Talk:Cosham

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I am against the proposed merge of articles suggested it would cause a loss of information in many cases and an overloading of the main page. Notably a similar set of proposals was made by an anonymous user to disrupt the Portsmouth page and those of its schools information is here and also here -- Drappel 21:05, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation of Cosham
I'm not sure the sentence regarding the pronunciation of Cosham can be justified without citing current sources (the source used is from 1971 reflecting 1960s practices).

Although a case can be made that /ˈkɒsəm/ was once its pronunication, as a resident I have very seldomly heard it used. /ˈkɒʃəm/ is almost universal as the current pronunciation. This makes neither pronunciation correct, but rather an evolution of the town's pronunciation over time. That said - I'm not sure how we would find a reliable external source to confirm this beyond residents' personal experiences!

Any thoughts? MathPlex (talk) 16:09, 26 January 2016 (UTC)


 * From personal experience I agree that is the usual pronunciation, but unfortunately we're not reliable sources. Hairy Dude (talk) 10:31, 9 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I found a reference via Google Books: The Portsmouth Book of Days (2012) by John Sadden. I don't know if it would qualify as reliable, but it cites a letter from the News of 20 February 1948, which could be reliable if it could be verified. Perhaps there's a copy in a library somewhere. Hairy Dude (talk) 11:59, 9 August 2016 (UTC)


 * I was born Chichester, educated post primary Pompey, and my father was from Fareham originally. Nearly everyone I know will use cosh-ham, as the correct pronunciation, including most from the place itself. And most locals know that Cosham is pronounced Cosh-ham whereas Bosham is pronounced Bozzum.  And what would include at least one of the nostalgia writers on the news.  HOWEVER: I know of two in my life who have insisted the earlier pronunciation (cozzum) is correct.  One was a teacher originally from the Isle of Wight, who if still alive would be over 100; the other is a friend of mine B., in his 80s, often seen around Havant, of was born and bred in Cosham, and he insists 'cozzum' is the correct pronunciation.  I've not tried to use /ˈkɒsəm/ and /ˈkɒʃəm/ in this as I'm not good at that sort of thing and will mess is up.  However I am not a reliable source.  If I am down near Pompey central library at some point I may try and verify that article.

Djm-leighpark (talk) 01:06, 1 July 2017 (UTC)


 * my Gosport relatives in their 80s have been saying Cosh'm and Boz'm all their lives. If Cossa is the origin, I'd be surprised if Coz'm was right, but the Domesday entries read Cosseham and Coseham. So it looks like an S got lost early and Coz'm became the pronunciation until the Cosh'm crowd came along. The mystery is why so few people say Bosh'm - it seems unlikely that Cosh'm comes from any knowledge of Cossa. Fuficius Fango (talk) 16:35, 22 April 2021 (UTC)