There's a hill in New Zealand called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitnatahu. Apparently it translates from Maori into English as 'the summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one'.
0:47 Leominster is 'LEMSTER', Bicester is 'BISTER', Godmanchester is 'GUMSTER' (traditionally), Loughborough is 'LUFFBURRA', and Keighley is 'KEETHLEE'. More examples - Ulgham is 'UFFAM', Happisburgh is 'HAYZBURRA', Milngavie is 'MULGUY', Barnoldswick is 'BARLICK', and Woolfardisworthy is 'WOOLZERY'. Examples local to me in North East England - Finchale is 'FINKLE', Houghall is 'HOFFLE', Prudhoe is 'PRUDDA', and Ireshopeburn is 'EYES-UP-BURN'.
If we stick to single-word place names, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the second longest, and as people pointed out, the longest is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. But if we go with place names with multiple words, the longest is Bangkok, known as Krung Thep in Thai, or in its full form : Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit
If you go back 500+ years ago English is extremely difficult to understand. It’s fascinating. And 500 yrs From now, I don’t think there’ll be many of us left speaking any language, we all can see what is happening with right now, we can not say anything without someone getting offended. I’m an Irish person speaking the English language who at the moment resides in the Southwest US, among the Navajo people.
I was a teacher in Britain and I had a young lad in my class from the Caribbean and his parents were from Barbados and were really nice folks At one parent's evening they complained about their son's accent changing from Bajan to Jamaican and I realised the power of the Jamaican dialect on Black British youth (like you said about understanding Reggae music) I taught him mathematics and my favourite thing he wrote was: "and my solooshun is ..." written as he spoke it.
@@TomMerson I am following an American writer and academic called Lillian Lieber who described her style thus: "This is not intended to be free verse. Writing each phrase on a separate line facilitates rapid reading, and everyone is in a hurry nowadays." I learnt Einstein's Theory of General Relativity from Liliian's book written in this style and it is a sort of homage to her
Thanks for an insightful video, Mr Giant. I live in Leicestershire, which is pronounced "lestasha". The county town is called "Lesta" by everyone in Britain , excepting those who live there, who call it ""lesto"- the final O rhyming with cop or shop.
This is from Wikipedia so I don't know how true it is, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. A hill in New Zealand.
3:54 There are several Ohio towns that have different than expected pronunciations, Bellfontaine (bell-FOUNTAIN), Russia (roo-SEEYA), Cairo (KAY-row) etc.
living in england i have to speak "american" to alexa or google so they understand its strange but unless ya speak like harry potter or the queen its never gunna get it . there must be 2 many not important enuff dialects and acsent in england to program in or somthing
My father came from Pedro district. I lived there for a year as a kid in the early 1980s. Opposite the Gordon's shop and bar on the road towards Brownsall. Went to Watermount all age school. Then we moved the Havendale in St Andrews/Kingston. I went to St Richards primary school on the red hills road and Meadowbrook high school for a year and a half. Then the family returned to the UK.
@Mr. Giant one of my cousins visits to see their side of the family. My side is shockingly British so I've often thought of visiting but don't know if I'd cope with the heat.
Its a place in New Zealand I think , look up Quantum Jump on here, they say it on the song opening, I have to admit to spending many hours learning that, I still know it .. 🤪
Ting that' your ting, That is why the World needs a language Humans need to be able to communicate to avoid missing our intent, Let us not allow Bigots to destroy the Human Net-work,
They didn't talk about it in the video (although they showed a photo of the road sign) but I have no idea why Godmanchester always comes up in things like this. It's pronounced as it looks.
Historically the locals pronounced it as though it were spelled 'Gumster'. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_irregularly_spelt_places_in_the_United_Kingdom
@@stevelknievel4183 I'm aware, but historically most places were pronounced/spelt differently to now, but Godmanchester always gets mentioned for some reason.
