The fact that 'Worcester' is pronounced 'Wusster' is wild.
But have you ever seen the five-syllable Old English name it stems from?
'Weogornaċeaster'.
It meant "fortified settlement of the Weogoran (a Saxon tribe)".
Click to hear a reconstruction of its pronunciation:
@yvanspijk All right, that's enough, borcester - these pronunciations have left me all a-florcester.
@yvanspijk
Related:
"High Wycombe has an interesting derivation - the Saxon word 'Wyc' means a small village community, 'Combe' was the Celtic word for a small depression or hollow, while the middle English 'High' has the same meaning as today, hence the literal translation 'Hello, villagers who live in a hole!’.”
(http://isihac.uk/Humphs_Intros_Page.php)
@yvanspijk Oh hey, I wasn't terribly far off on the OE pronunciation (tho can't do it as smoothly as you did). That one class was a lotta years ago!