Things that you probably didn't know - thread.

[classic33]

Christmas Day cannot by law, fall on a Sunday. We can still have Christmas Eve, December 25th, followed by Saint Stephens Day. But no Christmas Day.
Blame Cromwell, he insisted that the church day, Sunday, came before the holiday(holy day).

 

[Cascad]

In Danish, gift means both marriage and poison.

 

[clarion]

I've lived in Halifax, Hebden Bridge, and Todmorden, but have only ever heard one local pronunciation of Mytholmroyd (which is where my kids went to school).

Sowerby Bridge has at least three local pronunciations, however.

 

[Psycolist]

Urban myth, I'm afraid http://www.lvta.co.uk/history.htm

"There are a number of myths and legends that surround the London cab and its cabmen and many of them are nothing but bunkum. For instance, it has never been law for a motor cabman to carry a bale of hay in his cab. In fact, it was never law for a horse cabman to carry one, although he was required to carry sufficient hard food (e. g. oats) for his horse’s midday feed."

I will inform the Met Police force, coz thats where that little nugget of miss-information came from. They also told me, in the same siminar, that there is no written law making murder an offence. Its only 'common law' rather than an actual written offence.

 

[Beebo]

Greenwich is a difficult one to pronounce.

Most people say "Gren-ich"
Locals call pronounce it "Grin-idge"

 

[numbnuts]

For washing your carpets with a Vax cleaner, Daz washing powder is just as good and very cheap compared to the Vax liquid.
I've just done my hall carpet

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Greenwich is a difficult one to pronounce.

Most people say "Gren-ich"
Locals call pronounce it "Grin-idge"

Yes, the difference is largely between those who first heard the name and those who first read the name. Deptford is pretty much the same. Locals use a glottal stop for the /pt/ bit, others choose to either pronounce the /p/ or the /t/.

 

[tyred]

WD40 is a lubricant.

 

[EltonFrog]

UB40 is NOT a lubricant.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

CarlP is a very wise sage

 

[EltonFrog]

CarlP is a very wise sage

I thought EVERYBODY knew that!

 

[numbnuts]

WD40 is a lubricant.

I like WD40

 

[ColinJ]

I've lived in Halifax, Hebden Bridge, and Todmorden, but have only ever heard one local pronunciation of Mytholmroyd (which is where my kids went to school).

Sowerby Bridge has at least three local pronunciations, however.

My sister insists on pronouncing Todmorden as Tod-MORE-den rather than Tod-muh-dun and Mytholmroyd as Myth-um-royd rather than My-thm-royd.

I have heard Sowerby pronounced with the 'Sow' rhyming with 'cow' or 'so'. I was told that most locals pronounce it the way you would 'strawberry' if you left out the 'tr' and 'err'.

 

[clarion]

Tod-MORE-den is just wrong.

I can't discern what the difference is between the Mytholmroyd pronunciations you cite. The middle vowel is barely there, in my experience, so I'd probably favour your latter.

I've heard Sowerby pronounced as you say, plus as 'Sorby', which I think is what you're getting at with the third. I've found that locals are pretty evenly split between the three, which is very confusing.

Where I come from, we have confusing pronunciations, rather than disputed ones:
Barnoldswick = 'Barlick'
Appletreewick = 'Aptrick'
Grassington = 'Guston'

 

[Fnaar]

And who can forget "Edinburgh", which apparently is pronounced Embra or Ed-in-bu-row depending on how Scottish or American you are.
And as for the Glasgow/Glasgee thing, that's just plain silly