peterm1
Veteran
That's a good one... And I have actually heard SEEtl and TAKoma for seAttle and tacOma. I can make similar mistakes when I've read some word but not heard it spoken. 😱
When it comes to strange pronunciations the Brits have everyone else beat. Possibly because some words (particularly names and place names) date back to old Norman names and possibly because of upper class Brit tendency to clip words. (e.g. Its not "girl"- it's "gel"). Also because Britain used to have very pronounced differences in local accents (before the days of mass media, TV and the like, when people lived locally and might never travel more than a few miles beyond their place of birth)
Some examples I can think of with a bit of help from Google:
Cholmondeley (Chumley)
Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw)
Althorp (Altr'p)
Holborn and Holborn Abbey (Hoeb'n and Hoeb'n Abbey)
Leicester (Lester)
Leominster (Lemster)
Southwark (Suthick)
Worcestershire (Woostershire)
Chiswick (Chis'ck)
Belvoir and Belvoir Castle (Beever and Beever Castle)
I truly have a soft spot for old Britain and its wonderful quirks.