I'm from menzieshill which is pronounced meeniss-hill,we have an extinct volcanoe called The Law which people call the law hill,Law means Hill in scottish so saying the law hill is like the hill hill 😂,people still say law hill
Nobody, but nobody here pronounces Godmanchester, "Gumster"? I live within 10 miles of it and I've known people that live there for over forty years. Must have been said once, by someone semi-literate with a heavy cold!!!!
@@MrGiant Accents are another thing the UK has a lot of, in my area people's vocalisation was modified by the type of machinery used in the local cotton mill, Fred Dibnah had a very "Northern" accent, they have become tempered over time and are less abrupt sounding now, but you can still tell, people from Bolton, Fred Dibnah and Peter Kay have very strong accents, the older generation used to be able to locate a specific area sometimes to street level.. by their vocalisation, i am 62 and I got the tail end of the generation that applied to.
Remember, you are trying to pronounce these places with todays alphabet and mindset, when these placenames are 1000 years old at least, some 2000 years, and are made up of several languages including old English, Saxon, Viking etc. Think of all the Native American places you have in the US, these are not even English.
Jay Foreman/Map Men videos are great! Definitely worth checking out some others
I plan to.
There's a hill in New Zealand called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitnatahu. Apparently it translates from Maori into English as 'the summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one'.
Thank you for the comment.
Kenny Everett used to say that in his television show.
0:47 Leominster is 'LEMSTER', Bicester is 'BISTER', Godmanchester is 'GUMSTER' (traditionally), Loughborough is 'LUFFBURRA', and Keighley is 'KEETHLEE'.
More examples - Ulgham is 'UFFAM', Happisburgh is 'HAYZBURRA', Milngavie is 'MULGUY', Barnoldswick is 'BARLICK', and Woolfardisworthy is 'WOOLZERY'.
Examples local to me in North East England - Finchale is 'FINKLE', Houghall is 'HOFFLE', Prudhoe is 'PRUDDA', and Ireshopeburn is 'EYES-UP-BURN'.
If we stick to single-word place names, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the second longest, and as people pointed out, the longest is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
But if we go with place names with multiple words, the longest is Bangkok, known as Krung Thep in Thai, or in its full form :
Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit
wow, I will not sttempt to pronunce those.
Aberystwyth doesn't sound like English because it isn't haha, it's Welsh. Actually the place I was born
Although English has celtic origins too and shares words with Welsh.
@@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek English doesn’t have a Celtic origin but a Germanic one. Very few of its words come from Celtic languages
If you go back 500+ years ago English is extremely difficult to understand. It’s fascinating. And 500 yrs From now, I don’t think there’ll be many of us left speaking any language, we all can see what is happening with right now, we can not say anything without someone getting offended. I’m an Irish person speaking the English language who at the moment resides in the Southwest US, among the Navajo people.
We can't say anything without offending someone? What, anything? Don't talk such utter bollocks.
Playlist:
th-cam.com/video/lWhDUtwD3b8/w-d-xo.html
I was a teacher in Britain
and I had a young lad in my class
from the Caribbean
and his parents were from Barbados
and were really nice folks
At one parent's evening they complained
about their son's accent changing
from Bajan to Jamaican
and I realised the power of the Jamaican dialect
on Black British youth
(like you said about understanding Reggae music)
I taught him mathematics and my favourite thing he wrote
was:
"and my solooshun is ..."
written as he spoke it.
BTW I used to live in Bicester
pronounced /ˈbɪstər/
Why have you written this like a poem
@@TomMerson
I am following an American writer and academic
called Lillian Lieber
who described her style thus:
"This is not intended to be
free verse.
Writing each phrase on a separate line
facilitates rapid reading,
and everyone
is in a hurry
nowadays."
I learnt Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
from Liliian's book
written in this style
and it is a sort of homage
to her
Thank you sir.
The official name for the capital of Thailand shorten to Kung Thep, the Th is pronounced T, and a place in New Zealand with a maroi name.
Thanks for an insightful video, Mr Giant. I live in Leicestershire, which is pronounced "lestasha". The county town is called "Lesta" by everyone in Britain , excepting those who live there, who call it ""lesto"- the final O rhyming with cop or shop.
