Hello Eric, First, my apologies to the list for my initial triple posting, I was getting bounces and believed that I had signed off the list for my holiday and not signed on again - in error. So, expanding what you say, Sunderland folk would pronounce Coble as "Cobbul". Am I correct? Many thanks Rod At 08:01 16/05/2010, eng-dur-sunderland-request@rootsweb.com wrote: >Hi Rod, > > Here's my opinion for what it is worth but I'm no expert. > > Co-bull is how it is often pronounced in northern > Northumberland. As you travel south it changes, the "o" gets harder while > the "u" loses emphasis and eventually becomes silent. > > In Sunderland we pronounce it as we do cobblers, the > difference to Yorkshire is that we say that as cobbullers with a short, > hard "u". > >Eric. RSVP. Please support the St.George Foundation: www.adecentlife.org