April 13, 2010
by Graham
1 Comment
The main railway station in Edinburgh is named after the first of Walter Scott’s novels, which he published anonymously. The pronunciation known to everyone and contradicted nowhere is /ˈweɪvərli/, but is this really what Scott intended? There are certain characters … Continue reading
March 22, 2010
by Graham
3 Comments
At about 8.20 this morning, on the Today programme, Nick Robinson (the BBC’s Political Editor) said that the opposition parties would want to ‘hone in’ on the revelations that Stephen Byers (former Minister for Transport) had been caught claiming to … Continue reading
February 1, 2010
by Graham
16 Comments
John Wells was mentioning (here) the unpredictability of the pronunciation of British place and family names from their spellings, and some are recorded in the Dictionary of Blunders. The fact that they are mentioned at all must mean that in … Continue reading
January 22, 2010
by Graham
7 Comments
Most of the pronunciations given in the Dictionary of Blunders are what one would expect for 1880, and show that the arguments about what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ are very much the same as today: ab-do’-men, not ab’-dŏm-ěn … Continue reading
January 16, 2010
by Graham
16 Comments
Is it because of the enormity of the tragedy playing out in the western part of the island of Hispaniola that the pronunciations being used by the BBC have been standardised so quickly? Has the management sent down an edict … Continue reading