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 off-am or oaf-am

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Wed 16 May 2012 at: 19:51 knee-the nigh-the wrote:
    Talking about the petrol service station with various 'locals' i've noticed a disparity in pronunciation. The Lewes born or entrenched call the village oafam, those from the coast offam & some of those nice ingratiating ones from london say oafham with the 'h'.
    so, seaford of seafud, brite-on or bri'un ?
    awords heef. orsted keens, etc etc ?

  • 1Dislike Like5
    On Wed 16 May 2012 at: 20:06 Petite pois wrote:
    well...to sound posh I think Oafam is good, however as it is off hamsey then it is pronounced off-ham!

  • 9Dislike Like0
    On Wed 16 May 2012 at: 20:35 Ross wrote:
    I'd say that your dizzy and need to get down from your high horse! All people are different and how they pronounce things too. Especially if you are unfamiliar with areas you've never been. Knob! We can't (sorry, cannot) all talk like wanna be (sorry, want to be) upper middle class scum. Go take a long walk off a short pier you stuck up tool!

  • 0Dislike Like6
    On Wed 16 May 2012 at: 21:06 Deelite wrote:
    Crikey. What did he say to deserve that sort of retort?

  • 0Dislike Like7
    On Wed 16 May 2012 at: 21:23 teacher wrote:
    Ross I have told you before, get off the computer get your homework done and get to bed before Daddy comes home. This forum is for grown ups.

  • 0Dislike Like6
    On Wed 16 May 2012 at: 22:13 Chuck wrote:
    Petite Pois, you are right in that the name is derived from Off Hamsey, but as a local it is definitely Oaf-am! Ross, you are out of order. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and that includes pronounciation.

  • 0Dislike Like4
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 02:08 AYATOLLAH HOGMANNY wrote:
    Quite right chuck it is OAF-AM locally, only heard Off-ham since the 80s when the DFLS came down to this remote part of Sussex!!!! Ross, we cant all be perfect and "talk like what you was taught" I was born in Lewes, can you say the same... don't be so prejudiced against people of a different class than yourself!!!! We can't all be posh like what yous is!!!!!!!

  • 0Dislike Like3
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 08:18 vipalb wrote:
    My Mother was born in one of the cottages up on the left hand side just past the Blacksmiths going out of Lewes. She lived there for 20 years and always pronounced it 'Oaf-am' although as rightly indicated by 'Chuck' above it is technically Off-ham being off of Hamsey..............now you can't get more local than her.

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 08:32 Pete wrote:
    Oafam is fine by me, but surely it's Blightown for the other place ?

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 09:10 ADT wrote:
    Sea food

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 09:31 teacher wrote:
    I love seafood ADT but I am sure its pronounced Seaford. I also love Bread and Ham.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 10:32 The Twister wrote:
    Who cares....

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 10:36 Sashimi wrote:
    we used to live in Herstmonceux (hirst-man-zoo). Most people in Hailsham could say it. In Eastbourne and Lewes, it was about half and half. By the time you got to Brighton, no one could pronounce it without mangling their vowels and sounding like Lloyd Grossman as they tried to do it in French. While we lived there, a very talented gastronomic family went through to the final of Masterchef three times and it was a delight to hear Lloyd Give his unique take on the village name on each show where they appeared.

  • 1Dislike Like0
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 10:51 teacher wrote:
    Twister I believe its pronounced Hookares. Rather like Twister is pronounce prat.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 12:51 Mercian wrote:
    "only heard Off-ham since the 80s when the DFLS came down to this remote part of Sussex!!!! "
    Judging by the fact that Lewesians born before the 1980s sound distinctly estuarine (rather than an old school Sussex accent) then I think the London influence had arrived well before then!!!

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 13:41 Cliffite wrote:
    The local way to pronounce Brighton is with an "oi" so it becomes Broighton.

  • 3Dislike Like0
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 13:47 Mr Forks wrote:
    Oaf-um as in dick-head

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 17:26 Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
    I thought Brighton was pronounced Be-Right-On these days.

    My OH refuses to accept that it's ArdingLIE and ChiddingLIE and mispronounces them both to annoy me. I think he gets Oafam right though.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 20:56 Lewes wrote:
    Offham (Oafam)
    Malling (Mawling)
    Seaford (Seafud)
    Burwash (Burish)
    Ardingly (Arding-lie)
    You can still hear bits of the old Sussex accent in the older generation but it's mostly gone now. I've got some recordings of my grandparents speaking and parts of it need a translator!

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Thu 17 May 2012 at: 23:39 Bling Mare wrote:
    In Seaford, they pronounce it SEA-FORD, not Seafud.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 00:11 IMEYOU wrote:
    In Lewes (loo-is) or a DFL pronunciation loooos, Seaford is usually pronounced as "SeeFud" as is London is pronounced as "Lundun"

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 00:14 IMEYOU wrote:
    Also in Lewes, Offam is pronounced as Oh-Fum

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 00:19 IMEYOU wrote:
    "LEWES" Malling (Mawling)
    Malling is pronounced as More-Ling

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 00:24 IMEYOU wrote:
    I stand to be corrected by Lewesians only !

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 06:28 Clifford wrote:
    Chuck wrote: 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and that includes pronounciation.'

    And also spell as the Romans - it's proNUNciation, not ptoNOUNciation.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 09:34 Dave wrote:
    Since were being pedantic he didn't say ptoNOUNciation

  • 1Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 09:57 Southover Queen wrote:
    I'm pretty sure that the Romans wouldn't have even attempted to spell pronunciation, with or without a stray 't'.

    Since we're being pedantic, obviously.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 09:59 Clifford wrote:
    I know Dave - it's one of nature's laws that if you try to correct someone else you always make a mistake yourself. (As you'll see you did too - we're, not were).

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 10:00 Clifford wrote:
    Southover Queen - in this context we are the Romans.

  • 1Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 10:48 brixtonbelle wrote:
    how is cuilfail pronounced ?

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 11:27 Harry wrote:
    My roots are in Eastbourne and Seaford was mostly pronounced Sea-fud by people there.

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 13:27 Southover Queen wrote:
    Very good question, BB, and one I am anxious to have an answer to.

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 13:53 Pete wrote:
    Is it like - quill fail ? What's the name's origin ?

  • 0Dislike Like1
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 14:31 Southover Queen wrote:
    It looks celtic in origin - Welsh, for instance. However some light googling suggests that the hillside was owned by a solicitor who named it after a Scottish castle and that it's pronounced "quill fail' (although I think my version is more like "coo-ill fail", somewhat idiosyncratically)

  • 1Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 15:15 Helpful Henry wrote:
    It's Queue fail of course.

  • 1Dislike Like0
    On Fri 18 May 2012 at: 23:13 Harold wrote:
    Q-fale ....Simples

  • 0Dislike Like0
    On Sat 19 May 2012 at: 00:34 king cnut wrote:
    keel-fail or kill-fail

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