I know it’s only been in the US since Lea and Perrins brought it over from the UK in 1837, but it’s about time we get it right. It’s been a problem for far too long. I myself used to mumbled my way through it like this fella:
Not this year though. It’s “worse-ta-sure“. I think “worse-ta-sheer” is also acceptable, but never, EVER, “war-chester-shire“. As a matter of fact, that may be a New Year’s resolution I can stick with for 2010. I am now making it my mission to educate people and finally eradicate WarChesterShire from the English language. Who’s with me?
In the UK Worcestershire Sauce is widely referred to as “woos-ter sauce”. The first syllable is short, like puss, rather than long as in rooster. I have no idea when the last syllable was abandoned, but I have called it by the shortened form for the last sixty years.