BTW Sue... I'm off to bed, but thought I'd leave you with this... I wonder if you had the advert up in Scotland where an American lady from the Southern states pronounces Worcestershire Sauce as 'Wer-chester-shyer sauce'?  What a mouthful!  Pretty complex, no?

@ PixelBitch... 

Maybe, but I very seldom see adverts. So much so that I emailled everyone last year with a YouTube version of what I thought was a very new advert for IrnBru, and it had been out since 2006!
There's a small town/large village near where I was brought up called Strathaven, pronounced Stray-ven, and I did part of my teacher training near Milngavie pronounced Mill-guy.

Perhaps they are represented by the legal firm of Sue, Grabbit and Runne.

I think they are in the building right next to Dewey, Cheatham and Howe! 

Ooooohhhhhh.... That took a while... But if your natural language is not English these things are hard to understand.

...and even if your native language is English, but not Americanised-English, it can be hard too.  

@ Sue - I'm the same with adverts... I did something similar over an ad not so long ago... The Worcestershire sauce ad was around many years ago.  Not sure if the pronunciation was common in the Southern States or peculiar to that woman.  It seemed quite a struggle for her to say it, and I wished I could make it easier for her by climbing into the telly and saying 'It's pronounced Woostersheer' - so much easier!

Looking at those Scottish place-names and pronunciations you gave, I'd struggle with that!  On trips to Cornwall, I mispronounced the place-name 'Mousehole' for years (I assumed it would be pronounced like a hole for a mouse)... until a few people corrected me and said it was pronounced 'Muzzle'.  I'd never have guessed - but always stuck to the Cornish pronunciation after that.  'When in Rome' etc.

"De Warre" for Dewar was funny too.  

Re:  James West's accent - It's pretty similar to mine in terms of short and long vowel sounds.  AFAIK, short 'a's in 'fast'; 'ask' etc. only occur in the North of England - mainly Yorkshire/Derbyshire region.  Funnily enough, I don't hear them as 'aw' sounds in his accent (or mine), but as 'ahhhh' sounds.  Maybe there's a condition called 'ethnic ear' or something  

Anyway... to the point... I'd say his pronunciation of 'offer' - close to the beginning of the video - is the closest audio-match to the way 'Potter' would be pronounced in the non-rhyming version.

Hope that helped!

ETA:  I forgot about your French bit... to me 'feu' and 'rouge' would be 'foh' (as in 'dough') and 'roooj'
(soft 'j').

At least there's an excuse... Scottish Gaelic 

Pronounced Gallik, of course - they only speak Gaylik in Ireland.

@ Sue - I'm the same with adverts... I did something similar over an ad not so long ago... The Worcestershire sauce ad was around many years ago.  Not sure if the pronunciation was common in the Southern States or peculiar to that woman.  It seemed quite a struggle for her to say it, and I wished I could make it easier for her by climbing into the telly and saying 'It's pronounced Woostersheer' - so much easier!

Please tell me your joking- we say "Wooster" as in Bertie! (i.e. Wooster sawwwsss). In sloppy, everyday speech, more like 'Woosta', or maybe nearer yours, 'Woostscha"

@ Lisa  - Glad you've been enjoying this     I mentioned the TARDIS because, based on my original mis-reading (or mis-hearing) of the joke, I was trying to figure out how a joke that seemed to come from the 70's somehow time-travelled into 2010.  

Ahhh.  Makes sense now.  Thanks for explaining

@ RacePhoto - that's the thing about Cornwall too... a lot of the place names seem most akin to Welsh.  I've never quite figured out the historic journey of Cornish lingo - but it's clearly heavily influenced by the Celts.

Yes: the related languages are Irish Gaelic and it's offspin in Scottish Gaelic (I did two lessons in Scottish Gaelic and only remember that Irish speakers can be understood in the southern Scottish Islands but not furthern north), Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton. They spread to the Cape Breton islands and, I just learend courtesy of Wikipedia, in Patagonia ~ I'd never heard that!

Quote from: Blufish on December 16, 2010, 18:07

You're right Lisa, very educational! Maybe when this Yankee gets to Ireland/Scotland I won't sound like such a corky American!

Oh yes, you will!

I am really good with accents and dialects, but I would not have the courage to try and pass myself off as a local.  I know I'd give myself away somehow, and probably very quickly! 

Have a great trip Blufish!  I hope you share some of your travel shots with us here so we can live vicariously

Just go ahead and sound American.  As long as you aren't pushy and obnoxious (stereotypical "ugly American") I am sure you will be welcomed.  At least I hope so...?!

Eventually I will have a great trip. It's down the list tho. NYC this summer, Africa next then maybe...

@JBarber - now I'm lost.    Horseshoe Road Inn?  Apologies for my ignorance.

Horse you rode in

Quote from: rubyroo on December 17, 2010, 04:44

@JBarber - now I'm lost.    Horseshoe Road Inn?  Apologies for my ignorance.

Horse you rode in

Typically, used in the saying "eff--- you and the horse you rode in on"