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This was published 2 years ago

The Sydney place names you're probably saying wrong

9News Staff

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It's Australia's largest - and richest - city, but there's plenty about Sydney even its lifetime residents don't know.

Including, apparently, how to pronounce dozens of the streets and suburbs it contains.

Language learning platform Preply has ranked the most-mispronounced place names in Sydney in a new study that evaluated factors such as undefined sounds in English, unusual stress patterns, and discrepancies between spelling and pronunciation.

Here are the top 10 tongue-twisters in the harbour city.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
10. Goulburn Street
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10. Goulburn Street

Goulburn Street, in the CBD, is supposedly often mispronounced as "goo-burn".

The correct way to say it is "gull-burn", with emphasis on the first syllable.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
9. Glebe
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9. Glebe

One syllable, five letters - how hard can "Glebe" be?

Hard enough to crack the top 10.

Preply reports the word is incorrectly said as "gleb", instead of the proper "gleeb".

Attribution: Polly Hanning
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8. Castlereagh Street
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8. Castlereagh Street

Apparently, pronouncing the "castle" in "Castlereagh" is a no-no.

The correct way to say it is not "castle-ree" but "kas-ul-ray", with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
7. Parramatta
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7. Parramatta

Sydney's second CBD is not pronounced "parra-matta", but "parra-maht-uh", with the emphasis on "maht".

Of course, "Parra" probably suffices for most people.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
6. Sussex Street
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6. Sussex Street

According to Preply, instead of saying "suh-seks", we should say "suhs-eks", emphasising the first syllable.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
5. Cronulla
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5. Cronulla

Some people supposedly insert an extra syllable into this beachside suburb, making it "cru-huh-nuh-luh".

Accurately pronounced it's "kroh-null-uh", emphasising "null".

Attribution: Polly Hanning
4. Pyrmont
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4. Pyrmont

Instead of saying "peer-mont", you should say "pir-mont", heavy on the first syllable.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
3. Kirribilli
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3. Kirribilli

Despite all the i's, it's not "kir-ri-billi", but "ki-ruh-bi-lee" - emphasis on "ruh".

Attribution: Polly Hanning
2. Macquarie Street
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2. Macquarie Street

Not "mak-wah-ree", but "muh-kwah-ree", with the emphasis on the second syllable.

Attribution: Polly Hanning
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