It's a common misspelling, as was pointed out several posts later in the Olympics thread. (I'd probably make the same mistake, as it's not a word I use more than once every ten years or so.
Silly me. I just followed the spelling of the original poster, on the theory that people who care enought about the sport to argue about it would know how to spell the name.
Regardless of the spelling, however, I'm pretty sure it is pronounced, in English, with a "mit" sound in the middle, rather than "mint".
The game is named after the village of Badminton, England (South Gloucestershire). I always assumed the "n" was audible. At least that's the way we pronounce it (in Holland: doesn't really count, of course).
OTOH, Worcestershire sauce is named after Worcestershire in England.
When's the last time you heard anybody ask for "Wor-ses -terr-shy-er" sauce? The town of Worcester, MA in the U.S. is pronounced, approximately, "Wooster". (And then there's Pontefract Castle in England, which is properly called "Pomfrey Castle" - although I'm told that in recent years tour guides have started pronouncing it as spelled as a concession to confused tourists. ) The relationship between spelling and pronounciation in English is more like a casual hook-up than a committed marriage.
The "n" should be audible in the U.S. English pronunciation of Badminton.
But then again, this is the country that is filled with people who spell out "could of" and "would of" instead of the contractions of "could've" and "would've". We also pronounce the tennis tournament as "Wimbelten". And, of course, who can forget our fearless leader and his attempts to keep "nuke-u-lar" weapons away from "those folks".
I know. And I wouldn't have raised the question in another thread.
(No comment, Carlo! )
In the UK too. And Gloucester => 'glos-ter'. Not to mention Cholmondeley => 'chum-lee' (or St. John => 'sin-jin'). I guess it's related to the bi-lingual inheritage (Saxon and Latin/Norman).
At least I'm certain that the sport wasn't named after (a) the Battle of Minden - the memory of which is still despised by the French (b) a bad midden (which is more like the actual subject of the current Bigfoot thread, it appears).
Beats me, Cees. I doubt the happy villagers of Badminton had enough time to invent games for their leisure. A duke on the other hand....
My new kitty is named "duke". I doubt he would be interested in a game wherein you raise a racket to whack cocks without balls. Perhaps this would explain the frustration of the female inhabitants of Castle Anthrax.
The current duke of Beaufort (it's the only English nobleman named with a French name - created by Charles II) doesn't play badminton.
He's 80 years old and was an officer:
"David Robert Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort (born 23 February 1928) is the son of Henry Robert Somers Fitzroy de Vere Somerset and Bettine Violet Malcolm and was educated at Eton College. He served in the Coldstream Guards as an officer. He held the office of Hereditary Keeper of Raglan Castle, was President of the British Horse Society between 1988 and 1990 and chairman of Marlborough Fine Art. He ranked 581st in the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, with an estimated wealth of £135m in land."
His son, the heir apparent, is a farmer:
"Henry John FitzRoy Somerset, Marquess of Worcester (born 22 May 1952), also known as Bunter Worcester is a farmer and chartered surveyor and the son and heir of David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort. He married former actress Tracy Ward. He is also singer and songwriter with rock group "The Listening Device". They have released two albums, "Scented Waters" and "Human Gold". The band were a support act at the Highclear Rocks concert in 2006 that also featured Brian Ferry, Eric Clapton and Roger Waters amongst others."