[ 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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