@menelion I think it's partly a matter of dialectal variation, and partly that some places that have their names spelled the same aren't pronounced the same in actuality. To the former, maneuver vs manoeuvre is absolutely not due to a lack of education, and neither is an identical pronunciation of Tudor, tutor and tooter. How about pour vs paw, core vs caw? Why do the British say garage in such a "bastardized" way if it clearly comes from French, and Americans can do it much more correctly? After all, the -um pronunciation is just a lazy articulation of the full "-ham" ending, so even if it is the standard one in the UK, it's actually due to languages being naturally lazy and not due to some sort of better education. To the latter, I've had this conversation with Americans that will affirm that Birmingham in Alabama is pronounced with fully-articulated -ham, but might refer to Birmingham in the UK with the -um pronunciation. Same for Norwich in Connecticut, which is pronounced nor-witch. I think it's valid to want people to pronounce Birmingham in the UK with the -um ending, just as long as you're equally observant that Birmingham in Alabama is pronounced with final -ham and call it that. If you grew up in the US hearing Birming-ham and suddenly learn of a place in the UK spelled that way, you'd probably call it that. If you grew up in the UK hearing Birming-um you'd probably call the city in Alabama the same thing, and both would be equally """wrong""". @FreakyFwoof
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@menelion I think it's partly a matter of dialectal variation, and partly that some places that have their names spelled the same aren't pronounced the same in actuality.
To the former, maneuver vs manoeuvre is absolutely not due to a lack of education, and neither is an identical pronunciation of Tudor, tutor and tooter. How about pour vs paw, core vs caw? Why do the British say garage in such a bastardized way if it clearly comes from French, and Americans can do it much more correctly? After all, the -um pronunciation is just a lazy articulation of the full "-ham" ending, so even if it is the standard one in the UK, it's actually due to languages being naturally lazy and not due to some sort of better education.
To the latter, I've had this conversation with Americans that will affirm that Birmingham in Alabama is pronounced with fully-articulated -ham, but might refer to Birmingham in the UK with the -um pronunciation. Same for Norwich in Connecticut, which is pronounced nor-witch.
I think it's valid to want people to pronounce Birmingham in the UK with the -um ending, just as long as you're equally observant that Birmingham in Alabama is pronounced with final -ham and call it that. If you grew up in the US hearing Birming-ham and suddenly learn of a place in the UK spelled that way, you'd probably call it that. If you grew up in the UK hearing Birming-um you'd probably call the city in Alabama the same thing, and both would be equally """wrong""". @FreakyFwoof