[ Michael Kay]
To my esteemed British correspondents: Could you please
explain why the English name "Featherstone" is pronounced "Fanshaw"?
I think you mean "Featherstonehaugh".
If you were called that, how would you pronounce it?
I don't know the explanation in this case. With place names, the usual
reason for a disconnect between the spelling and the pronunciation is
that the spelling evolved among those who could read and write, the
pronunciation among those who couldn't.
Well. here is the US in the state of Massachusetts, we have the city of
Worcester, pronounced more or less as "Wooster". I have always assumed
that that would be the pronuciation in England, too, but I have never
heard it spoken by someone from there.
Cheers,
Tom P
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