I would venture to take issue with Jed and Kat on the WORCESTER issue.

The fact that the locals call it WISS_TAH (as near as I can phoneticize it) don't make it correct imo, although I found it quite endearing during the two years I lived there.

The English town is called WOOSTER, and that is and should be the benchmark pronunciation. ( Incidentally Worcester MA was one of the few American cities, maybe the only one, declared a bombing target by Hitler, presumably because it was the location of the Norton abrasives factory ).

Similarly, I detest the pronunciation of ELGIN as ELL-JIN. Hard "G" please, just like the original Scottish town.