Interesting cultural thought (interesting to me anyway). You have to be careful how you pronounce place names in Scotland (and probably elsewhere too). It can be a dead giveaway if you get it wrong. I asked a colleague yesterday where he hailed from and he told me very pronouncedly 'Gore-Brig'. Now I may have said Gore-Bridge and what would that have told him?
Similarly, in Glasgow, for Christs sake don't say 'Bridge-ton', you must say Brig-ton, it gives it the harder edge that the denizens of that area think it deserves. 'Bridge-ton' means your posh and possibly homosexual (a life-style largely unheard of in those parts, and if it does exist it is accompanied by a good chibbing).
For the same reason, you can't say 'Kennis- head' Flats to announce my old scheme, it must be 'Kennis-heid', and if you assign the pronunciation 'Barr-head' and not 'Borr-heid' to that Renfrewshire town you won't last very long in it!
These things are more important than you think. I once lived in Kilmarnock (by mistake) and we lived on Bridgehousehill Rd. Being a rookie I'd pronounce it as it's spelt. 'It's Briggus-hill' I was tersely informed.
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