@Britophile I lived on the west coast for five years and when an event got labeled as a gala, I only ever heard tv anchors and radio disc jockeys pronounce it as gey-luh. So to turn things around...

One person doesn't make a whole country pronounce a word correctly.

I don't find that topography should have additive description such as flat or high. Topography can contain information that describes the area as flat or high but describing "topography" itself seems a misnomer.

The word itself means a description of a place, so to write that an area is highly or flatly described seems odd. The features contained within a topography may be high or flat but the act of describing remains the same.

I do not believe that peeves have to be justified, as it seems to go against their very nature. But I see no harm in explaining them when asked. Questions I find are at the heart of learning.

For me the abnormality of the Gey-luh pronunciation stands out in stark contrast to both British and non-English ( French, Italian Portuguese, Polish and Icelandic to name a few ) pronunciations of the word. I can see no logic other then bastardization of the word from its root.

Maybe I am an outlier but the jarring effect of this pet peeve is immense.

If one accepts the gey in gey-la why not go full hog and say gey-ley? Hairy Scot's link demonstrates clearly the abnormality of the gey-la pronunciation.

( http://www.forvo.com/word/gala/#en )