Here we go again: Shrewsbury - do you say Shroosbury or Shrowsbury?
It is a debate which has raged for decades - and it took to national radio this morning when listeners Radio 2 listeners were asked to settle an on-going argument concerning the correct way to pronounce the county town of Shrewsbury.
Presenter Chris Evans said he was unsure so threw the debate open to the nation.
Many claim the town is pronounced "Shroosbury - as in the small rodent - and say out of towners pronounce it "Shrowsbury".
For more than 40 minutes the topic was bandied about the studio.
But finally Evans announced the correct way of calling the county town is Shrowsbury - as this is how the Americans call it.
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He said: "They have so many Shrewsbury's in their country they should know how to pronounce it. There are four in Pennsylvania alone, one in Massachusetts, one in New Jersey, Vermont and Kentucky as well as one in Australia and two in Canada."
On The Chris Evans Facebook page almost 500 people the answer was as clear as mud. While some said born and bred Salopians say it is "Shroosbury and claim only 'posh' people call it SHREWSbury.
Christina Hope said: "It is Shrooos, only the posh people call it shrows" and Aide Andrews said: "Toffs use Shrowsbury, the rest of us mere mortals say Shrew, but there is no definite answer, just ones own view of what it should be called. Interestingly though, you will find that the Shrows are less tolerant of the alternative than the Shrews."
But David Sopwith added: "It depends if you are Welsh or English. Shrewsbury was fought over by the two nations for centuries. If your from the Welsh side of the Severn 'shrews' English, 'shrows'."
And Dee Stanton disagreed with Chris Evans. On Facebook she said: "Being American it is Shroooosbury."
*In 2009 a battle broke out on Facebook between two rival camps - each claiming their own pronunciation was correct.
The biggest group was "Shroosbury not Shrowsbury" with 3,438 members and featured 49 pictures of the county town including Shrewsbury Flower Show, the station, the river, the castle and the Quarry.
The rival site "Shrowsbury - not Shrewsbury" had 608 members.
