I was born in Detroit, Michigan, and some say I have a Michigander accent. You can be assured, that I don’t have a British accent, but I have fond memories of my grandmother’s voice calling me “love” and talking about a “cuppa tea.” Naturally, like other Americans, I often have trouble pronouncing British locations – especially those shires.
Out of curiosity and because of my foreign tongue, I posted in a group on Facebook where other members live or used to live in Salford and/or Broughton. You’ll discover Broughton is used multiple times in Toil Under the Sun. I’ve been pronouncing it a certain way but wondered if I had it right.
So, thinking it was a simple question, I posted on the Facebook group board the following. “I have a question from across the pond. Is Broughton pronounced Bro-ton or Brow-ton. My phonetic attempt. LOL” OMG – I started a firestorm and at last count forty-seven replies and lots of variations all from people in the United Kingdom. Frankly, after the first twenty responses, I couldn’t stop laughing. Conclusion — never ask an Englishman how to pronounce a location.
When you read the book, you are more than welcome to pronounce Broughton in any of these following phonetic ways. Apparently, they are all right, depending on who you ask.
- Brought-n
- Braw as in raw, ton
- Brorton
- Brawtun
- Bro-ton
- Brawton
- Braw’un
- Braw’n
- Brought-on
Well, I think you get the gist. I’ve been stuck on Brow-ton myself, but I probably should shift to Braw-ton.
Enjoy,
Vicki
