Worchester=Wooster?
I've been listening to an audiobook of David McCullough's excellent biography of John Adams and the reader keeps pronouncing the city of Worchester" as "wooster." Can someone please explain this oddity to me?
Oh, and don't just come up with the lame "That's just how they say it in New England." That is not going to cut it.
Bonus points (that are good for what? No idea.) if you can come up with words that sound much differently than they are spelled.
And huge props to whoever remembers the Wooster character from the "New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh."
Labels: life (poetry in the ordinary)
posted by Nate at 8:11 PM
3 Comments:
How about worchestershire sauce? It must have the same origin, from the UK. We pronounce it the same way.
I refer you here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_of_disputed_pronunciation#W
and also here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse
Not exactly an answer but more of a rabbit hole.
you can add Derby = "Darby" to you list of unexplained british pronunciations. I think it is best not to look too deeply into these things.
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