General Chat

How do you pronounce counties ending in Shire?
I was speaking to a Scottish person who says all "Shires" are pronounced with a long I so it sounds like Shyre!
So Oxfordshire sounds like Oxfordshyre..

I have always pronounced it "Sheer."

How do you pronounce the word relating to places?

Florence in the hebrides

I am Sussex and long about the vowels so I say 'sheeyer'.

I say sheer (originally from North London)

Having sat here loudly saying various 'shires', I've come to the conclusion, it depends on the County!
I tend to pronounce English 'shires' as 'shur', apart from Oxfordshire, which I pronounce 'shyre' :-S
BUT, many of the Scottish 'shires', I pronounce 'shyre', especially the longer ones..

I always pronounce them all "shur". I'm from the north east and it's how most people around here would pronounce it.

Kath. x

Very interesting. Im Sussex born so say Sheer like you Sharron.
I noticed the Amercians always say Shyre!


Florence in the hebrides

I was brought up in sowf London not Norf London. I now live in Barkshur near Oxfordshur.

Sitting here saying them to myself I am pretty sure I always say Shur. I did read somewhere that Gloucestershire was one of the most difficult counties to pronounce for people. Probably why it is often shortened to Glos.

I originate from Hampshire and yes when I say it it is 'shur'. I might say Devonshire (shur) But don't think I have ever said somersetshire. or dorsetshire.

I hadn't thought about it, having moved a lot I've got used to hearing variations.

But i find I say "shur" unless for some reason I am talking about Perthshire when I say Perthshyre, the same for 'The Shire' in LOTR :-D

I was brought up in the South and tend to say "shur". When I moved to Scotland I noticed that the Scots all say "Shyre" and they also pronounce place names with "mouth" in them as "mouth" whereas I say "muth" as in Portsmouth/Portsmuth or Bournemouth/Bournemuth.

Ooh - following on from what I said earlier - just realised I say 'shyre' when I say 'Buckinghamshire'.
Definitely a case of the longer the name, the more likely I'll pronounce it 'shyre' :-D

Andys mum....re "mouth" I always say "muth"
And yes up in Scotland they do say "mouth" and I always think it doesn't sound correct..lol that's the English in me I think.

Florence in the hebrides :-D

Shire is Shire

I'm from Lancashire .......... and still say Lancashur ..... and Yorkshure

I have a little laugh when I hear people over hear, especially Americans, say Lancashyre. It sounds so wrong!

As for Worcestershire, Buckinghamshire ..... the longer words .......... they can really be mangled on this side of the pond!

I’m an eclectic mix having lived in four different houses in different counties by age 5. I had lived in Hounslow, Hook, Ashley and Edinburgh by age five and my parents are Hertfordshire and Ayrshire born. Both of them and therefore me also pronounce it shur

Nottingham,Cambridge.Glos,Perth.Ayr . ,etc Scheer.

but would say of the Shires,,,,,,,not Scheers

I am originally from BuckinghamSHEER , and have always pronounced the shires as sheers. Never shire as that would be 'doing a Hyacinth' (Bucket)) ;-)

I say SHUR at the end of a county such as Carmarthenshire (Carmarthenshur).

But if saying SHIRE ( as in a Shire Horse) I would say SHYER

Lancashire Yorkshire. Wiltshire .Lanarkshire. Herefordshire.

In Australia, the word is pronounced Shyer, a local government entity which is not a town or a city.

For example I live in the Shire of Harvey and the neighbouring council is the City of Bunbury.