original).

I thought it was pronounced Shrooze-brie, but it seems to be more variable than that. Near me is Caerphilly, pronouced Ku-philly, but then all the Welsh names starting Caer seem to be pronounced like that, eg Caerleon. It took me ages to get them right, and it's probably different in North Wales. I also remember a sea-side village in Fife, on the Forth, called Ainstruther, pronounced Ainster. It's really a plot to make fun of tourists!

Have a go at 'Mousehole' and 'Widemouth' if you would.

while we're at it 'Woolfardisworthy'.

renting a car in Dover from a place in the Maison Dieu Road, pronounced "Mason Doo" by the young woman working there. It's not just Americans...

Cornish towns are fun, more for the sheer improbability of the names than for the improbability of their pronunciation. "Perranarworthal", for example, is pronounced as it is written, which is in itself surprising.

Something I read recently in one of Bill Bryson's books (Made In America) was that the spelling placenames was regularised by a geographical names board. One of their more Philistinic acts was to say that all place names pronounced with the suffix "-burg" or "-boro" should be spelt that wayh exactly, and none of this confusing "-burgh" or "-borough" nonsense ("Pittsburgh" was given an explicit exemption).

Posting from IE on WinXP now, and I note my little fiddle has fixed the PNG problem. More in 'Notes'...

(IE users should request a full reload of this page to get things looking - hopefully - right)

Yep, seems to work from here.

[Dunx] The Scottish Pittsburghers of the late 19th Century (notably Andrew Carnegie) decided to "Scottify" the city by adding the trailing "h". It looks nicer to me, and it differentiates us from Pittsburg, Kansas.

I had a bit of a laugh the first time I saw the town "Feock". ;)

Yup!

Many Happy Returns, Chalky. *tips hat*