Rush said:
Well if it was spelt Stanstead, then I would pronounce it 'Stan-steed' which is incorrect. Afterall, Heathrow is commonly pronounced 'Hee-throw' and therefore to keep consistancy with the "London" airports, Stanstead, which also has an 'ea' sound would have to be pronounced the incorrect way.
An exception to this would be my good home town of Reading which should actually be spelt Redding but some idiot made a typo and put an 'a' there instead of a 'd.'
As a Steadman (pronounced Sted), and knowing Mr Clam (Surname Stead - pronounced Sted) I can categorically pronounce you wrong
Likewise if you were to "stand someone in good stead", or if you were "steadfast in your resolve" it's pronounced steed (you'd be wrong).
Etymology wise it's a Saxon based word. During the standardisation of English the a was kept in stead (instead? inst
eed?
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
). However, the name Stead had already been changed by people to be Sted/Stedman. It's a simple change in spelling.
The chances are Stansted stands on lands owned by the Sted family (they were certainly based in that area) - hence the name. While the root of Sted and Stead are the same - it is of course incorrect to use Stanstead if the airport call themselves Stansted.
Here endeth today's history lesson!
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