polenta

So thanks Login for the River Tems. LOL
And yes, in UK the pronunciation of names of cities, towns, rivers and so forth is kind of difficult if you've never heard it.

Login

To settle your dilemma, polenta, Thames is pronounced tems.
There's a village in Northamptonshire called Cogenhoe, pronounced cook-no.
Another Northamptonshire town, Towcester is pronounced toe-stir.
In Wales, there's a town called Pontyclun, pronounced ponti-cleen.
Aren't languages beautiful.

polenta

I also think Arw is getting near to what I mean by those "famous" nicknames.
It's funny but in Uruguay I remember there is a town called YOUNG (must be after someone called like this, I mean his surname). You won't believe how people pronounce it. This reminds me of Q's remarks about geographical names in California.
We (yes, including me because if not nobody would understand me!!!) pronounce the name of the town of YOUNG as something like JUNE in English....... isn't it incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes, the mystery of names.

polenta

Little secret; after more than half a century of studying English I always doubt if the river Thames is pronounced
1)like FACE or BAIT or
2)like WET or BET.
And another word whose pronuciation I know (silent C) is Connecticut... but I've always wondered why people don't pronounce the C.

Dragon

My friend at work is doing a correspondence course through a school in San Juan. We got a kick out her telling us how she had to contact the people in "San Jew-awn".