Aigburth, Saughall Massie and Gateacre - what do all these places have in common? They're just a few of the most commonly mispronounced areas in Merseyside.
The names just trip off the tongue of locals, but many people, particularly visitors and newcomers, can get caught out by the unique quirks of region. They are not said as they would first appear when read.
We've been on the streets of Liverpool to hear some of the most unusual pronunciations and find out what you struggle with yourselves.
We know our accent doesn't help with things, but perhaps we should think about adding phonetic spellings to the Liverpool A-Z to help visitors get to grip with the correct way to pronounce some of the trickier place names.
If you can't tell your Walton from your Woolton and you think Kensington is a posh area of London, we're a friendly bunch, so you can always just ask.
- Watch the video above to see what people on the streets of Liverpool said and thought.
- And check out the gallery below to find out how to pronounce the place names correctly.
1. Gateacre, Liverpool
We’ve all heard someone call Gateacre ‘gate-acre’ but it’s confusingly pronounced 'gat-akker’. | Image: Google Street View
2. Kirkby
Visitors often struggle to pronounce Kirkby as the second ‘K’ is silent. So, rather than ‘kerk-bee’ it’s actually pronounced ‘ker-bee’. | Rept0n1x/Wikimedia
3. Mossley Hill
So, we actually didn’t realise anyone was pronouncing this wrong until Northern trains announced plans to change their train announcement to ‘Mose-ley Hill’. Despite locals being adamant it’s ‘Moss-lee Hill’. | Image: Phil Nash/Wikimedia Photo: Phil Nash/Wikimedia
4. Huyton, Knowsley
We’ve heard it all for this one, including ‘hutton’ and ‘hoo-ee-ton’ but it’s actually ‘high-tun’. | Rodhullandemu/Wikimedia