They say that language is always evolving, but I'm a little confused as to why the names of towns and cities changes.
I had the TV on the other evening and someone mentioned the town of Warwick, somewhere in New England ... only it was pronounced "war-wick". The town in England that it was presumably named after, is pronounced "worrick". Why would it change? That made me aware of other differences - in the US a town is called "Nor-witch", in the UK, it's "Norridge". I think I remember someone telling me that the river in New London, Connecticut, is pronounced "Thames" as opposed to the original "Tems" , although they're spelled the same.
So - the mystery continues. I'm not sure what to search for on the internet to find out why the differences but it would be really interesting to find out. One more thing to add to my To Do list! I think I'm safe to assume that the town names were brought over by the pilgrims and other travellers from the United Kingdom and if it's pronounced one way in the Old Country, why would it be changed when they get here?
Who is right? Which side of the Atlantic has evolved the language more than the other?
Is this another case of "The United Kingdom and the United States - two countries divided by a common language."?
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