Pedants' Paradise

[Pabmusic]

Yes. I remember Midlands Today discuss it - either way is acceptable, basically.

This is a repeat. (I know I've written about this at length in the Radio 3 Forum).

I lived for more than 20 years in Shropshire, not that far from Shrewsbury. On the whole I'd side with the Shroosbury pronunciation, but not entirely. Most natives pronounced it Shoosbree. No 'r' at all (this really was the most common pronunciation - at least outside Shrewsbury). It is (of course) the Anglo-Saxon Scrobbesbyrig - the fortified place in a district called "The Scrub".

The derivation always reminds me of John Mortimer's description of where the grape for Pommeroy's Château Thames Embankment struggled for its existence - "between the cowshed and the pissoir".

[gurnemanz]

On a similar matter, it does irritate me when people on the BBC pronounce homage to rhyme with French fromage. Jeremy Vine was the latest to do it today on Eggheads.

1. This is the pronunciation used for a work of art that pays tribute to another artist's work and I think it is normal and acceptable in this specific context.

2. I remember being amused by a sign in Austria directing people to the "Pissoar".

[vinteuil]

1. This is the pronunciation used for a work of art that pays tribute to another artist's work and I think it is normal and acceptable in this specific context.

... I agree, the word has two distinct meanings and two pronunciations. I prefer to use two spellings : a homage, but an hommage .

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[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... I agree, the word has two distinct meanings and two pronunciations. I prefer to use two spellings : a homage, but an hommage .

[Bryn]

So, how to pronounce "Joe's Homage", given its relation to "Joe's Garage" and "Joe's Domage"?

[vinteuil]

So, how to pronounce "Joe's Homage", given its relation to "Joe's Garage" and "Joe's Domage"?

...ah, but that might depend where you are with 'garage' - which of the three do you favour :

GA-ridge ; GA-rahj ; ga-RAAAJ ...


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[Oakapple]

Having checked various dictionaries, they all only give one pronunciation - hommij (rhymes with Bromwich). Try the online Collins and Oxford dictionaries, for example. The Oxford gives a quotation: "Daniel's films were a homage to her". Shelley's Sonnet to Byron (a work of art that pays tribute to another artist's work) has: "May lift itself in homage of the God".

[vinteuil]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_(arts)

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[ahinton]

Who would like to enter the Shrews- versus Shroze-bury battleground? I was born in its hospital and grew up not far away, and had always understood the latter to be 'proper'. But last time I stayed there I was told that these days one end of the town says it one way, t'other t'other

It seems to me that, as it's spelt Shrews- it should be pronounced "Shroos-" but what do I know?...

[Pulcinella]

I'd compare it with Tereeza versus Terayzer.

I thought we'd all forgotten about Mrs May!

[vinteuil]

It seems to me that, as it's spelt Shrews- it should be pronounced "Shroos" but what do I know?...

... that's where it all goes wrong - when people learn to read, and think that words shd be pronounced as they is writ.


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[gurnemanz]

...ah, but that might depend where you are with 'garage' - which of the three do you favour :

GA-ridge ; GA-rahj ; ga-RAAAJ ...


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I remembered a bit of Tony Hancock dialogue:

"In another episode when Hancock is complaining to a policeman (Williams) about kids vandalising his car, the following exchange occurs:

Policeman Why don't you put it in a garage? (GA-rij)
Hancock I have not got... a garage. (guh-RAHJ) "

(Copied from here.)

[Serial_Apologist]

I thought we'd all forgotten about Mrs May!

There is another place name, over which there is some controversy as to its pronunciation: Southall (in Middlesex). Some pronounce it the way it is spelt, others as SUTHALL, though I have been assured by a lady who was born and brought up there that as spelt is the correct way.

[Pabmusic]

It seems to me that, as it's spelt Shrews- it should be pronounced "Shroos-" but what do I know?...

Which ignores all those (such as Elgar and RVW) who not so long ago spelt 'show' as 'shew'. In fact I worked with someone in the 1970s who did the same. It was pronounced 'show'.

[vinteuil]

There is another place name, over which there is some controversy as to its pronunciation: Southall (in Middlesex). Some pronounce it the way it is spelt, others as SUTHALL, though I have been assured by a lady who was born and brought up there that as spelt is the correct way.

... Suthall, always. Like Southwell...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwell,_Nottinghamshire

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