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That's interesting because North Berwick, South Berwick, and Berwick in southern Maine are pronounced Ber-wick.


It's common for us place names to have drifted from their origin.

The Egyptian Cairo is pronounced ky-row but the American is pronounced kay-row.

There's a running joke about the American pronunciation of Loughborough.


Similarly, Norwich, Connecticut is pronounced Nor-which locally.


I have read (no source at hand though) that that one used to be "Nor-itch" but during the 20th century the pronunciation was gradually forgotten and replaced with a spelling pronunciation. If I remember correctly the same was true of Warwick ("War-ick") Rhode Island.


Same thing happened with Berkeley in the US: originally "Barclay", and still pronounced "Barclay" in the UK.


Those wacky Nutmeggers (who badly need a standard demonym by the way) also pronounce their local Thames River as thaymz and yes that's with the th as in thick. But they do pronounce Greenwich (CT) as the English do.




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