Ye Olde Inn

by **Kurgan** » March 6th, 2023, 1:55 pm

This comes up every so often, and maybe it's been covered before, but what do the site owners say? If I verbally say the name of this site in english should I be saying "Ye Old Inn" or "THE old inn"?

I was thinking of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_olde

I figured it was being used in the colloquial modern english "anachronistic/ironic" way rather than a clever in-joke about the real way to pronounce the Thorn (or "YE" literally like "You" like "youtube" or "You all['s] Inn). Am I wrong? I wasn't here at the beginning, so I could very well be... :?:

Firstly, I don't have an authoritative answer here.

The way I've always pronounced it in my head and also out loud, is probably a merging of pronunciations so that Ye I pronounce like Yee or perhaps Yi. Olde I pronounce as I would Old.

So something like; Yee Old Inn.

Not saying it's correct, just sharing my habitual pronunciation. I'll add to this that many of my gamer friends seem to do the same. Whether or not we have influenced each other's pronunciation over the years, I cannot say definitively, but I can say I've heard other people at conventions and the like pronounce it similarly.

Interestingly, I never say Yee Oldy Inn.

by **StratosVX** » March 6th, 2023, 10:41 pm

QorDaq wrote:The way I've always pronounced it in my head and also out loud, is probably a merging of pronunciations so that Ye I pronounce like Yee or perhaps Yi. Olde I pronounce as I would Old.

So something like; Yee Old Inn.

Same.

by **Tott** » March 8th, 2023, 4:45 am

<---- Englishman
I always pronounce it "Yee Oldy Inn" but its ironic/satirical - it would never have beeen pronounced any way other than '"The Old Inn" - "yee" and '"olde" are just hangovers from medievil England converting to printing presses and the only time it would ever have been pronounced "yee oldy inn" is in American TV shows!

Only problem is I now prefer saying it like that because it makes me smile. In England you can still find pub and shop signs with those sorts of spelllings on them, for the sole reason that its how the signs have been spelt for hundreds of years and no-one's changing it because what was a mistake a few hundred years ago is 'traditional' now.

by **Kurgan** » May 5th, 2023, 1:03 pm

Now if you insist upon it would it be THEE Old Inn or The Old Inn (notice how when people say "The End" they pronounce it like "Thee" rather than "Thuh").

I would say "Ye" like "Yee" rather than "Yay" or "Yeh" ("Yuh" is right out!).

Olde like "Old" rather than "Oldy" or "Olduh"