Wimpleton winner
A screen grab of Markéta Vondroušová acknowledging the crowd’s applause after winning the Women’s Singles Final at the All-England Tennis Club at Wimbledon. The event was duly reported on US TV, with commentators both local and National referring to the venue as “Wimpleton”. As a British expat, this solecism triggered a bad attack of Grumpy-Old-Git-itis.
Heaven knows that there are more than enough British place-names to trip up unfamiliar visitors - Leominster/Lemminster, Milngavie/Mulgae, Slaithwaite/Slowitt are egregious examples, but WimBleDon is pronounced as it is spelt.
My little rant brings back a 1970s memory, from a time when a common British perception of Americans was that they were loud-mouthed, bombastic and culturally inflexible. This was satirised to a tee in the ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode, ‘Waldorf Salad’. A housemate of that time told me the story of her parents hosting an American visitor. It seems he was extremely pedantic, and that began to grate. One day, he said he had to travel to Sevenoaks, and wondered how to get there.
“Oh no!” the hosts declared. “You pronounce it ‘Snooks’.” Pity the poor American and the consternation he caused when when he rolled up at the Charing Cross ticket office to demand a round-trip fare to Snooks.
Wimpleton winner
A screen grab of Markéta Vondroušová acknowledging the crowd’s applause after winning the Women’s Singles Final at the All-England Tennis Club at Wimbledon. The event was duly reported on US TV, with commentators both local and National referring to the venue as “Wimpleton”. As a British expat, this solecism triggered a bad attack of Grumpy-Old-Git-itis.
Heaven knows that there are more than enough British place-names to trip up unfamiliar visitors - Leominster/Lemminster, Milngavie/Mulgae, Slaithwaite/Slowitt are egregious examples, but WimBleDon is pronounced as it is spelt.
My little rant brings back a 1970s memory, from a time when a common British perception of Americans was that they were loud-mouthed, bombastic and culturally inflexible. This was satirised to a tee in the ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode, ‘Waldorf Salad’. A housemate of that time told me the story of her parents hosting an American visitor. It seems he was extremely pedantic, and that began to grate. One day, he said he had to travel to Sevenoaks, and wondered how to get there.
“Oh no!” the hosts declared. “You pronounce it ‘Snooks’.” Pity the poor American and the consternation he caused when when he rolled up at the Charing Cross ticket office to demand a round-trip fare to Snooks.