WHAT a shame the researchers for the television programme Edwardian Farm didn't do their homework or listen to the local people.
Morwell-ham, with the emphasis on the ham and the H pronounced, is the correct pronunciation and has been for generations – until the place was converted into a Victorian village as a tourist attraction, work starting in 1969 onwards and visitors introduced to Mor-wellum, emphasis on the well by American guides. It grates upon me every time I hear it, sounds sloppy and spoilt a good and interesting programme.
Morwell-ham was used twice by local people in the first of the series.?Shouldn't this have been a clue to the researchers and the producers? The narrator used the wrong pronunciation at least eight times, so listeners have been misinformed. I have heard it said by the younger generation that Mor-wellum is easier to say. This, to me, is a lowering of standards. In the 1940s as school children at the age of 4 and 5 we didn't have a problem. People, possibly from all over the world, will be using this mispronunciation.
It would have been such a good opportunity to rectify what the Americans wrongly taught — but sadly, is now a great opportunity missed. We must preserve the pronunciation of our vocabulary and our place names, it is part of our history and culture and part of this universally admired language which we have and the whole world wants to learn. Please, let us preserve our vernacular.
Hilary Charleston
Originally from Tavistock