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Why do the English pronounce the first name "St. John" as "sinjin" but they pronounce the last name "Saintclair" as "saint clair" (and not "sinclair")? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by sgibson5150 to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Checkmate, Chuck. 👑

Edit: Given the number of downvotes I'm getting, I'm guessing a lot of people have just learned that they've been pronouncing St. John wrong. Don't beat yourselves up. It's not like it's a terribly common name.

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[–] Berttheduck@lemmy.ml 51 points 5 days ago (6 children)

We don't as far as I know. St John is usually pronounced Saint John. Though English is weird and you might have come across a local pronunciation. Do you know where abouts in the UK that one comes from?

[–] sgibson5150 7 points 5 days ago

Perhaps not precisely "sinjin". Wikipedia gives the IPA as /ˈsɪndʒɪn/ or /-ʒən/ where the ʒ is the g in beige or the s in pleasure so it's a bit more of a zh sound than a j sound: "sinzhin"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_(name) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English

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