Talk:Colchester

Pronunciation

The pronunciation in the opening sentence has been unchallenged for years. We suddenly have someone living in Canada determining that the first 'e' is pronounced 'as i in kit', which I have never heard in 20 years of living here. Nonsense. Kevin McE (talk) 18:26, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

I lived in Chelmsford as a child, Kev, and we knew people in Colchester, whom we visited often enough. The fact that I now live in Canada does not change what I learnt back then. Kelisi (talk) 01:58, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

this is why i dislike chelmsfordines, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.30.52.72 (talk) 01:14, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

Apologies for the undo: the first two sources I checked, JC Wells Longman Pronunciation Dictionary and [1]https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/colchester both have the i pronunciation, but I've just checked the OED and it uses ɛ. The second pronunciation in JC Wells is with a schwa (ə) which is probably closer to how I pronounce it, the third is with the e Piecesofuk (talk) 19:04, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

The proof is in the pudding, Pieces, and the pudding in this case is the people who live in Colchester. Listen to them. They all say "/ˈkoʊltʃɪstər/", and never "/ˈkoʊltʃɛstər/". By the way, the pronunciation given in this article isn't the only bogus one for a place in Essex that I have ever come across. Check this out (it has since been corrected).

wrong, its more of a shorter version of ɛ

Also see Manchester (/ˈmæntʃɪstər, -tʃɛs-/) which has both pronunciations with the I appearing first as in JC Wells Piecesofuk (talk) 15:20, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

My friends who live there pronounce it "kohl - chuh - stuh". Mr. Cholmondeley-Warner would pronounce it "kohl - cheh - stuh" A stereotypical tourist from Wisconsin would say (incorrectly) "coal - cheh - sturr". Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 15:56, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Ahem. I thought Mr. Cholmondeley-Warner lived in Kent? But my general question is: do we show RP, or local pronunciation, or both (if they differ)? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:06, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

RP is pretty far removed from most people's regular speech in Britain - I don't even think the younger generations of the Royal Family use it nearly so much as the Queen does. You might be thinking of a standard British accent instead? I'd say one pronunciation for standard English, and the inclusion of another for local pronunciation, along with a link to the relevant regional accent. (I'd pronounce it "kohl-cheh-stuh" as well, but I don't have much of an accent, save for dropping the letter t like my life depends on it.) I cannot say I've ever heard anyone in the UK pronounce the 'e' as 'i as in kit', and I've lived here all my life.--Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) 17:19, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

It's also worth mentioning that regional accents have definitely shifted a lot within the past century or so, in the sense that for a lot, they've somewhat generalised a little. It used to be that you could, no exaggeration, tell two not-too-large towns apart based on accent - so depending on when Kelisi lived near Colchester, the accent may have sounded like that at the time. I know I get more Northern if I'm on the phone to my grandad, who's in his 90s and has lived here all his life, and likely people locally spoke more northerly when he was my age, too.

British English linguistics are a tricky thing, as in certain words, a number of vowels are reduced to /ə/, and every single vowel has the potential to slip and slide into schwa territory - Tom Scott has a brilliant video on this very phenomenon. This leads to a variety of letters being pronounced roughly the same way, which may have caused the confusion. Shoving /ə/ in the place of a proper vowel is second-nature to us, but could have caused some confusion about what the vowel actually is. --Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) 17:29, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Yes, thanks, I probably was thinking of Standard English, as opposed to Essex English. I've never seen Wills and Kate in Colchester, but I think Uncle Andrew occasionally visits Pizza Express. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:36, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

ba-dum tssh(!) --Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) 18:06, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

FWIW I've never heard any British place name ending in -ester being pronounced as anything other than -ɛstər and, frankly, would question the veracity of sources that differ on that. That said, as we all know, the Wikipedia mantra is "verifiability not truth". Ultimately, since there are multiple sources with several different pronunciations, and clearly some strong feelings on this issue, it might be prudent to include some alternative pronunciations in the lead, or maybe even a section on pronunciation (leaving the pronunciation out of the lead) if there is sufficient material to support it. However it does seem clear that this is a wider issue than for just this article - as others have mentioned, there are many place names ending in -ester and this same issue affects them all. WaggersTALK 15:47, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

Actual Colcestrian here

I've never heard it pronounced colchister its col-chess-tuh thats how we say it, we don't call the game of chess chis! ask the locals before putting false pronunciations! this has annoyed me as an actual colcestrian. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.30.52.72 (talk) 01:09, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

Film festival

An AfD discussion has ended with the decision to merge info from Colchester Film Festival here. Personnally, I'm not sure anything beyond what we currently have is necessary or proportionate: it was never something that made a deep impression on the town, probably much less noticable than the Oyster Fayre or Medieval markets in Castle Park. The film festival website is just a link to a facebook account, which has only two identical entries in the last 5 years: invitations to submit films for 2020, but nothing about the event, or even a Covid cancellation announcement. I can find 2 2021 film events advertised, but not the same festival name, location, calendar spot or logo. So even what the article currently has (added, very probably by one of the organisers, in 2015) is probably anachronistic in being in the present tense. Do we need any more? Kevin McE (talk) 12:07, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

All the sources seem to be local newspapers, rather than anything in creative media. There are lots of events of similar calibre from other fields that go on in Colchester, as you suggest. And I can't see how much of the CFF article can be included into this one without dramatically unbalancing it. I have serious doubts about notability, and the consensus for merging seems tepid at best. Brammers (talk/c) 23:57, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

I tend to agree with Kevin. There really isn't much worth merging, so perhaps just a plain redirect will do? LibStar (talk) 02:57, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Get a work visa

I'm Hazhar Ebrahimi.I live in Iran now.I want to have new chance for nursing work in UK .please guide me how I can to get a work visa and I have new experience .I'm married and have a daughter .I have 15 years work experience 5.22.110.6 (talk) 13:12, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Sorry, Wikipedia does not give this kind of advice. Suggest you look here. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:30, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Not yet a city

As with Talk:Southend-on-Sea the town does not become a city until Letters patent are received. MRSC (talk) 09:05, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

We are a city now!

Due our newly established city status we r not a town Any more. 2A02:C7F:3AA2:2600:F5E1:4B8F:588C:D88D (talk) 18:21, 21 May 2022 (UTC)