I went to Portsmouth today, which is by the sea(hence "port") directly across from the Isle of Wight. Although it was windy and a bit dark, it was still very pretty. There were ships moving in and out of the harbor, people walking their dogs, and others lunching near the hot dog stand. There was also a large white structure overlooking the area called Spinnaker Tower.
The British have explaining to do when it comes to the pronunciation of certain words and their choice of spelling; traveling to Portsmouth raised several questions that had previously been stifled in my attempt to acclimate myself with the culture. However, I can no longer ignore the questions that are vehemently singeing the inner coils of my mind.
Case and point:
Portsmouth: "Ports-muhth" Not too bad, America copied this one in Oregon, but let's carry on to the next offender.
Isle of Wight: What heck is a "Wight" and why is it spelled that way, not "White"?
Spinnaker: "Spin-Na-Ka". I think they like to throw in the letter "R" in the middle of words for kicks and giggles. Sometimes they add "R" sounds to words that shouldn't have them, which is doubly confusing.
Spinnaker Tower
Watch out for those heavy vessels. They'll getcha' every time.
Pop Eye the Sailor Man sails on this vessel.
This pub is real old.
I don't think its safe to dive here, considering
there's about 15 feet of sharp rocks at the bottom
5 comments:
Those are some great pictures, makes me wish I were near the sea at this very moment...to bad my family is all going to the beach the day after I leave....oh well, ill get to see plenty of sand soon enough.
Haha, rocky "for sure", right?
The Beatles mentioned Isle of Wight in the song 'When I'm Sixty-Four'! I hope you're having a great time!
I am not a competent authority on why names are so fantastically spelled since I am not 1500 years old. They're likely to be phonetically spelled by the locals. Things might change in this regard, but hey, we like a bit of heritage!
The r in Spinnaker may be un-silenced by different dialects.
I might say WIight differently to WHIte but that's being picky.
We get kicks and giggles from visitors pronouncing silent and unstressed letters in place names, as follows:
portsmOuth, waRWickshIre
hiGH wYcomBE
leICEstershIre
... I have to admit place name spellings are crazy!
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