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Not a place name, but there is a NHL hockey player from Northern Minnesota whose name is spelled Byfuglien, and is pronounced Bufflin. Byfuglien is a Norwegian name, and is presumably pronounced phonetically in Norway.
Dustin Byfuglien . What a combination.
By-fugl-lien:
By = city
Fugl = bird
Lien = moutain side
Derby is another one. They call it Darby. Wtf? Where's the A in there? The Midlanders and the Northerners say thigns funny too, worse than the southerners. Like they say Rugby as Roog-beh. Folkestone isn't Fohs-stone, it's Fohk-stin (you guys also have funny ways of saying Mackay and Gladstone so I'm not letting yous get away with that )
Aye, well since Mackay is a Scottish name I think Scots have it right, not Americans.
I love having American friends visit here and hear how they pronounce town names (like I did when I was first here). One of them is Gourock and they pronounce it Goo - rock. It's actually Gur uck. And no one believes me when I tell them Wemyss Bay is pronounced Weems Bay.
I'm still being bashed for pronouncing loch as lock. Just too hard for me to do the 'ch' properly.
The Byfugliens in northern Minnesota have also pronounced their name Bufflin for generations.
All kinds of funny pronunciation arise when a name from one language gets repronounced in a second language, then becomes a well-known name in a third one. Like the big oilfield services company Schlumberger, originally Germans who moved to France and formed a corporation that in America is still called Slumber-zhay. A very common surname around New Orleans is pronounced shek-snider, and occurs with at least a dozen different spellings, as even the owners of the name through the generations couldn't keep it straight. Genealogies eventually work tyeir way back to Schexnaildre. One of the most common surnames in central Wisconsin is Niespodziany, which is locally pronounced fairly close to the correct Polish -- nespa-johnny.
How do the Scots say it? Aussies call it "mah-kuy" kuy like in guy
Same in Scotland. In America they say it as it's spelled Mah KAY. An Irish name that got distorted is McMahon. American say McMan. In Ireland it's as it looks Mc Mah hun.
My husband is American. I am Swedish. He tries to pronounce Swedish names and cities the correct way. It actually makes me happy when people try to do that.
My husband is American. I am Swedish. He tries to pronounce Swedish names and cities the correct way. It actually makes me happy when people try to do that.
I try to pronounce the 'ch' the right way but I did not grow up speaking with that kind of sound. Not in America. Sometimes I accidentally say it right - loch, Arrochar, etc...
I try to pronounce the 'ch' the right way but I did not grow up speaking with that kind of sound. Not in America. Sometimes I accidentally say it right - loch, Arrochar, etc...
Its ok if people mess up. At least they try.
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. What a combination.