I have heard of Leicestershire, not a lot but know of the place by name.
@@MrGiant it is beautiful. Do visit. I would love to shake you by the hand, because I really appreciate your videos and insights.
This is from Wikipedia so I don't know how true it is, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. A hill in New Zealand.
Wow that crazy, someone else pointed this out.
3:54 There are several Ohio towns that have different than expected pronunciations, Bellfontaine (bell-FOUNTAIN), Russia (roo-SEEYA), Cairo (KAY-row) etc.
living in england i have to speak "american" to alexa or google so they understand
its strange but unless ya speak like harry potter or the queen its never gunna get it .
there must be 2 many not important enuff dialects and acsent in england to program in or somthing
My father came from Pedro district. I lived there for a year as a kid in the early 1980s. Opposite the Gordon's shop and bar on the road towards Brownsall. Went to Watermount all age school. Then we moved the Havendale in St Andrews/Kingston. I went to St Richards primary school on the red hills road and Meadowbrook high school for a year and a half. Then the family returned to the UK.
I love listening to you. My uncle (sadly no longer with us) was from Carriacou. I used to love listening to him talk.
Nice place Carriacou, you should visit there if you have not already.
@Mr. Giant one of my cousins visits to see their side of the family. My side is shockingly British so I've often thought of visiting but don't know if I'd cope with the heat.
@@markrichardson3421 The heat is not so bad, what with the constant ocean breeze.
Use to live about 5 miles from Godmanchester is how you pronounce I
Its a place in New Zealand I think , look up Quantum Jump on here, they say it on the song opening, I have to admit to spending many hours learning that, I still know it .. 🤪
They all had a peace, and now they have all peaced off
6:02 Because it's not, it's Welsh (Cymmrag).
Same as Llanfairpwllgwllchwyrn....etc.
The longest place name in the world is in New Zealand. The Welsh one is the second longest.
Thank you.
The Welsh one is the longest name for a municipality, the NZ one is just the name of a hill (which is on private property)
Ting that' your ting, That is why the World needs a language Humans need to be able to communicate to avoid missing our intent, Let us not allow Bigots to destroy the Human Net-work,
They didn't talk about it in the video (although they showed a photo of the road sign) but I have no idea why Godmanchester always comes up in things like this. It's pronounced as it looks.
Historically the locals pronounced it as though it were spelled 'Gumster'. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_irregularly_spelt_places_in_the_United_Kingdom
@@stevelknievel4183 I'm aware, but historically most places were pronounced/spelt differently to now, but Godmanchester always gets mentioned for some reason.
I'm from menzieshill which is pronounced meeniss-hill,we have an extinct volcanoe called The Law which people call the law hill,Law means Hill in scottish so saying the law hill is like the hill hill 😂,people still say law hill
That is funny lol.
1:45 Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (Taumata) in New Zealand.
Llanfairpwllgyll is the shorter version of the Welsh village, often abbreviated to Llanfair PG.
Nobody, but nobody here pronounces Godmanchester, "Gumster"? I live within 10 miles of it and I've known people that live there for over forty years. Must have been said once, by someone semi-literate with a heavy cold!!!!
And Americans say Urbs for Herbs...
Slaithwaite in Yorkshire is pronounced slawit, its not to far from where I live in the Pennines
Its quite interesting learning where the names came from.
@@MrGiant Accents are another thing the UK has a lot of, in my area people's vocalisation was modified by the type of machinery used in the local cotton mill, Fred Dibnah had a very "Northern" accent, they have become tempered over time and are less abrupt sounding now, but you can still tell, people from Bolton, Fred Dibnah and Peter Kay have very strong accents, the older generation used to be able to locate a specific area sometimes to street level.. by their vocalisation, i am 62 and I got the tail end of the generation that applied to.
Remember, you are trying to pronounce these places with todays alphabet and mindset, when these placenames are 1000 years old at least, some 2000 years, and are made up of several languages including old English, Saxon, Viking etc. Think of all the Native American places you have in the US, these are not even English.